Pre-Write:
John the savage
• An outcast in the world state & in the reservation
• Non-conformist
• Educated (reads old lit.)
• Has a sense of morality (therefore he is IMMORAL in the eyes of the World State)
• Loyal to his mother & his people
• Confused and frustrated w/ World State
• Finds the way out by killing himself.
Examples from text
• Refuses sex from Lenina and calls her a whore
• He goes crazy when his mother is dying and wants to save her
• Refuses soma- he would rather deal with his emotions naturally
• Reads & uses old literature (Shakespeare)
Literary Techniques:
• Allusion to the tempest
o Theme is difficulty distinguishing between men & monsters
• Symbolism
o John can easily symbolize the reader and how they would react
• Doubleness of character
• Indirect Characterization/Direct Characterization
What makes us react sympathetically?!
• The reader feels pity for him b/c he is not fully accepted anywhere
• The reader can relate to him b/c he is the most “human” of them all
• He is not an actual character, but is good enough to fool the reader throughout the novel
• The reader agrees with John’s morals & take on life
John the savage from Huxley’s “Brave New World” is considered to be immoral by the residents of the World State. The reader is given the impression of this through direct and indirect characterization, and is proven because John is not fully accepted in the reservation nor in the world state. This confirmation is the main factor why the reader sympathizes with the savage.
As the reader is presented to John we know he is different, because he is a native from the reservation and because of indirect characterization. “But they wouldn’t let me. They disliked me for my complexion. It’s always been like that. Always.” Tears stood in the young man’s eyes; he was ashamed and turned away. Other than being peculiar to Bernard and Lenina the reader realizes that the savage is loyal to his people and believes strongly in their rituals. The fact that he has a sense of morality and is loyal allows the reader to feel some compassion for him.
The biggest difference between the savage and the world state residents is that John is abstinent. The Brave new world is stabilized by “everyone belongs to everyone”, and this of course means belonging to everyone in a sexual and lustful way. Unlike many of the residents, John refuses to take part in sexual intercourse without being married first, and calls Lenina a “whore…damned whore!” This is yet another reason why the reader can easily relate to the savage. In our world today, abstinence is still considered something sacred.
Everything the world state presses on the savage, he pushes away. He is kind and allows Bernard to use him as a stool to get to the top, but gets quickly sick of it and revolts. Though he is not a real character, there are many similarities between the reader and the savage. In some ways he symbolizes us in our world today. The allusion to Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” is the world state monsters versus the reservation men or visa versa. It can also be symbolized to represent the people of today and how many are so evil that they cannot be distinguished between men or monsters. The world state is an exaggerated version of our world today. The savages from the reservation only form some of our population. For that reason is that the reader rallies John on throughout the novel, because they see themselves in him. They do not want to finish their journey with their feet dangling “South-south-west, south, south-east, east…”
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