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Unit 20: Aldous Huxley—Brave New World: Themes and Characterization

an outsider among the Indians, since he is not allowed to participate in their ritual. It also Notes
demonstrates the huge cultural divide between him and World State society, since Bernard
and Lenina see the tribal ritual as disgusting.

Notes John becomes the central character of the novel because, rejected both by the
“savage” Indian culture and the “civilized” World State culture, he is the ultimate
outsider.

As an outsider, John takes his values from a more than 900-year-old author, William Shakespeare.
John’s extensive knowledge of Shakespeare’s works serves him in several important ways: it
enables him to verbalize his own complex emotions and reactions, it provides him with a
framework from which to criticize World State values, and it provides him with language that
allows him to hold his own against the formidable rhetorical skill of Mustapha Mond during
their confrontation. (On the other hand, John’s insistence on viewing the world through Shakespearean
eyes sometimes blinds him to the reality of other characters, notably Lenina, who, in his mind,
is alternately a heroine and a “strumpet,” neither of which label is quite appropriate to her.)
Shakespeare embodies all of the human and humanitarian values that have been abandoned
in the World State. John’s rejection of the shallow happiness of the World State, his inability
to reconcile his love and lust for Lenina, and even his eventual suicide all reflect themes from
Shakespeare. He is himself a Shakespearean character in a world where any poetry that does
not sell a product is prohibited.
John’s naïve optimism about the World State, expressed in the words from The Tempest that
constitute the novel’s title, is crushed when he comes into direct contact with the State. The
phrase “brave new world” takes on an increasingly bitter, ironic, and pessimistic tone as he
becomes more knowledgeable about the State. John’s participation in the final orgy and his
suicide at the end of the novel can be seen as the result of an insanity created by the fundamental
conflict between his values and the reality of the world around him.

Bernard Marx
Up until his visit to the Reservation and the introduction of John, Bernard Marx is the central
figure of the novel. Bernard’s first appearance in the novel is highly ironic. Just as the Director
finishes his explanation of how the World State has successfully eliminated lovesickness and
everything that goes along with frustrated desire, Huxley gives us our first glimpse into a
character’s private thoughts, and that character is lovesick, jealous, and fiercely angry at his
sexual rivals. Thus, while Bernard is not exactly heroic (and he becomes even less so as the
novel progresses), he is still interesting to the reader because he is human. He wants things
that he can’t have.

The major movement in Bernard’s character is his rise in popularity after the trip to the
Reservation and his discovery of John, followed by his disastrous fall. Before and during his
trip to the Reservation, Bernard is lonely, insecure, and isolated. When he returns with John,
he uses his newfound popularity to participate in all of the aspects of World State society that
he had previously criticized, such as promiscuous sex. This about-face proves Bernard to be
a critic whose deepest desire is to become what he criticizes. When John refuses to become a
tool in Bernard’s hand Bernard’s success collapses instantaneously. By continuing to criticize
the World State while reveling in its “pleasant vices,” Bernard reveals himself to be a hypocrite.
John and Helmholtz are sympathetic to him because they agree that the World State needs
criticizing and because they recognize that Bernard is trapped in a body to which his conditioning

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