Slowly, very slowly, like two unhurried compass needles, the feet turned towards the right; north, north- east, east, south-east, south, south-south-west; then paused, and, after a few seconds, turned as unhurriedly back towards the left. South-south-west, south, south-east, east…
Interpret this final paragraph of the book—not just as John Savage’s end, but also in light of the simile that Huxley uses. What was John seeking, and how did he fare in his quest? Does he represent anyone besides himself? What do you think the author was getting at here with this final fade-out?
I think we'll leave this post up for two class periods and discuss our findings on Friday.
39 comments:
Well, even though this is going to be up for a while I wanted to jot down a quick thought. Is it possible that the compass is a metaphor for the Savage's journey throughout the story? It seems to me like it could be a reference to how John was always searching for some light in this world he never found, a world he had initially called a "Brave New World."
At the end, John made a point of separating himself from this world with the equipment he purchased for his final days... except "when it came to pan-glandular biscuits and vitaminized beef-surrogate...Looking at the tins now, he bitterly reproached himself for his weakness(p.246)." It seems he couldn't establish a connection to the world he may have been searching for. And feeling like he may in some way be infiltrated by the society, he eventually brought about his own demise.
I think also that Huxley made an impact with his very last words about the directions that the Savage's body swayed in. It was earily scientific and measured. Almost too organized to add that little tid bit, making a final remark of the organization of the society, and even the Savage in it.
Alphabitten- Megan Aldridge
I forgot it again, Sorry.
Dissecting this paragraph is quite difficult considering the gruesome image that it instills in the reader but I will try my best.
The ambiguity of Aldous Huxley’s writing is what makes interpreting his book a daily puzzle for dedicated AP lit students, like ourselves. Like any functional compass the “compass needles” faces north, then slowly it digresses from the norm; a metaphor for John’s moral “compass” throughout the book is one way of viewing the listed directions. John is on a quest in search of acceptance, when he can not obtain it in the Reservation because “one of the men stepped forward, caught him by the arm, and pulled him out of the ranks (136),” he redirects his path, his compass direction, toward the Brave New World. There he is faced with a different reality that he just can not seem to accept, not fully understanding Lenina’s way of life and how her world is devoid of emotion; John isolates himself, turning around to reclaim his individuality and finds his way back to where he came from. Unfortunately on his voyage to find who he really is and to ask forgiveness for hurting his mother, he gets swept up into a reciting of “orgy-porgy.” Conforming to the Brave New World’s values, something that he tried vehemently to avoid, he gives himself no option other than to escape indefinitely and die. The sense of returning to our roots and where we belong is similar to our own lifestyles, we criticize the media hype surrounding scandals but sooner or later the drama and intricate details get the better of our curiosity. Then again, curiosity did kill the cat (or savage in this case)!
Another direction (no pun intended) I took in breaking down this eerie end was by wondering what if he kept spinning? Failing to complete a full circle on his first turn, John sways back and forth, back and forth; lost, in a manner of speaking. He knows that he can not belong in a world of lunacy nor in a society of insanity, he continues to spin, searching, pursuing a realm of happiness, not solely of contentment. Huxley ends with “east,” and in many religions that is the direction of a high place; John is able to find his heaven and it is separate from the two opposing worlds that he has experienced. Ironically, religion was discarded for the sake of social stability, but Huxley is still able to weave the concept into his character’s actions. The “compass needles” are “unhurried,” even though, to us, his suicide was surprising. John may have been lost in finding his place on earth, but he knew how he was going to leave, by standing “against a rock in the middle of the day, in summer, with my arms out, like Jesus on the Cross…like being crucified. Hanging there in the sun… (138).” In this light, his death was not untimely, rather thoroughly thought out, just waiting for the right moment of implementation.
We touched on certain aspects of Huxley’s life and how they parallel to characters in Brave New World. John may be the embodiment of Aldous Huxley; an individual viewing a foreign society from the outside in then from the inside out. The closeness between him and his mother, and the distress that he faced upon her departure corresponds to the tragic lose of Linda for John. Huxley came to the New World, the United States (maybe because of his own curiosity about the grand life on the other side of the world), but he quickly witnessed the operations of society and soon after wrote Brave New World, similar to Bernard’s updates to Mond about the savage’s “awe of, civilized inventions (158).”
Kelly brings up a great point, what if John's feet are endlessly see sawing back-and-forth, never staying in one place? John never found a place he could belong, too different for the reservation, and too queer for the civilized world. He was an eternal outsider, even in death.
He felt the civilized world pampered him, "But I don't want comfort, I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin"(end ch.17), John said in response to Mond. Although our world seems such a reflection of Brave New World, we have all this that John wants. In his last deed, John made a final move to escape the world of feelies, soma, and hypnopaedia, escaping in to a realm where he claimed "the right to be unhappy"(end of ch.17), and in to our world, where people still starve around the world, war is fought everyday, and people (for the most part) still truly feel emotions, instead of remaining in that stagnant state of endless content. He had deicided the temptations of BNW were simply too great, and made the ultimate self crucification.
