Chapter 18 brave new world summary


Chapter 16

Summary:

The three men enter Mustapha Mond's office. Helmholtz chooses the best chair in the room while Bernard seeks out the worst, hoping that this self-inflicted punishment will make things easier for him. Mustapha arrives and asks the Savage if he likes their civilization. John does not, but he adds that it does have some gentle things like the floating tune. Mustapha quotes Shakespeare to him: "Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about my ears and sometimes voices." The Savage is thrilled that someone else knows Shakespeare. Mustapha indicates that although he forbids reading things such as Shakespeare, he can break the rules since they are his rules.

When asked why he censors old things like Shakespeare, Mustapha replies that society no longer needs them. People are happy now and would not even understand the old things. When Helmholtz argues that something like Othello is what he has always wanted to write, Mustapha says that he will never write it because tragedy and raw emotions lead to social instability. At the same time, creating works of art is not doable without tragic elements within community. The challenge in their civilizatio

Brave New World – Summary of Each Chapter

Brave New World Summary – A regular on the AP reading list, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is a dystopian novel that asks what a society is willing to trade for stability and peace. It’s a book that hasn’t lost its relevance. Ninety-two years after its publication, its presentation of the pacifying effects of drugs, sex, and media seems prescient. Whether you’re getting ready to read it for a class, or you’ve seen one of the made-for-TV films, this summary will give you the main points so that you can really appreciate Huxley’s chilling indictment of utopianism.  

Related Reading

A quick overview: Firstly, the book presents a world in which individuals are produced and conditioned according to caste (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon). Alphas are athletic, intelligent, and conditioned for independence and leadership, while Episons are referred to as “semi-morons’ and are used for menial labor. The book focuses on four main characters, Bernard Marx, his sometimes sexual partner Lenina, Helmholtz, and John (“the Savage”).     

Brave New World Summary

Brave New World Chapter 1 Summary

Chapter one introduces the C

Chapter 18 Notes from Brave New World

Brave New World Chapter 18

Helmholtz goes to find the Savage, who looks ill. He asks him if he ate something that didn't agree with him, and the Savage says that he ate civilization, and that it poisoned and defiled him, and that he drank, according to Indian purification tradition, mustard and warm water. Helmholtz and Bernard are astonished at his self-punishment, and tell him that they have come to say goodbye before they are sent to an island. The Savage tells them that he asked to be sent away with them, and the Controller refused in order to continue the experiment of his immersion in society. He tells them that he too is planning to go away tomorrow, though he does not know where.

The Savage (John) travels through England until he reaches the lighthouse, believing it to be a difficult and harsh place to live. He has brought blankets, rope and string, nails, glue, tools, matches, pots and pans, seeds, and flour. He does not sleep his first night, and begs forgiveness from both western and reservation deities from Jesus to Pookong. He holds his arms out in crucifixion, begging in pain to be forgiven. He has many conflicting feelings.

Brave New World Chapter 18 Summary

More on Brave New World

  • Helmholtz and Bernard (who has calmed down) find John in the bathroom, throwing up. John explains that he was sick because he ate civilization and it poisoned him. He then ate his own wickedness, he says, along with some mustard and water.
  • (Um…what? John's "mustard and warm water" is a simple treatment for poisoning. It makes the afflicted individual throw up; John is purging himself the way he saw the Indians do it on the Reservation. This is his way of getting "civilization" and "wickedness" out of his body.)
  • Bernard then apologizes for flipping out earlier, but John, ever-magnanimous, stops him.
  • And then… the three men are happy, perhaps because of their sadness, because sadness "was the symptom of their love for each other."
  • John tells Helmholtz that he asked Mustapha if he could go to the island, too, but Mustapha said that he wasn't allowed to because it was necessary to "go on with the experiment."
  • But John is having none of that, he says. He's going away tomorrow, to someplace where he can "be alone."
  • That someplace turns out to be an abandoned lighthouse "between Puttenham and Elstead," which mea

    chapter 18 brave new world summary

    Brave New World - Summary and assignments

    Table of Contents

    • Chapter 1: The Hatchery and Conditioning Centre
    • Chapter 2: Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning and Hypnopaedia
    • Chapter 3: The World State and the Banishment of Family
    • Chapter 4: Bernard Marx and Lenina Crowne's Trip; Helmholtz Watson's Friendship
    • Chapter 5: Lenina's Doubts; Bernard at the Solidarity Service
    • Chapter 6: The Savage Reservation
    • Chapter 7: The Pueblo of Malpais; Meeting John the Savage and Linda
    • Chapter 8: John's Past and Childhood on the Reservation
    • Chapter 9: John's Feelings for Lenina; Bernard's Request to Mond
    • Chapter 10: Bernard's Banishment; Revelation of John and Linda's Relationship to the Director

    Objectives and Key Themes

    The text aims to explore the societal implications of advanced technological advancements and the potential dangers of sacrificing individuality for stability and happiness. It achieves this through a narrative that juxtaposes a seemingly utopian world with the complexities and contradictions inherent in its design.

    • Technological Control and its Impact on Society
    • Individuality vs. Conformity
    • The Nature of Happiness and its Artificial Creation
    • The Role of Family and Tra