Similar To The Feelings Of Bernard example essay topic

Outcasts are those who have been excluded from a society or a system. Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World contains two sets of people within a somewhat utopist society. Ideally within a utopist society, everyone is alike and there are no differences. Huxley's utopist society has norms just like any other utopist society but the exception is that there outcasts. Specifically, Huxley has included the characters Bernard as well as John the Savage, and Linda as the outcasts within this society. People who transgress against social norms are likely to find themselves painfully alone.

Aldous Huxley's futuristic novel Brave New World demonstrates how individuals who challenge their societies, risk becoming outcasts. Huxley's Bernard Marx, is the first outcast the reader is presented with. From the first moment we meet Bernard, he is seen unfavorably by others. Fanny for instance, talks behind Bernard's back with Lenina. She thinks he is inferior and is surprised that Lenina is interested in him because he is so physically different to the other members of his Alpha-plus caste. She says, "He's so ugly!

... And then so small". (Huxley 41). Bernard himself feels inferior to the rest of the society. At one time, he is shut out from a conversation between Henry Foster and the Assistant Pre destinator. The two of them talk as if Bernard didn't exist at all.

During this conversation, Bernard shows us how different he is to the rest of society. They talk about Lenina, in a sexual manner, and he feels that this is rude and that she deserves to be treated fairly. He says, "Talking about her as though she were a bit of meat. Have her here, have her there. Like mutton. Degrading her to so much mutton".

(40). Bernard does not follow the sexual mentalities of the rest of the World State, even though he went through the same hypnopedic practices as everyone else. According to Fanny: .".. somebody made a mistake when he was still in the bottle - thought he was a Gamma and put alcohol in his blood-surrogate. That's why he's so stunted". (41). He feels emotions that others in the World State do not feel whatsoever.

He feels jealous when Lenina is with Henry Foster. He enjoys nature, and wants to be in a serious relationship. During his date with Lenina, he says, "I thought we'd be more... more together here - with nothing but the sea and moon. More together than in that crowd, or even in my rooms.

Don't you understand that?" (82). These feelings are an extreme rarity in the World State. These feelings lead him to believe that he is inferior to the other members of his Alpha-plus caste. Bernard treats himself unfairly at other times as well. He notices how others shut him out, and in response, he shuts himself out, making people dislike him even more. Bernard's feelings of inferiority and his isolationist habits cause him to be extremely insecure within the World State.

As a result, he acts extremely arrogantly and harshly towards the caste members below him and causes him to boast towards Helmholtz and while doing so, repelling his only friend. After a conversation between Helmholtz and Bernard, Helmholtz says, "Nevertheless there were things in Bernard which he hated. This boasting, for example. And the outbursts of an abject self-pity with which it alternated. And his deplorable habit of being bold after the event, and full, in absence, of the most extraordinary presence of mind". (89).

It is actions like this on Bernard's part that cause him to be further outcast from society. It seems that Bernard is oblivious to his actions and does not recognize the consequences. Bernard's outcast status is characterized by his appearance, feelings, and ideas. Due to the hypnopedic practices of the rest of society, he is seen as outcast where he is nothing more than a normal human being by our present day standards. His constant attempts to fit in with society only contribute to him becoming more of an outcast in the eyes of the World State. Upon returning from the Savage Reservation, he brings Linda and her son; John the Savage back to London.

His motive for bringing these strangers back to London is that he knows the presence of John, who is the Director's illegitimate child, will embarrass the Director and will hopefully make Bernard's peers think of him as a superior person. These are selfish motives from Bernard to enhance his own image, in an effort to make up for his feelings of inferiority. Bernard's new found fame goes straight to his head, and he is unaware of how to handle this fame. This causes him to act arrogantly towards his peers and his best friend, Helmholtz.

Through this process, Bernard learns a valuable lesson; fame is short-lived. Bernard's fame diminishes when the Savage fails to show up for the assembly, leaving Bernard once again feeling like an outcast. Bernard's overall lack of confidence and his insecurity caused by his outcast status, leaves him feeling that he must always be on the side that is popular. When Bernard is threatened to be sent away, he cries, only adding to his insecurity. Through these events, we see that he is unable to stand up for himself, and unable to face the consequences of his actions.

