Brave New World Reading Entry #2

Question #1: Will Helmholtz expose the people to what is really going on in the society?

At the end of this section, we learned that Helmholtz got in trouble for reading some rhymes that he wrote about solitude. The students that he read to had been warned against being alone through sleep-teaching and trying to put any ideas other than these in their minds is taking a very big risk. When describing how he felt, Helmholtz said, "As though I were beginning to be able to use that power I feel I've got inside me -- that extra, latent power. Something seems to be coming to me" (Huxley 187). To take such a big risk could only mean that there was some meaning behind it, which he confesses in these lines. He felt something inside of him that urged him to expose the students to some other ideas that what they have been taught all of their lives. I believe that if he did this once, there is nothing stopping him from doing it again, possibly in even stronger ways. I think that Helmholtz's actions foreshadow this even bigger exposure that will happen sometime soon in the story and will have great effects.

Question #2: Why does John refuse to be with Lenina?

When Bernard brings John back to the "Other Place" from the Reservation, Lenina makes it known that she is interested in John, but he denies her when she is expecting to be with him. Having come from a place where he was always the outcast to a whole different world in which he is the main interest of the majority of the population, one would expect him to embrace this. Why, then, when a beautiful woman like Lenina strongly pursues him, does he resist being with her? I believe that, even though he would like to, he cannot get past the great amount of cultural differences that lie between the two. Huxley writes, "The sensation on his lips! He lifted a hand to his mouth; the titillation ceased; let his hand fall back on the metal knob; it began again" (174). This happens when John and Lenina were at the feelies and it is obvious that John was giving into the pleasure that was previously unknown to him. After it was over, though, his attitude takes a complete change and he says that the film was horrible. I believe this demonstrates that even though he wanted to be with Lenina, like he wanted to enjoy the feelies, he could not look past the differences that they have and be with her, much like he could not enjoy the movie at the end because it was so unlike the culture that he was used to.

Question #3: Why does the Director react in the way he does to the return of Linda?

Since the Director took Linda along with him on his vacation to the Reservation where she had supposedly gotten lost and was left behind, one would think that he would be glad to finally see her again. By acting like he did not know who Linda was, I believe that his account of their trip to the Reservation was not true. Anyone who is reunited with someone they thought that they lost would show affection for them and be very emotional, which the Director clearly did not do. He was very shocked and not happy to see her there, which makes me believe that the reason Linda was left behind was not by accident and that there is a whole other story behind that trip. I don't know exactly what could have happened, but I definitely do not think that Linda got lost and fell into a gully.