Distopian Novel Journal 3: Topic A

“‘Whatever is he saying?’ said a voice, very near, distinct and shrill through the warbling of the Super-Wurlitzer. The Savage violently started and, uncovering his face, looked round. Five khaki twins, each with the stump of long éclair in his right hand, and their identical faces variously smeared with liquid chocolate, were standing in a row, puggily goggling at him. They met his eyes and simultaneously grinned. One of them pointed with his éclair butt.

“Is she dead?” she asked.

The Savage stared at them for a moment in silence. The in silence he rose to his feet, in silence slowly walked towards the door.

“Is she dead?” repeated the inquisitive twin trotting at his side.

The Savage looked down at him and still without speaking pushed him away. The twin fell on the floor and at once began to howl. The Savage did not even look round.

In this scene as well as throughout the whole chapter the characters, especially John, as struggling with both internal and external conflict. The World State “programs” the children to not have to deal with emotions of sadness or pain. Even if their programs are not strong enough they can still take Soma to cope with their troubles. Ironically Linda died from an overdose of Soma and this is the once intense that John has a very hard time coping with the pain of his mothers death. Earlier in the chapter John is faced with another conflict. The children are programmers with physical desires. Lenina tries to seduce him and have sex with him however despite the physical desires he is feeling the immoral pain and knows that he should not do it therefore declines.  There is also a recurring theme throughout the novel; the parallel between John and Othello. Ever since we are introduced to John we learn about his desire to read Shakespeare. Depending on the part of the novel John always seems to be reading a piece of Shakespeare’s work that can compare to his life experiences. For example when John is struggling with the conflict with Lenina he is reading Othello and finds himself to be very similar to him.