Fame puts you there where things are hollow

In the middle of the book Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, Bernard Marx brings Lenina to a “savage reservation” where the “uncivilized” people are kept, namely Native Americans. There, they meet John and his mother, Linda, who is a “civilized” person who had went there to the reservation to see what it was like. Bernard Marx quickly and correctly determines that John’s father is the Director who wants to fire him, and arranges for John and Linda to be brought back. Once they get back, John and Linda humiliate the Director, who resigns. Lenina develops an attraction toward John, but John turns her down, believing her and the society to be too free about sexual relations. Meanwhile, Bernard is getting famous for having the “savage” around, because everyone wants to meet him.

I believe a pivotal in the book is when Bernard Marx brings back the savage. Before that point, Marx had felt alone and alienated from the rest of the world, because “too little bone and brawn had isolated Bernard form his fellow men” (Huxley 67). The only other person like Bernard was Helmholtz Watson, whose only claim to being different is that he is too smart. Even in Helmholtz’s presence, Bernard feels alone, because he wishes that “he could have as many girls as Helmholtz did, and with as little trouble” and during their meetings, “it was Helmholtz who did all the talking” (Huxley 68). However, when Bernard bring the “savage,” John, back to civilization, everyone wants to meet him. People disregard the fact that he is controversial, and the fact that he is physically different from them, and for once, Bernard is getting all the attention he wants. “Success went fizzily to Bernard’s head and in the process completely reconciled him... to a world which, up until then, he had found very unsatisfactory” (Huxley 157). Becoming such a success changes Bernard’s opinion of the world he lives in. He is treated well, and he begins to think that it can’t be that bad. After all, “he genuinely liked being a success and having all the girls he wanted” (Huxley 157). He is much happier and no longer feels alone, but the success also shapes his opinion of things. In previous chapters, as discussed in the last post, he believes that in the culture of romance of his society, women are treated like pieces of meat, and so he refrains from doing anything he thinks is remotely degrading of women. When he is in an elevator with Henry Foster, he says, “‘Have her here, have her there. Like mutton’” referring to Lenina, and yet he now that he is rich, he is having many girls (Huxley 45). So now, Bernard Marx, the character who is supposed to represent the more conservative view, the view that is closer to ours, is being corrupted. I believe this is pivotal, because it shifts the focus away from there still being hope that there are people like Marx out there who we consider morally correct, to being mostly disgusted by what we consider morally incorrect actions. There is no longer a character to connect to, in terms of viewpoint, in the book. I think this point in the book signifies a loss of hope.