Rereading Brave New World and the character of Bernard Marx
This is actually my second time reading Brave New World. I read it once several years ago, in middle school. I remember reading it because one of my friends was reading it at the time, after we had recently read Animal Farm in school, if I remember correctly.
I’ve been able to see a lot of changes in my reactions to the book between then and now. For one thing, I’ve simply been thinking about the book more while I’ve been reading it this time around. Some of this might simply be because I’m reading the book for class, but I think it also has to do with the years between the readings. For instance, I don’t think I really considered the way that the Reservation was depicted when I first read the book at all, and simply accepted large portions of the book as they were written. I think I am also less friendly towards Bernard this time around, instead of, again, simply accepting him as the protagonist and moving on, even though I think that is not Huxley’s intention in the book.
Speaking of Bernard, I think that the reason that Huxley chooses him as our main character is to give us a character that is very clearly human to us. Most of the rest of the society is so radically different that we would not understand them as well, but Bernard is very clearly understandable. He is a person that I think we all recognize, maybe through interactions with someone like him, maybe through seeing parts of ourselves in him, and some through other fictional characters like him, even if he is not a character we particularly admire or consider a good person. For this purpose, Helmholtz, who also seems to be more like us, is not an acceptable character. Helmholtz is too high-functioning. He successfully interacts with the ‘Brave New World’ in a way which Bernard cannot do, and so, we cannot quite relate to him, because he has no failures until the second half of the book, when he is placed under suspicion for writing radical pieces for emotional engineering. Bernard, meanwhile, cannot function properly in the world he lives in, and cannot disguise this fact, meaning that we see the rest of their society interacting with him as they would with someone from our society, or as ours would interact with someone as radically different from our own (accusing them of having birth defects and so on, though in this case more decanting defects).
In general, I think I have a much better sense of the various characters on this second reading than I did the first time around. John is the only character I can clearly remember from my first time reading the novel, and I mostly remember those parts of the plot which involved him closely. I essentially have no recollection of any other character in the book, with the exception of the DHC, who I sort of remembered as the introductory character. I had no recollection absolutely of Linda, especially, which is interesting, as I do remember the scenes set on the reservation. There are other details I forgot about completely, including the ‘feelies’ and the various versions of golf which they play, which seem fairly relevant to the understanding of the society of the ‘Brave New World’. All in all, it’s been a very interesting experience to re-read Brave New World several years on, and to see what I forgot from the book and what I remembered from the book.
-Sasha Rushing
This is my first time reading Brave New World, but I've definitely experienced similar things while rereading other books. I think in general, when we're younger, we are much more forgiving of the protagonist. We know who the good guy's supposed to be, so even if she/he messes up, we overlook it and our opinion of the character isn't tainted. However, as I've gotten older, I've definitely become more critical of the characters, in particular the protagonists, because it's easier to see their faults and mistakes. While my perception of protagonists may no longer be so rose-tinted, I think it has allowed me to relate and connect to the characters on a deeper level, because they seem much more human to me with their faults.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your remark about generally accepting the main character/protagonist as they are, without questioning their motives or their actions. I agree that Huxley chooses Bernard as the main character for us to "follow around" because he questions this society and doesn't fit in, just as someone reading the book today would feel. Helmholtz is too innocent or naive perhaps, he makes for a good side character. I wonder why you forgot Linda, though. The descriptions of her are rather mean and vivid, but perhaps you forgot her because she merely served as a plot device for the director to retire and to illustrate the differences between the civilized world and "uncivilized" one. Good post!
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that the only character that you clearly remembered from your first time around was John. I feel that Bernard left the biggest impact on me as a character just because he's arguably the most relatable character in the text and we gain many insights of his inner thoughts and feelings. I would agree with you that Huxley chooses Bernard as the protagonist of this piece because although he is imperfect, he effectively addresses some of the readers' skepticism when it comes to the radically different society that Bernard lives in. He also acts in radical ways that force readers to reevaluate ponder on some difficult questions in terms of what constitutes happiness and what makes a society ideal.
ReplyDeleteI too remember reading books and then rereading them and figuring out my childhood self had glossed over major plot points. It's interesting that you remember John most clearly, because as I go on in life, I think he is the character I will remember most as well. I disagree with you a little bit in terms of the main character--I found Bernard not as relatable and often frustrating, but human. I would also argue that this book doesn't have a "main" character in the way others do, instead it focuses more on the society and its effects, and the characters are simply people who happened to be swept up in it.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I can definitely understand how your opinion would have changed since your first time reading Brave New World. On the topic of Bernard, I think it is a good point to make that Bernard may essentially be the character of the reader in the book. I feel that he serves less as a protagonist, but more of a vessel in which to contrast our society and theirs. John serves the same purpose, but I feel he is more of a protagonist than Bernard.
ReplyDeleteNice Post! I can definitely understand that reading the book a second time while understanding more about the book could make you understand that Bernard is maybe not the protagonist. He seems just like more of like an event that shows the problems with "civilized" society. He seems to be at every important point in the story almost by accident (except for the end) and he might even be the one causing the problems in the firs place.
ReplyDeleteI can totally relate to reading a book for the second time years later. I remember in 20th century novel last semester, it was my second time reading Albert Camus' The Stranger and I had very different thoughts about it while reading it again, especially about the main character. I find it really interesting to see how your perspective on the same book can change so greatly in the span of a few years. I wonder, if we read BNW once again in a few years, would we have all of the same thoughts and feelings about it as we do now?
ReplyDeleteI agree that Huxley might have chosen Bernard as the main character so that we are able to relate to him. It's really hard to stay interested in a book if we cannot identify with any of the characters. I have noticed that other dystopian novels that have radically different societies than our own still have characters with traits that we can relate to. For example, Divergent has a strict five faction social structure that tries to put people into one category, yet it still has characters that have multidimensional personalities and interests that we are more familiar with. I find that the more I can relate to characters in a book, the more engaged I am.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I've never read Brave New World before this class, I can relate to how you read books differently when reading it for a second time. I don't find it surprising that you remember John most vividly from the first time you read the book, and I think that had to do with the fact that his shocking fate in the ending. However, I do think that Bernard is a memorable character because of how relatable he is. Since most of us see the New World as an odd society where everything is "too perfect" and following a schedule, Bernard makes sense to us because of how he doesn't fit in with the others.
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