In the novel, Brave New World,
the character, John the savage, is an example of a character who through his
alienation with both the civilized and savage worlds reveals the society’s
assumptions and moral values or in this case lack of moral values. This alienation is John primary motivation for
his actions and behaviors. He is not completely accepted on the Savage
Reservation because his mother was from the “civilized” world state and so he
is willing to take his chances in that world and leaves the Reservation. He then finds himself appalled by the
shallowness of this “civilized” world. This
fundamental conflict between his values and the reality of the world state
creates such an internal conflict that he eventually commits suicide.
John was born and raised on the
Savage Reservation where the traditional values of marriage, natural birth,
family and religion still exists, but he has not been accepted into their
culture because his mother was a Beta-minus accidently left on the Reservation
while she was pregnant. John main source of moral education has come from the
reading of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. This makes John way more moral than the
mindless conditioned inhabitants of the civilized world he finds after he
leaves the Reservation. The “utopian”
society has been created by advances in science and technology that compensate
for the potential sources of instability in a society, by getting rid of
parents and families, and by scientifically engineering each person in test
tubes from fertilization to decanting, women no longer give birth, and then by
behaviorally conditioning the mass produced population during their youth for
their specific purpose in society.
Should there ever be a moment when one becomes the least bit
dissatisfied with some aspect of their lives, they can simply pop a few pills and
be brought instantly back to “enjoying” their inescapable social destiny. In the new world order, stability and
happiness are more important than humanity and can only be achieved by
sacrificing love, family, art, science, and religion. John concludes that
without these, life is not worth living.
If you equate freedom or purpose of life with the ability to choose, you
can see that in the utopia of a Brave New World there is no freedom or purpose
in life and in the end the savage commits suicide. John says towards the end of the book: “I
don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want
freedom, I want goodness. I want sin."
Wanting these things is what gives live meaning otherwise you just have
an existence, but no meaning.
John’s alienation from the other
members of both the savage and civilized worlds in the novel, motivate him to
understand his own morality and question the morality of the civilized world. John, the Savage, ironically becomes the symbol
for real civilized behavior. The new
world state’s motto is “Community, Identity, Stability” which is achieved only
through the misuse of the sciences such as biology, physiology, and psychology. Community is achieved by creating a single
identity of “every one belongs to every one else” and genetic engineering and
physiological and psychological conditioning allows for the creation of social
classes of individual programmed to be completely accepting of their designated
class. Despite not being a product of these abuses, John cannot accept his own
shortcomings and his internal conflicts eventually cause him to commit suicide.
