Brave New World

Following on the heels of this date with Lenina, John becomes increasingly upset and withdrawn. He refuses to come to the latest party at which Bernard has promised to show him off. A high-ranking member of society is there and becomes disillusioned with Marx, effectively ending the party with his exit.

Despite this drawback, Marx begins to write his reports to Mond with more gusto, coming up with original theories, including “A New Theory of Biology” (177). Mond, while impressed, realizes that these theories are above Marx’s pay grade and relegates them to the “Not to be published” file (177), promising to keep an eye on Marx for aberrant behavior. John and Helmholtz meet and their shared love of language and its potential (Helmholtz writes propaganda, but has been growing tired of it and writing poems instead) brings them closer together almost immediately. Bernard finds this development off-putting and becomes jealous. The chapter ends with Helmholtz coming to the cusp of appreciating Shakespeare, but, in the end, remaining unable to push past his cultural mores and cannot handle the mention of “mothers and fathers” (185).

Chapter 13 returns us to Lenina, who is asked out by Henry Foster, but she refuses, even having an emotional outburst after he suggests maybe she needs some sort of medical intervention to put her back in the right frame of mind. Instead, she admits to Fanny, who disapproves of her conduct entirely, that John is the one that she wants (187). She decides to take soma and go to his room and seduce him. However, when she arrives, John is expecting Helmholtz and is thrown off by her presence, instead. As they discuss their mutual attraction, John tells her he wanted “to show I wasn’t absolutely un-worthy. I wanted to do something” in order to win her over (189). This baffles Lenina, since it is so far removed from the culture she has lived in for her entire life.

John finally admits he loves Lenina, but then insists they get married first. Lenina, frustrated, finally decides to make a move and removes her clothing, thinking that, as long as they like each other, it stands to reason they should act on it physically. However, John “retreat[s] in horror” (193) and flies into a rage “thrust[ing] her away at arm’s length” (194), before calling her a whore and quoting liberally from King Lear as she locks herself in the bathroom to get away from him. The scene ends with John receiving a phone call and leaving, and Lenina escaping.

Chapter 14’s initial setting is “The Park Lane Hospital for the Dying,” where Linda is living out her remaining days. John arrives and asks to be taken to her. He asks the nurse if there’s anything that can be done, but the nurse says there isn’t and is disgusted when he calls her his mother. When John finds her, Linda is watching television “vaguely and uncomprehendingly smiling” (200).

After trying and failing to capture her attention, they are interrupted by a bokanovsky group of identical children: “Twin after twin, twin after twin, they came—a nightmare” (201). The children, raised to have already been conditioned to think of death as no more strange than any other aspect of life, say things like, “Isn’t she awful?” (202), much to John’s chagrin. As he again tries to talk to Linda, he realizes that she thinks John is Popé, which hurts him even more in his fragile state.

Finally, “[h]er hands went to her throat, then clawed at the air—the air she could no longer breathe” (205), John rushes from the room to get help, though help for what baffles the nurses. When he returns, Linda has died. John breaks down, and the nurses chide him for endangering the children’s death-conditioning. When one of the children asks if she has died, John pushes the child over.