Page 212 - DENG404_FICTION

Fiction

Notes Chapter 6

Summary

Lenina dates Bernard twice before their trip to the Savage Reservations, and each time she
finds Bernard to be extremely odd. Bernard prefers to walk with her in a park so that they can
spend time talking. However, Lenina cannot comprehend the idea of intellectual conversation
and convinces him instead watch a wrestling match. Bernard refuses to take any soma and is
unhappy in the middle of a large crowd. That same night, Lenina expects Bernard to stay over
and sleep with her, but he has to take a lot of soma before he can do so because he feels
embarrassment over entering into sexual relations so early in their relationship.
At the end of their second date, while flying over the British Channel, Bernard stops his
helicopter over the rough, tossing sea. Lenina cannot understand why he does this. She calls
the scene “horrible,” but Bernard insists instead that it is beautiful. Such terrible beauty in the
natural world causes Bernard to think of his own life’s turmoil and to appreciate his intellectual
nonconformity.
Bernard confides that he wishes they had waited to have sex. He comments to Lenina that
while people are adults intellectually, they are children as far as their emotions are concerned.
He tires of being a cell in the body of society and would prefer to be an individual. Such
conformity, he says, keeps him from truly being happy. Lenina responds to his heresy by
quoting her hypnopaedic learning. She claims that all people are happy because they can do
whatever they want. Bernard tries to force her to contemplate and critique the structure of
society, but to no avail. Lenina says that she likes him but wishes he were not so odd.
Later, Bernard visits the Director and receives permission to take Lenina to the Savage Reservations.
The Director relates a story of how, 25 years prior, he had taken a blond Beta Minus woman
to the reservation. While on an excursion, they ended up in a storm, and she disappeared. The
Director shows a great deal of remorse and claims that he still dreams of the incident. At the
end of the story, he realizes that he has revealed emotions that he has never forgotten. This
upsets him because society forbids such displays of emotion over past events, and strong
emotions are supposed to be impossible because of genetic engineering.
The Director yells at Bernard for failing to conform to societal standards. He threatens to send
Bernard to Iceland if the latter does not begin to conform his personal life to the demands of
society. Bernard returns home and brags to Helmholtz about his encounter with the Director
by embellishing the details. He tells Helmholtz that he confronted the Director and told him
to go to the “Bottomless Pit,” even though this account is false. Helmholtz is unimpressed, and
hates the way Bernard goes from self-pity to arrogant boasting.
Bernard and Lenina cross the Atlantic and go to a hotel near the reservation. Bernard warns
her that the reservation lacks any sort of games or amusements, and that she might be bored.
She quotes her hypnopaedic learning: “progress is lovely.” Bernard tells her that there is no
progress on the reservation. She insists on coming with him. They both go to the warden of
the reservation where they receive an introduction to the “savages” that live there. They learn
how the savages remain in an older way of life where they bear children naturally, speak
various languages, and obey religious principles.
Bernard remembers at that moment that he left a perfume tap running in his home, and that
it will be quite expensive. He calls Helmholtz to get it turned off and learns that the Director
has decided to transfer him to Iceland as soon as a replacement is found. Iceland is a place
devoid of progress and the creature comforts of life in England. Previously, Bernard yearned
to feel what it might be like to encounter disappointment or struggles in life. He realizes that
such emotions are not what he thought they would be. Lenina makes him take several soma
to quell the emotions. Bernard and Lenina proceed into the reservation where they receive a
tour, but both have taken soma and cannot fully comprehend what they are seeing.

206 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY