His understanding bothers him; however, he believes it sets him on a pedestal. Bernard looks down upon others while he still conforms to society making him an outsider to his world.
Yet, these messages they’re impalanting seem to be just normal in this case. Bernard disagrees with others viewing people as items;, he believes they’re more than that, people with compassion, with feelings. He himself, treats himself as not an individual, which he desires to be, but just an Alpha in the World State. Also, he treats people that they are nothing but castes below him due to the pressure of the people around him. He’s going against what his judgement is to conform to what is right normal in the World State.
Like Huxley, Bernard is an outsider, and inherently outsiders have a different point of view than those in the mainstream. Having a character like Bernard adds a dimension to this book that enables Huxley to talk
His only person to confide in, Valentine, his sister, was ripped away from him and then used against him by Graff. Not only are they unreliable, but the adults lie to him and manipulate. Kessel questions whether this is a healthy thing to to a young child, and whether or not it should be passed on to the young-adult audience of this book. Well, it shouldn’t. Creating this tragic and dramatic example of a 6-year-old is a terrible thing to introduce to such impressionable people.
This leaves John feeling unhappy and causes Bernard to make the remark “You’re more like what you were at Malpais,”. Bernards failure to realize how to help John adjust and the parts of him that are unable to change gives the reader better insight as to why John is failing to enjoy his time in
In the novel The Running Man by Michael Gerard Bauer, the author captures the experiences of a marginalised character, Tom Leyton. The use of the silkworm metaphor invites the audience to uncover the dark secrets of Tom Leyton 's mysterious past. The introduction of the character Joseph Davidson provides the author with a catalyst to open the metaphor of the silkworm and take the reader on a journey to understand the life experiences of Tom Leyton. Joseph Davidson, who is portrayed as someone with poor self esteem is also described as an outsider. The running man is used by the author to reveal the experiences of Joseph Davidson and demonstrate his growth of becoming less marginalised throughout the novel.
He tries to forgive himself but he cannot, no matter how hard he tries. The heroic characteristics as well as the flaw leads him to be a tragic hero. On top of his road to self discovery he must deal with the ever declining social structure of the town. He tries to stand out as an honest resistor to the hangings, which ultimately leads to his
Marxism is the idea of social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. Social processes are the way individuals and groups interact, adjust and reject and start relationships based on behavior which is modified through social interactions. Overall marxism analyzes how societies progress and how and society ceases to progress, or regress because of their local or regional economy , or global economy. In this case, Marxism’s theory applies to the novel, Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, where a society where mass satisfaction is the instrument utilized by places of power known as the Alphas in order to control the oppressed by keeping the Epsilons numb, at the cost of their opportunity to choose their own way of life. Marx thinks that an individual had a specific job to do in order to contribute to their community and that is the only way to do so; There is no escaping your contribution either.
Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith and “Communist Manifesto” by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels both address selfishness and its effect on society through social and economic means. In Wealth of Nations, Smith defines wealth as the productivity of a nation and the aspects of a commercial society. “The Communist Manifesto” criticizes the idea behind a capitalist society and talks about the class struggle between the working class and the owners of the means of production. Wealth of Nations and “The Communist Manifesto” both analyze how the selfishness of people affects society, however while Wealth of Nations claims selfishness causes increased productivity and increases wages for all, “The Communist Manifesto” argues that selfishness causes injustice
Once Bernard finds John, he starts taking advantage of John’s uniqueness as an opportunity to fight his internal class struggle. Rather than yearning for change in society as in the beginning of the novel, Bernard is more concerned with impressing others and climbing up the ladder. While there are no monetary stresses in Brave New World, Bernard feels the need to improve his status because of his mistreatment by the lower classes as a result of his physical disabilities. For example, when Bernard is trying to get the lower castes to prepare his helicopter, he has to exert force, even as an Alpha male, to accomplish tasks (Huxley 64). Bernard starts treating John like an object, rather than a person.
At the same time Huxley reprimands Karl Marx with the characterization of Karl Marx and other characters. There are multiple parallels between Karl Marx and the characters in Brave New World. The first happened with the New Theory of Biology (177). A promising scientist was exiled to an island for being too radical and questioning the accepted normality. Marx was exiled from Prussia, France, and Belgium for challenging the political and economic structures of the countries.
Bernards alienation because of his physique and his enrichment from his different moral views illuminates the meaning of the novel overall which is the definition of freedom. The utopia in the novel puts a lot of emphasis on conformity and discourages individuality, which is something Bernard doesn’t follow the rules of. As seen in a conversation in chapter 6 with Bernard and Lenina, Lenina insists that the society has a great deal of freedom represented by soma and its hypnotic state. The author uses this technique to show the reader that the true definition of freedom is not conformity and obedience, instead, it’s the independence to be an individual apart from the rest of
However, that is of little import as his identity is shaped over the course of the four chapters of the story after he detaches himself of his old persona – he leaves his home, throws away his phone and retrieves as much of his money as possible and wonders if someone else would slip into his old life as easily as he had slipped out of it. As Mark Currie mentions in his Postmodern narrative theory, “identity is relational, […] it is not found within a person but that it inheres in the relations between a person and others” (17). Although we only get to see the events through the eyes of the unnamed narrator, he only begins to crystallize as a character once he begins interacting with others – he is the good Samaritan to the stranded Professor, giving him a lift when he needs to get back to his car and retrieves his wallet from the hotel, after the Professor vanishes, he unconsciously picks up his identity and gradually returns to life, plagued only by the fear of being uncovered as an impostor, while still feeling comfortable enough in his new identity in the company of strangers, playing along with the new game he has gotten himself into. Currie states that the way in which the author can control the sympathy and antipathy felt for characters is in direct relation to the distance from and
Rationale In order to demonstrate a wider range of comprehension of the novel “A Brave New World”, I decided to write a diary about Bernard’s position throughout the novel, which shows a carping yet courageous voice that demands to be heard. Nevertheless, his desires change as power and prestige comes to him, creating an inner conflict on the character. Considering Bernard´s reality as an Alpha individual, it is noticeable that a formal and intellectual tone prevails as the diary entry develops, and intends to approach critical readers whose interests lie on exploring Bernard´s personality.
Lenina, a vaccination worker at the CLHCC, and Bernard, a psychologist also at the CLHCC, decide to travel to the Savage Reservation in New Mexico. Before that happens, Bernard goes to meet his friend, Helmholtz Watson, who is a lecturer at the College of Emotional Engineering, and the two talk about their dissatisfaction with the World State. Bernard feels like he doesn’t belong there for he is smaller and weaker than most Alphas, while Helmholtz feels he is not being valued enough and is too smart for the job he was given. Bernard than goes back in order to get permission from the Director and the Warden to visit the Reservation. Once given permission, he and Lenina make arrangements to leave but before he does so, he calls Helmholtz who tells him that the Director intends to exile him when he returns from the
