In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, exile, as a constant recurring topic, is one of the main concepts/points to notice while reading the story. Exile, depending on what type of person is affected, and what the particular situation is, can be alienating on an individual and enriching for them at the same time. In particular, there are three major characters in Brave New World who experience exile, and, each for different reasons, have a situation that can be alienating from them and enriching for them at the same time; those characters are Bernard Marx, Helmholtz Watson, and John, the savage. Of these three characters, perhaps the most troubled one, and the individual going through the most mental and physical damage is Bernard Marx. For Bernard, …show more content…
In some ways, his situation with exile is more metaphorical than literal. As an Alpha-Plus, Bernard seems to be quite different in physique and size than the other Alpha males, as he is smaller than all the others, which makes him feel inferior and lesser of a man than everyone else. Bernard finds it difficult to fit in with the other Alpha-Pluses around him, who all seem to have more traditional physiques and sizes. Because everyone else is so similar to each other and manage to be checked off as “normal” members of society, Bernard feels so insecure with himself, which, in turn, causes him to lose his content with the World State. “ . . . the physical defective Bernard had suffered all his life from the consciousness of being separate . . . ” (Huxley 67) Bernard has always been made fun of for being so much smaller than the rest of the Alphas. All of this has made him feel so alone, and he feels like he has no one in his life. Society itself has exiled Bernard by teasing him for being different. He feels like he will never be up to the same extremely high standards as the rest of the Alpha-Pluses. Bernard has long tried to be accepted by the people in the World State, but he hasn’t really had any luck with that. Furthermore, Bernard, like his friend, Helmholtz Watson, feels like a single individual isolated from the rest of society due to particular …show more content…
As said in the past paragraph, society itself sort of exiles Bernard, causing him to distance himself from everyone else. Not only is Bernard exiled metaphorically, as I’ve explained it, but he is exiled in the story literally as well. In the story, when Bernard goes to the Savage Reservation with Lenina, the Director finds himself losing his patience for him, planning to send him away to Iceland. After all, Bernard does actually end up being physically exiled from London; he, as well as Helmholtz, is sent to an isolated island. While Bernard obviously may not want to be demanded to go somewhere, deep down, he has a reason to have some satisfaction. For the first time, Bernard is free, strong, and alone (in the sense that he would like to be). After all this time of feeling like an individual that doesn’t belong, a bad error, and just an outcast of a human being, Bernard finally has this sense of freedom and peace. At this point, he ought to feel like now there’s nothing wrong with being his own self, rather than one piece of an artificial unit. Having been sent away from a place that was beginning to not really seem like “home” anymore, Bernard should feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of his
In the first place Bernard was introduced as an unmotivated young boy drawing with charcoal “was busy at nothing”(page 14). During the groom service, he had to go for hunting for his would be in-laws. The process of hunting created motivation in him. The evidence is seen on page 20 where “he thought about hunting [often], how he could have succeeded the times he had failed”. He started to find motivation for something for the first time. Previously he had nothing to be motivated about. Afterwards groom service he found an aim in his life. He understood good hunting skills will earn him a place in front of his in-laws and society.
Bernard Marx was alienated in the Brave New World because of his general appearance. As an Alpha Plus, Bernard was unusually short and ugly. Suggested by Fanny, Bernard's condition resulted from an error when he was still in a bottle, the workers "thought he was a Gamma and put alcohol into his blood surrogate." Bernard did not fit in the structured order of the Brave New World and was therefore shunned by others. The error resulted in Bernard developing outside the barriers of his caste level. His ugliness and short stature led Bernard to become a perpetual outsider, alienated by society. As an outsider, Bernard was cynical of the order and structure of the Brave New World. He eschewed Electric Golf, and other social amusements in favor of loneliness and solidarity activities, such as, thinking. Bernard attempted to find a way "to be happy in some other way," in his own way, not the established way.
One way in which isolation is used in the novel is to present or describe the character and how they deal with their environment. For example, Walton describes in his letters that he is far north of London and without friends. He goes on to say, “I shall certainly find no friend on the Wide Ocean, nor even here in Archangel," being overly pessimistic. Victor copes with the monster and his surroundings after creating him, "I was as a child when I awoke… and half frightened as it were instinctive finding myself so desolate.” No matter how much knowledge he possesses, he somehow manages to feel like a child, and he is still human no matter how monstrous he is.
