Theme Of Happy Endings In Brave New World

Happy endings to stories are often times pre conceived to mean something considered good -- things such as a romantic kiss confirming mutual love, a heroic “saves the day” moment, or a grand victory in an epic battle. However, the notion that happy endings only spur from sentient fortunate events is a misconceived one; in fact, happy endings can also be moral or spiritual, even if the final act closes with death. In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, John’s suicide that ends the novel gives him both spiritual reassessment and moral reconciliation as he searches for isolation both for his own sake and for what he believes to be the sake of World State as a whole. John is isolated from birth and through all of his life until Bernard brings him

Just as the World State is conditioned to believe in classism and their superiority or inferiority to one another based on the class they are raised with, natural causes condition John to grow comfortable in his loneliness, needing no one but himself. Even Linda’s support is oftentimes unnecessary, as her tendency to reject and isolate him as a form of punishment for leaving her exiled from the rest of society left John able to look out for himself whether she was beside him or not. Bernard attempts to warn John that London may not be much better a place for him, saying, “...anyhow, hadn’t you better wait till you actually see the new world?” (Huxley 139). After the Director’s downfall and Bernard’s rise in popularity with John at his side, John begins to truly see how the World State has developed and is disgusted by what he sees. He snaps in Chapter 15, causing a

With these components at the forefront, productivity presents itself in a crucial way. This dystopian world is built around constantly being productive, often leaving its citizens how they would personally benefit from helping their peers and associates; more specifically, how helping their peers and associates would benefit the World State. Mustapha Mond mentions this with his hypnopædic phrase, “But everyone belongs to everyone else” (Huxley 40). When Bernard brings John to London, John’s initial purpose is one hidden from him. Bernard searches to embarrass the Director for his hypocrisy by outing him as John’s father. When this mission is completed and the Director resigns, John’s significance severely decreases. He misses all chances at making connections and being productive and his lashing out on other citizens threatens his ability to continue to exist stably in society. With no true purpose of existing in the machine that is the World State, John does what he believes will be the most productive thing he can do for society and takes his own life. Doing so exemplifies how John resembles a Christ-like figure, as his death for the improvement of the world reiterates that he would rather die in isolation than live life only as a small part of a much bigger