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CHAPTER 7
Characters: Bernard: Bernard Marx Alpha plus succesful psychologist who
has an inferiority complex due to his small height. Lenina: Lenina
Crowne is a beautiful woman who is introduced to the group of students
while inoculating the infants against yellow fever. Linda:, she is the John’ s mother and many years ago was
the civilized woman, but during a outing she had had a accident, and she
was abandoned by the
director John
: John
is Linda and the Director’s son. In the end of the novel he is the one who retuns from the
Reservation to civilization.(so nicht richtig - das geschieht weder am
Ende des Buches, noch hat er die Absicht, die BNW zu attackieren!). Summary: In this chapter is described the arrival of Bernard Marx and Lenina
Crowne in a pueblo. When they arrive in this small town Lenina and
Bernard meet a very old and nearly nude man; Lenina is very surprised
when looks at this man, in fact in that society the population was very
young (only in appearance)"...because (Bernard says in page 99) we
don't allow them to be like that. We preserve them from diseases. We
keep their internal secretion artificially balanced at a youthful
equilibrium. We
don't permit their magnesium-calcium ratio to fall below what it was at
thirty. We give them transfusion of young blood. We keep their
metabolism permanently stimulated. So, of course, they don't look like
that. Partly……because most of them die long before they reach this
old creature's age. Youth almost unimpaired till sixty, and then, crak!
The end"... After
passing the old man the “tourists” see a blood sacrifice and a cross
of a Christian / Indian ceremony and they are in a way captivated by it.
Lenina has to take more soma to calm down, she is repulsed, but Bernard
is fascinated.In the rest of the chapter is described the meeting of
Linda (a new character) and her son: John, by Lenina and Bernard. Linda is the woman left in the reservation, by accident, by the director
with John, her son. Linda describes the incident by saying she was
walking in the mountains when she fell and hit her head. Finally some
natives found her and brought her back to the village where she had and
then raised her son, John. Bernard realizes that bringing them
back to civilization could bring humiliation to the Director
because John would call him “father” and leaving them in the
reservation would be a favour both for the Director and for them. In the
end Bernard decides to leave them in the reservation.
Observations about the style: Chapter
7 is marked by emotional phrases. The emotional way in which Lenina
experiences the Reservation is well described. For example the passage
when Lenina sees the women giving their breast to their babies shows her
feelings and thoughts about the Reservation and the people living there.
The
two people coming from the “civilized” society, Bernard and Lenina,
are described like different people, which they really are. Bernard is
interested in the people of the reservation, and wants to get to know as
much as possible about them. Lenina,
on the other hand, feels disgusted when she sees all the people and
their "uncicilized" behaviour.
Themes presented: In this chapter are
presented 4 important themes: 1)The revelation of a Director’s son(john): 2) The description of the background of John’s,
the Director’s son’s, birth . 3)The observation of the old man by Lenina, and the explanation of the
method for the youthful
equilibrium; 4)The observation of indian’ s life and his religious rite.
Quotations of relevant passages: Lenina
was left to face the horrors of Malpais unaided. They came crowding in
on her thick and fast. The spectacle of two women giving their breast to
their babies made her blush and turn away her face. She had never seen
anything so undecent in her life. And what made it worse was that,
instead of tactfully ignoring it, Bernard proceeded to make open
comments on this revoltingly viviparous scene. Ashamed, now that the
effects of the soma had worn
off, of the weakness he had displayed that morning in the hotel, he went
out of his way to show himself strong and unorthodox. (chapter
7, page 91) Lenina
was still sobbing. “Too awful,” she kept repeating, and all
Bernard’s consolatins were in vain. “Too awful ! That blood !” She
shuddered. “Oh, I wish I had my soma.” (chapter
7, page 95) "...because we don't
allow them to be like that. We preserve them from diseases. We keep
their internal secretion artificially balanced at a youthful equilibrium. We
don't permit their magnesium-calcium ratio to fall below what it was at
thirty. We give them transfusion of young blood. We keep their
metabolism permanently stimulated. So, of course, they don't look like
that. Partly……because most of them die long before they reach this
old creature's age. Youth almost unimpaired till sixty, and then, crack!
The end"...(chapter7,page99) …Oh,
Ford, Ford, Ford! And yet John was a great comfort to me. I don’t know
what I should have done without him
… Though you’ve
no idea how difficult that is? There’s so much one doesn’t know; it
wasn’t my business to know. I mean when a child asks you how a
helicopter works or who made the world---well, what are you to answer if
you are a beta and have always worked in a fertillizing room? What are
you to answer?” (chapter
7, page 100) What the chapter represents in the whole story:
This chapter is very important because pure in this chapter was revelate
the Director’s son(john), and was presented a new important Character
Linda(John’s mother). Another important aspect is the comparison about
reservation and civilized society , in that reservation the life
was very different from the civilization’s life, infact in the utopian
world the religion was considerate a bad aspect then story and family,
but in the reservation the religious, family love MONOGAMY ecc. Was
considerate a positive aspect.
Comments on the chapter: Daniel's Comment
In
my opinion chapter 7 is one of the most important chapters, because
after this chapter the world state and its community may have to face a
difficulty - keeping up the stability of the community, which may have
been corrupted by the Director. Gianfranco's Comment
In my opinion this chapter is very important because it describes the
comparison about reservation
(that represents
in some aspect our society) and the utopian society. Is really that the utopian society is better of our society????? BY GIANFRANCO & DANIEL
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