Brave New World #2: Differences and The Tempest

            In this section of the book, Lenina and Bernard travel to the Savage Reservation. It’s fascinating that the people in the reservation are very similar to the Indians that inhabited the Americas before the Spanish and the British came. Funny that even after how long it’s been in the book, and how different the world is, there is still a need to preserve the culture and the people of the past.

            This trip also really emphasizes how different the “savages” are from the modern people of that time. Almost everything that the savages do disgusts Lenina, who is a typical new world citizen. Even Bernard, who views himself different than the other people in the new world, is entirely grossed out by a small scar that John, a savage, has on his head. In the reservation, they seem to be proud of scars and injuries. Also, there is no such thing as marriage in the new world, whereas marriage on the reservation is a huge deal and they don't even have a word for divorce.

            The reference of the title brings me to my second topic. The title is finally mentioned in Chapter 8, when John the savage is told he and his mother will likely be brought back to the new world with Bernard and Lenina. John quotes the line “O Brave New World, that has such people in it” from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The parallel between these two works is uncanny. John is very similar to Miranda, for they both lived their entire lives away from contact with the outside, and get their knowledge about them from their parent’s stories.

            The similarity to The Tempest also goes into the idea of colonialism. Prospero from The Tempest basically colonizes the island he crash lands on and attempts to civilize it’s only inhabitant. In Brave New World, the new world has basically colonized the entire planet, civilizing everyone to their way of thinking and erasing all other cultures and languages. Aside from the reservation, of course.