The nature of isolation starts when an individual starts to separate him/herself from others, socially and emotionally, and is also used as a defense from dangerous people. One example is where Crooks tells that “The white kids come to play…… My ol’ man didn’t like that” (70). He’s been taught from his childhood to be by himself so that he would not get in trouble. Candy demonstrates this concept too when he talks about his fate after having to witness the shooting of his only companion, his old dog. “When they can me here I wisht somebody’d shoot me. But they won’t do nothing like that. I won't have no place to go, an’ I can’t get no more jobs”. This quote argues that men with disabilities and color in this book are treated as bad as dogs or even worse. Humans are evil by nature and by birth. It is how the world was made. To love and to hate, although, the latter wins. People in the higher caste tend to blame everything small thing that they get in trouble for on people under them. Therefore, when individuals intend to protect themselves, they isolate themselves from the world, emotionally and
He was able to think for himself instead of allowing the brotherhood or Bledsoe to do it for him. The narrator was able to live and understand the mistakes he made and allow it to enrich his knowledge of society. Exile in the narrator’s case was a positive influence on his life due to the narrators gain in self-knowledge. The narrator uses his experiences and put them together so that he is able to enrich the next persons mind with knowledge and experience. Being able to encounter the knowledge without experiencing the pain is a great way to understand the struggle another man had to go
In the character of Bernard, Huxley seems to have created a person who doesn’t fit in with the crowd but deep downs truly wants to. Bernard in the book is alpha and other people look up them, but Bernard lacks the height of an alpha. In addition, his entire mindset is different also how he assume of being free one day and experiencing something else “as though I were more me, if you see what I mean. More on my own, not so completely a part of something else. Not just a cell in the social body.”(Huxley 90) While the populace is being manipulated by this world and fits into their signed group Bernard feels out of place and has more time to himself and deep down Bernard know that this society is not for me, in contrast, Bernard hates the idea
Franz Kafka, in his novella “The Metamorphosis”, and Harry Mulisch, in his novel The Assault, uses dark, lonely diction and imagery to create the isolation within the protagonists. The setting symbolizes how the protagonist’s isolation continues to enlarge throughout the book. At the beginning of both the novels, the setting is more open and light, which is compared to the characters’ isolation that is less bordered and complex. As the settings grow smaller and the characters become lonelier, Anton and Gregor’s isolation become more pronounced. Gregor is gradually becoming isolated by his family causing his transformation to progress rapidly, while Anton’s family is growing, but his isolation is conflicted upon himself, causing the setting to continue to encase them, emphasizing the effects that their isolation takes on them.
The one person who he loved as a partner didn't share the same morals and this caused separation between them. Having a mother was an obscene quality, in a society where everyone belonged to everyone, family was a despicable thing. The isolation he felt was a strong potent to his beliefs; he begins to see that solitude is the best way to stay true to his values.“The Savage had chosen as his hermitage the old lighthouse…” the time he stayed alone he reflected on his life. As a being living in this world the time he was unaccompanied was the most meaningful part in the novel as he came to realize his own self. His interaction with the others became too much for him to handle and led him to his own
Exile is the banning of someone from their land or the act of expulsion. Anglo-Saxons experienced great fear of exile happening to them, and expressed this in their writings. Exile to the Anglo-Saxons meant loneliness, difficulty surviving, and starting a new beginning. To express their fear, they sang many lyircs about it. Some examples of this writing is “The Seafarer”, “The Wanderer”, and “The Wife’s Lament”. Each of these lyrics displays an example of exile within the Anglo-Saxon community. These lyrics each introduce a different aspect of exile to very different people. Exile can be shown in many different ways and can each have different effects on a person.
Bernard is different from most of the other citizens including the other Alphas. Alphas are supposed to be the height of the New World. They are created and conditioned to be the tallest, strongest, and smartest in the society. However, they are still conditioned and expected to act a certain way. Bernard hates the society he is in. He feels, “enslaved
At many times throughout the book, he is followed by an overpowering feeling of loneliness that follows him wherever he goes. At the Reservation, he is lonely because of the lack of people around him. No matter where he looks, he cannot find someone to spend the time with, or who seems to care. All this changes when he is brought into the World State. Here, he is surrounded by people that want to learn about and meet him. So unused to this feeling, this makes him feel painfully out of place. Where he used to suffer from being physically lonely, he is now experiencing emotional loneliness. Especially after the death of Linda, his mother, he feels able more alone than ever. This is what leads to his inevitable
"Solitude and Isolation in One Hundred Years of Solitude :: One Hundred Years of Solitude." Free Essays, Term Papers, Research Paper, and Book Report. Web. 30 Dec. 2009. .
Bernard Marx an Alpha plus specialist in sleep teaching is an example of a character that changes in the brave new word. He changes from a character that symbolized individuality to a character that just wanted to desperately belong to the society. At the beginning of the novel he seemed to be very different from the society, he acts like a rebel trying to battle against the order of things. He seemed to be an “individual” in the first few chapters. For example On his first date with Lenina with lenina he says ” I’d rather be myself. ‘Myself and nasty .Not somebody else, however jolly”(77). He wanted to be something else different from the rest of the society. However we see that his root concern is to be socially acceptable and not really about becoming an individual. In chapter 6 Bernard shows signs of undergoing a change in his character. When the Director summoned Bernard to his office for being unorthodox, Bernard goes on to brag to his friend Helmholtz Watson on his victory over the director when he says” I simply told him to go to the bottomless past and marched out of the room and that was that “(85). We get the sense that Bernard’s victory wasn’t so much about personal integrity as it was social acceptance. Finally, his character undergoes a c...
Said, E. W. (2000). Reflections on exile and other essays. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Exile is defined as the state of being barred from one’s native country, typically for political or punitive reasons. Many Anglo-Saxon writings involve exile or the fear of being separated from one’s people. For Anglo-Saxons, the bond between family and friends was one of the most important aspects of life; kinship was very significant in this ancient society. Being forced to be alone and astray from one’s kin was thought to be one of the worst forms of punishment. People did not know how to function by themselves, as they were used to routine. On the other hand, however, some Anglo-Saxons chose to exile themselves, whether it be out of curiosity, the longing for adventure, or feeling like they did not belong anymore. Whatever the case, exile