Savages and Civilization

I'm finding myself fascinated by the text's focus on contrasts despite functioning as a hive-mind, community driven society. Bernard and Lenina's journey outside the sanctum of their pleasure-filled, caste-specific niches enable them to encounter a people who are both a foil to them and a spectacle. The 'savages' don't understand that "civilization means sterilization," and they age, bleed, and hate (Huxley 114).

In chapter seven, the focus on the Indians and the 'savage' caught my attention, like in the scene where the old Indian, as he turns to Lenina, is described: "In his deep sunken orbits his eyes were still extraordinarily bright," casting a sense of vitality despite the group's derision of his age, saying of the elders in their world, "We don't allow them to be like that" (Huxley 106). Huxley's Utopia, it seems, has defied the nature of time and life, both in their breeding programs and conditionings and denial of age. This, I believe, is what lends to the introspective and haunting quality of the overall text. For all of their allowed pursuit of carnal pleasure and easygoing attitude, moments where they interact with an outside thinker of their ways (Bernard, Linda), cause an unbearable instability and unease in these utopians.

This instability is perfectly represented by John's existence. His insistent curiosity and thirst for reading and knowledge further mark him as an outsider. He was born, and has a mother, but he strives for 'civilization' as much as his outcast parent. His narration uses lyricism and references to Shakespeare and desire in ways that are intimate and philosophical, all of which create a wonderful portrait of the disparities of both the strict-yet-relaxed utopia and the barbarous-yet-familiar outsiders/Savages. As with any character straddling two cultures/heritages, John brings into question the divide between these two societies and why they exist, and how they both mirror and commentate on our own humanity and way of living.

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