Helmholtz And John example essay topic

It is not hard to believe that unusual people are found when everyone is trained to be the same in every part of life. Bernard, Helmholtz and John, the savages of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, are three odd characters. "Ninety-six identical twins working ninety-six identical machines!" (18) The director preaches with excitement, as he comments on how everyone is conditioned to like what they are and what they do; thus, creating a world where everyone is happy. But when something has gone wrong with the conditioning of someone, that individual is going to be miserable. Bernard, Helmholtz and John all wish that this "happy" world was different.

Bernard Marx is a short, funny looking man. Bernard does not fit in very well with his peers. He is a highly intelligent Alpha, and part of the higher society, but he is small and looked upon as a deformed Alpha. Being small in the Utopia that he lives in is considered to be wrong and corrupt. Many people believe that too much alcohol was added to his embryo. Bernard likes to be alone and does not play sports like everyone else does.

He does not like to take Soma or be a part of any activities so, therefore, he is not happy. Bernard is full of discontent in a world where everyone is happy. In the beginning the reader is led to believe that Bernard enjoys being a misfit, but later it is found out that he is a very gloomy man. When he returns to his native reserve with John, he is suddenly popular with important people and women. It is not his doings making him popular, but sadly from his association with John. 'Bernard was politely listened to, but behind his back people shook their heads.

"That young man will come to a bad end", they said prophesying the more confidently in that they in due coarse see to it that the end was bad, "He won't find another Savage to help him out another time", they said. Meanwhile there was a first savage; they were polite. ' (129) It proves the point that he is a misfit even further when he is shunned from society. Bernard has always been different and his short feeling of popularity proves that he will always be different and looked down on for it. Bernard is not a normal Alpha, but neither is Helmholtz Watson. Helmholtz is different from the average Alpha, although for completely opposite reasons of Bernard.

Helmholtz is very successful in sports and sex, but oddly enough he is not pleased with his life. He knows that the world is capable of being much better, capable of greater literature and, most of all, he knows that he is capable of creating it. When John shows Helmholtz some Shakespeare writing Helmholtz is grateful. He sees it as his opportunity to change society. ' "That's what we " ve all been wanting to write", said Helmholtz, breaking a long silence. "And it's what you never will write" said the controller.

"Because, if it were really like Othello nobody would understand it, however new it might be. And if it were new, it couldn't possibly be like Othello. You can't make tragedies without social instability". ' (177) When Helmholtz is sent to Falkland Island, he accepts his fate and is maybe even a little grateful for it because he sees it as a great opportunity to better his writing. Helmholtz believes that if there is a discomfort caused to himself, and by being around others who have been exiled it will give him more to write about. Helmholtz is so different from his peers because he has a greater understanding of things other than what they have been conditioned to understand.

Helmholtz and John have a common interest between them with Shakespeare. ' "But why is it prohibited?" asked the Savage. In the excitement of meeting a man who had read Shakespeare he had momentarily forgotten everything else. ' (176) They both share a common understanding of this foreign form of writing. John the Savage is different from any human of either society. John is the son of two people from this perfect society where giving birth was unheard of, even forbidden.

He was raised in an imperfect society known as savage reservation, where his mother raised him. John and his mother were brought to the Utopia by Bernard to be examined. The people of this society were interested by this foreigner because they had never met or seen anyone like John who had been born from a mother. John was tall and handsome but even more of an alien than the "deformed" looking Bernard. John simply did not fit in. John believes in such things as religion, where a Utopian believes godliness is mass production and conformity like Ford and his mass production of the model T. John could not accept "sharing" everyone with each other for it goes against his religion.

John's religion also consists of an old fashioned morality, which he learned from reading Shakespeare. One of John's strong religious beliefs is that you must take pain to become replenished, so he whips himself whenever he does something against his religion such as having an impure thought. John's beliefs are against those of the brave new world, so he is stuck in a struggle to overcome people almost forcing Soma on him and their cultural beliefs. When John finally has enough of society pushing their ways upon him he decides to leave, he escapes to a deserted lighthouse, where he can be alone. When people accidentally find John's hiding place they are still interested in his odd ways. Because of the Utopians never ending curiosity of this alien, they never leave him and this ultimately drives him crazy.

The Utopians are so interested of his purification ritual that they camp out near his lighthouse. The Utopians had never seen anything like him. "Pain was a fascinating horror". (198) The Utopia where they live does not allow for differences, poetry or religion, so these characters were destined to live unhappily because they could not change this world, which they did not fit into. Each of these three characters wish that their "perfect" world were different but sadly they could not change their environment and were finally driven from it.