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Unit 19: Aldous Huxley—Brave New World: Detailed Study of Text-II

natural fear of dying. When the boys notice Linda, they make fun of her ugliness and fatness. Notes
John angrily picks one of the boys up and tosses him away from her. The head nurse is upset
that John interfered in the death conditioning and warns him to behave.
When Linda returns to a state of semi-consciousness, she asks for Pope. Until this point, John
had been remembering the positive memories with her at the Indian village Malpais. Her
mention of Pope, though, converts his memories to bad ones. Out of frustration, he shakes her
in an effort to get her to recognize him.
Linda suddenly notices John’s presence, but before she can speak, she begins choking and
soon stops breathing. John realizes that he shook her too hard, and he runs to get the head
nurse. When she arrives, they see that Linda has already passed away in her bed. The head
nurse, more concerned about the death conditioning of the young boys, returns to them with
an offer of chocolate éclairs. John sits by the bed and cries over Linda’s death until the boys
again interrupt him. He silently strides from the room, knocking down one of the boys.

Analysis

The two concepts of individual death presented in these chapters are starkly different. In
John’s idea of death, each individual represents a whole unto itself and deserves to be mourned
upon death. On the other hand, the bokanovskified children learn to view death in a societal
context, where the individual has no meaning. Because death does not harm society, the
people do not need to fear it.
The transition between John’s good and bad memories foreshadows upcoming events. John
initially remembers the good times he had with Linda, but when she mentions Pope’s name,
he can only recall the bad memories, as when he tried to kill Pope. This parallels John’s vision
of English society, which had seemed unsullied until he actually experiences London, after
which he can only see its negatives.
With Linda’s death, John realizes that he is now alone. All of society’s supposed benefits have
turned out to be things that morally repulse John. Because of his quest to maintain his individuality,
John soon realizes that he cannot live as a sane member of this society.

Chapter 15
Summary

After stepping out of the elevator on the hospital’s ground floor, John confronts one hundred
and sixty-two Deltas divided into two Bokanovsky groups, who comprise the menial staff of
the hospital and are waiting to receive their daily soma. The Savage watches them line up to
receive their ration and starts repeating the phrase “Oh brave new world” to himself. He
decides that the phrase is a call to arms and a challenge to make the world a new place.
John pushes his way to the front of the group and preaches to the Deltas, saying that the soma
is poison and that he has come to bring them freedom. The Deltas are by definition mentally
stunted and begin to get upset at not receiving their soma. They press closer to John, who
manages to seize the box filled with soma rations.
Bernard and Helmholtz get a call from the hospital telling them the Savage is there. They rush
over to find John dumping the soma out the window with one hand while using the other to
punch the attacking Deltas. Helmholtz laughs at this and joins in, yelling, “Men at last!”
Bernard hesitates about joining in the fray, becomes scared, and decides to wait. The police
arrive and spray the air with soma to subdue the mob. Bernard tries to sneak out but the
police catch him and place him in a car with John and Helmholtz so that they can see Mustapha
Mond.

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