Brave New World Chapter 8 by Rachel F. and Eunseo

Chapter 8 of Brave New World starts with John and Bernard talking about John’s childhood. Bernard has already figured out that John’s father must be the DHC. However, it is also clear that Bernard feels affinity for the outcast John. He presses John to tell him about his childhood. In fact, it seems that Bernard does not think that John is just different but also that the two may have quite a bit in common.

From the onset, it is clear that John has had a rough childhood. He is an outcast from the roles of all the boys in the village, partially because of his status as an outsider but also because of the fact that Linda, his mother, is visited by many of the men of the village. He grows to hate the men who visit her, especially Popé, but still loves Linda. It seems that Linda is the one point of comfort for him, and it is clear that she loves him in a motherly fashion. That said, Linda refuses to be called a mother, so John has to refer to her as Linda. Actually, Linda originally came from the same society as Bernard, so she thinks that being a mother is a very degrading thing. Linda clings to the ways of the World State as best she can during her time in the Reservation. She gets drunk off of mescal; she sleeps around. She finds it morally reprehensible to mend something instead of just buying it new. She teaches him to read, first with drawings and then from a technical manual. In short, she does all of these motherly things, but still refuses to be called a mother.

Throughout his whole childhood, Linda has told him stories of London and the World State. Therefore, John is enamored with the idea of London. He almost views it as a fairy tale place. He is still focused on finding a place in his own society. He talks about having fainted from pain while holding himself up against a rock in a crucifixion stance. However, he fails to gain the respect of the people of the Reservation. Meanwhile, Bernard cannot get enough of this description of John’s childhood. While some instances of Bernard's own conditioning shows through, it is clear that he is actually open to a great deal of what John is saying. His questions are measured and calculated, not at all the type of inquiries that we expect Lenina, Bernard's companion on the trip, to be making of Linda. In fact, Bernard bonds with John, pointing out that he himself is an outcast, which John takes as good reason to start to trust Bernard. John points out that something many societies have in common is the ability to discriminate against those who are different.

Finally, Bernard gets the idea to take John to London. He offers the trip, but John accepts only if Linda can come too. Bernard is not sure if he can do that but figures out that the shock of the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning to see Linda could simply be good to pass up on  because it was the director who left Linda at the Reservation years ago, and Bernard has been mocked by the director in the days before this trip. John is excited about the prospect of going to see all that the modern world has to offer, especially the idea of flying like the birds.

In this chapter we can see a lot of similarities between Bernard and John’s lives in their respective societies. Both are regarded as outcasts because they look and act differently, and thus are able to bond over their shared feeling of loneliness.

We also get to see how Linda had a difficult time adjusting to living with the savages. For example, she would often just throw out John’s clothes because she had never learned to sew them. This is because her conditioning had told her that “ending is better than mending”. She also would try to sleep with many men, as that was the norm in her previous life, which led to her getting beat up by their partners.

Overall, this chapter serves as a means to show the reader John’s backstory, and to show why Bernard is able to sympathize with him and why he chooses to bring John and his mother back to London.

Discussion Questions

1. This chapter revolves around John telling the story of his life in flashback. Why do you think the author chose this method?

2. John and Bernard bond over a shared feeling of loneliness caused by being different. Does this happen in our society? Is it possible to feel alone even when in a group?

3. Linda has great knowledge on the one aspect of life she was conditioned to know about, but shows a lack of knowledge for any other aspects of life. What does this say about Linda’s society?