Warning, if you actually want to read Brave New World without being spoiled, come back and read this after you finish the novel!!! I will be talking about the book (particularly the ending) in full detail because I have no chill.
The ending of the book seemed so rushed and out of place that it's almost like Huxley forgot that he had to provide closure for the readers, so he scribbled something down on a napkin and handed it to his editor. John committing suicide reminded me of Okonkwo committing suicide at the end of Things Fall Apart. Both endings are trying to hard to come off as a plot twist and it's even more so obvious with Brave New World with the way he added the ellipses at the end as if it makes it seem more dramatic (spoiler alert, it doesn't).
John, the only redeemable character besides Mond, is unjustly hurt and broken. I feel like I understand the point that Huxley was trying to make but there were several other methods of carrying it out besides destroying an innocent character. What's even more upsetting in the fact that John is made out to be crazy or insane at the end of the novel. The citizens of the World State only view him as a new method of entertainment to watch until they get bored. Even them stumbling across his hanging corpse in the lighthouse seems uncaring like they're just reacting to their favorite character dying on a show.
Also, Bernard and Helmholtz 100% get off the hook for being different and wrong in the society. They get sent off to an island, away from their friends and coworkers. Okay seems sad and reasonable as punishment until Mond mentions that they are lucky because the island is filled with other people like them. So, you're telling me that while John literally ended his life because he felt dirty, unclean, and different, Bernard and Helmholtz get off the hook with being able to express themselves on an island far away from the dreary World State. It all just seems so wrong and unfair.
When I first heard we were reading Brave New World, I was vaguely excited yet bored. I was bored because we as students have read so many different dystopian novels where the protagonist is a "special snowflake" who happens to be different and shows the people of the society that being different is okay. I love those type of stories and the different takes the author can have on the genre, which is why I was sort of excited for this book. I'd heard from older cousins that they didn't expect the novel to be as good as it was. Not to say that I didn't enjoy the book, but the ending (and several other plot points) could have been executed much better in order to get a better reaction from the reader.
For example, if you're going to make an unlikeable character (*cough cough* Lenina *cough cough*), then you have to give them a decent death or last moment/ scene. Although it was ironic that Lenina was beaten by the one thing she hated about the Indians, I also disliked her character so much that I feel that she should have been emotionally crushed before being physically hurt (is that weird?).
The book just feels way too rushed, like he had too many ideas but he was on a deadline to get them written down. The book hit so many points and ideas that we struggle with today as a society, and I have to give Huxley his recognition for writing a genuinely interesting class novel, but there were so many things that bothered me while reading that I really can't even say that I fully enjoyed the book.
Please do share your opinions below. I haven't had an actual debate or conversation with anyone on here, so it'd be nice to end my summer feeling like I actually accomplished something on this blog.
~Makayla Mosley
After I finished reading Brave New World, I had this feeling that John's death seemed similar but I never knew from where. Until a few days ago, I remembered the ending of Things Fall Apart. Okonkwo and John have not only die the same way but also the characters have similar views. They are both trying to keep their beliefs and culture while other people are telling them to live a different way. John is unhappy living with the people from the World State but isn't accepted in the Reservation so he chooses that if he is going to be alone then he will do it somewhere peaceful. However, society invaded his 'haven'! Just like how the missionaries took over the way of life in Okonkwo's world. The character's are being put in a society that they do not want to be in.
ReplyDeleteIt also caught my attention how the people who arrived at the lighthouse where so unfazed that John was hanging dead. I'm not sure if it's because they have never seen suicide or have no knowledge of it. Or they just don't care because like how Makayla said, "The citizens of the World State only view him as a new method of entertainment."
Now that I'm seeing someone else point out how unfazed (I'd been trying to think of that word all night) the citizens were at John's death, it just parallels to Things Fall Apart even more. When the Europeans see that Okonkwo is dead, they are mostly unfazed, deciding that they will add a little blurb about him to their history books and biographies. John is similar in a way, he'll be nothing but a brief news headline before he fades back into obscurity.
DeleteI think that John, the innocent character the one to be truly hurt at the end was very purposeful. I think Huxley was trying to reflect it back on society and that the greedy, corrupt and evil ones are the ones who get happy endings while people like John are hung out to dry(pun not intended). John didn't kill himself because he didn't like civilization and society, he did it because it turned him into a monster. The paragraph before his death states that he had remembered everything he had done to the reporters and Lenina and he couldn't handle the guilt. Sadly the only true freedom John would ever feel is in death. In that sense I don't think his death was unnecessary or to add drama and suspense. I do feel however that his spiral to suicide was rushed into one chapter and could be seen as a twist because there was little build up.
ReplyDeleteI understand this and I do agree, now that you mention it, that John's death wasn't meaningless. I think that is just bothered me that not once in the entire novel does he get something that he wants or deserves. Society might have turned him into a monster, but it wasn't an intentional thing. If anything, his reaction to becoming corrupted should be testament enough that he was a good person at heart born at the wrong place and time.
DeleteAlthough, John's death wasn't the only problem with the book that I had, so while I agree with you about the importance of John's death, I still have to hold the same opinion of the book.