BNW- blog 19

Chapter 18



Summary:
Helmholtz and Bernard go to say good bye to John. John wanted to go with them to the island, but Mond wouldn't allow it. He said John had to finish the experiment. John is then taken to a secluded area to live in a lighthouse. He chose this lighthouse because it is far away from people and theoretically, he will be alone. Once he gets to the lighthouse, he feels he doesn't diserve to live in such a beautiful place. His first night there, he holds his arms out in a mock crucifixion and begs for forgiveness. The next morning he still feels he is unworthy. He starts to plant a garden and make a bow and some arrows. He is having a good time carving, until he realizes he is having a good time and immediately starts thinking about his dead mother making himself miserable. 


John continues on with his strange masochistic routine everyday until three Delta-Minuses drive past the lighthouse. They see him whipping himself and can't believe it and go back to the society and tell everyone. A few days later, reporters flocked to John. The first reporter to show up got dropkicked and every reporter after that was a little more conscientious about trying to get an interview. After awhile it seemed like people had left him alone. 

One afternoon, John begins to think about Lenina. He thinks about the time she confronted him about her feelings, naked. To keep himself from thinking impure thoughts, he runs and jumps into a thorny bush and thinks about his dying mother. He still can't stop thinking about a naked Lenina and starts whipping himself. 

There is a reporter hiding in a bush films everything. He is a very important famous reporter. He makes a feely out of the footage and everyone swarms John. People throw peanuts at him, and start chanting, "We want the whip!" John picks up his whip and starts advancing toward the crowd and they back up. A helicopter decends and out walks Lenina and Henry. John looks at her and runs at her and starts whipping her. The crowd imitates his action and everyone starts singing Orgy-Porgy. 

John wakes up and remembers everything that happened. Awhile later reporters show up to interview him and finds him hanging from the rafters swinging back and forth. 


Vocab:
Viscose ~adj~ Sticky; Thick; Adhesive


Lit. Terms:
Simile ~ “…like turkey buzzards settling on a corpse, the reporters came.”
Allusions ~
"Maiden of Mátsaki"

Americans of Malpais

Jesus Christ

Shakespeare~

Measure for Measure ~ Thy best of rest is sleep and that thou oft provok'st; yet grossly fear'st thy death which is no more."

Othello ~ "Impudent strumpet!"

Antony and Cleopatra ~ "Eternity was in our lips and eyes."

Troilus and Cressida ~ "Fry, lechery, fry!"

Hamlet ~ Sleep. Perchance to dream. […] For in that sleep of death, what dreams…?"

~ "A good kissing carrion."

Macbeth~ "And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death."

King Lear~ "As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport. Thunder again; words that proclaimed themselves true – truer somehow than truth itself. And yet that same Gloucester had called them ever-gentle gods."



Chapter Importance:
John is a freak; he isn't a part of society. He wants nothing to do with the society, so he kills himself. Not only that, but by killing himself, he allows society to win. When you don't fit into this society, they send you away so you don't mess with the stability. This society was messing with John's mental stability. He just wanted to be left alone.