Through his many experiences, we see the character of Bernard evolve to a point where he is alone, there is no one left to support him. And this ultimately is the end of Bernard. For a while, he hung on with the help of a few comrades, but without them he is nothing. One of the other major outcasts in the novel is Linda.

Readers of Brave New World are given the impression that Linda's life started out the same as anyone else's in London. Linda was a Beta working in the Fertilization Room. Sadly, her life look a turn for the worst when she visited the Savage Reservation with the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning (who is regarded to as To makin within the Reservation) but got pregnant. It is here in the Savage Reservation where the reader can see an accurate comparison between life in London and life in the "normal world". The reaction of Linda to the sight of people from London is enough to see how she feels.

"Oh, my dear, my dear. If you knew how glad-after all these years! A civilized face. Yes, and civilized clothes. Because I thought I should never see a piece of real acetate silk again. And those adorable viscose velveteen shorts".

(107). Linda shows extreme happiness towards the World State and its monetary possessions. Linda yearns to go back, but knows she can't because of her illegitimate son, John. At one point, she even tells him, "If it hadn't been for you, I might have gone to the Inspector, I might have got away. But not with a baby. That would have been too shameful".

(115). Despite this fact, the World State still holds a special spot in her heart. She says to Lenina, "Do you know, dear, I've still got my old clothes, the ones I came in, put away in a box". (107).

Linda refuses to leave her past, and she can't be blamed for this. She is not assimilated into the Reservation society whatsoever. In fact, she is treated poorly by the other people in the Reservation. "Linda was on the bed. One of the women was holding her wrists. Another was lying across her legs, so that she couldn't kick.

The third was hitting her with a whip. Once, twice, three times; and each time Linda screamed". (113). "In the strange other words they said that Linda was bad; they called her names he did not understand, but that he knew were bad names".

(116). The reader cannot help but feel pity towards Linda. She has had to suffer tremendously. Coming from a perfect world to the Savage Reservation is not an easy task.

"I suppose John told you. What I had to suffer - and not a gramme of soma to be had. Only a drink of mescal every now and then". (107). Here, we see the hard time that Linda had adjusting as an outsider in a world that was foreign to her. Linda's son John did not have an easier time at all.

All his life, John has been an outcast at the reservation as a result of his mother's promiscuity. He does not look like other people on the reservation; John often feels inferior and different than others, which is similar to the feelings of Bernard. John had a fairly rough childhood which leads to his feelings of inferiority. When Linda is getting whipped, John attempts to try and stop it: "While he was lying on the ground she hit him three times with the whip". (114). John cares deeply for his mother, and for that he is tormented and outcast from society.

"One day they sand a song about her, again and again. He threw stones at them. They threw back; a sharp stone cut his cheek. The blood wouldn't stop; he was covered with blood". (116). John's love for his mother is imminent, and the aforementioned instance we see him symbolically suffering and bleeding for her which only reaffirms his love for her.

In doing so, he is frowned upon by the other members of society. After telling his story, John says, "Alone, always alone", (124) and Bernard responds, "Are you? I thought that in the Other Place... I mean, Linda always said that nobody was ever alone there".

(124). Simply put, regardless of the location, John will be outcast. John then tells him how he has fantasized and pretended to be Jesus crucified by scarring himself. When Bernard asks him why he did this he says, "Because I felt I ought to. If Jesus could stand it. And then, if one has done something wrong...

Besides, I was unhappy; that was another reason". (125). We can almost see a parallel between the lives of both Jesus and John. The two were different than the rest of their societies, and for that faced the consequences.

Jesus was disliked for his different views on society and his attempts to try and change the views of others, cost him his life. John did not like what society's norms were, and he felt that the exclusion of God was wrong and that religion was needed within this society. John tried to convince people they were living incorrectly. Society however, rejected his views and their rejection ultimately led him to kill himself. It is evident that if you are different than everyone else in a society, you will be outcast, regardless of who you are. John's inferiority came about not from his own actions, but came from what he thought society was lacking.

Individuals that seem different in the eyes of a larger societal group will ultimately be labeled as outcasts. One cannot change how others perceive them, but rather can attempt to assimilate themselves especially into a larger societal group. By assimilation, one may blend into the larger societal group, or ultimately become eradicated. Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. h Hammersmith, London: Harper Collins Publishers, 1994.