The suicide was fitting for the story, Shakespeare-esque. John struggled for good and evil, morals, in a world that had discarded them for stability. Ironic, though, to realize we often connect morals to stability, people with good morals often concluded to be the strongest people. Yet John had the strongest morals of them all, fighting for truth, and moreover proved to be the most unstable of them all. John cried, "Oh forgive me! Make me pure! Oh, help me to be good!" (start of Ch. 18). The turn of the feet is reflective of John's hopeless search for God, love, and a truly civilized world.
Initially, I was thinking the same thing as Megan, that John Savage's eerie movement in death was symbolic in his journey throughout the book. At first he (and in the last paragraph, his legs) is moving in one direction steadily, on seemingly a set course (to the right). But when he gets there, he begins to turn back and retrace his path (to the left). At first John thinks that the Brave New World will be fantastic, and the thought fills him with awe, as can be found when he cries "Oh Brave New World that has such people in it!" at seeing beautiful Lenina (Huxley 139). Later on, John is repulsed at the utopia he finds, and stumbles back into "savagery," living alone on the English coast.
Thinking further, I found that Huxley's simile could apply to more than just John's predicament; rather, it could symbolize all of mankind. It is in human nature to move toward progress: technologically, socially, governmentally, usually in a steady fashion (excluding, however, the incidents of industrialization and similar eras). Once we've reached a certain point, though, we tend to start moving backwards. After too much technology, people often seek solace in simplicity, such as in vacations or getaways. Moving forward, for mankind, often requires some backtracking.
John is a man without a firm direction. That is not to say that he doesn't have firm values, or ideals, rather that he is lost in a world he doesn't like, a world he hates. His only other choice is to return to a world where he is not welcome. Ultimately he had the choice between "insanity on the one hand and lunacy on the other" as Huxley put it in the forward, and with those two choices placed before him he couldn't make up his mind. Death was his decision, but even so, he couldn't escape that horrid choice, so his body continues to move from direction to direction, aimless and without hope for sanity.
I agree with both Keli and Katie that John's movements symbolize his journey throughout the book, traveling back and forth "lost" as well as a symbol for all of mankind and its quest for and eventual regress from progress. I think that this symbol also applies to the changes of other characters in the book as well, though. Bernard, for example, transforms from a solitary, outcast member of society to one who craves the attention that came with the bringing of the Savage to the World State. He reaches "south-south-west" just before he hosts the party for the Savage and Arch-Community Songster of Canterbury, where "the crowning moment of Bernard's career had turned out to be the moment of his greatest humiliation" (176). The reader expects Bernard to become the hero of the novel up until this point, after which he slinks bank into his old ways of isolation and obscurity, beginning his movement back in the other direction. Mustapha Mond also displays this change in character, although only through his own interpretation. He says, "I was an inquisitive young scullion once. I started to do a bit of cooking of my own. Unorthodox cooking, illicit cooking" (225). But when faced with the threat of being exiled, he chooses to change his course and begin obeying the laws of society. Despite this choice, his saying, "Sometimes I rather regret the science. Happiness is a hard master, particularly other peoples' happiness. A much harder master...than truth. Well, duty's duty. One can't consult one's own preference," (227) hints that he may someday change his course once again and return to his rebellious ways.
I think that these examples show that it was not just John's indecisiveness that Huxley was trying to symbolize in this final paragraph, but other characters as well and possibly, as Katie stated, all of mankind. Especially with John, the driving force of these characters' tentativeness seems to be the fact that the grass is always greener on the other side.
I agree with Katie's idea that many times once you have reached a certain point you start to retreat or realize what you had before was better. Such as we talked about in class with Thoreau, "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!" As Katie said the Savages final movements could represent not only how he wanted something but then went back to the basics but could be all of society and how we work together. In the 1950s a goal was to have huge highways and interstates to take you from one place to another as quick as possible. And to drive, drive, drive. But now is 2009 we are encouraged to drive less and live closer to places we go and work. Which is back tracking what we accomplished in the 1950s and 1960s with the Federal Interstate Highway System.
I also would like to point out that the feet are described as "unhurriedly" which I think is for direct purpose that John was never in a hurry. With his love of Lenina he took it slow and even though he could have had her in a heart beat he didn't want it like that.
I agree with what Megan said about the last words and the directions that the Savage's body was swayed in. It did seem too organized and that it was very symbolic for his position in BNW. As almost everybody said above, it shows the Savage's journey throughout the book, and how all mankind searches for more positive things to come out of the society, yet once we get there, all we can do is fall back. However, I think this is also symbolic for many other characters in the book, not only for John.
"...Bernard and, urged by a sudden impulse, ran forward to help them; then thought better of it and halted; then, ashamed, stepped forward again; then again thought better of it, and was standing in the agony of humiliated indecision-thinking that they might be killed if he didn't help them, and that he might be killed if he did-when goggled eyed and swine-snouted in their gas masks, in ran the police" (214).
This shows that Bernard goes back to his old ways of being insecure and being an outcast. As Austin said, readers think that he should become the hero, but then he goes back to his old ways and disappoints.
I really really liked the idea that "fanofmachiavelli" had. This person said that John was a person without direction. That really struck me. It does seem that John is always lost. He seems to have an ideal world yet this ideal world is pretty mixed up. It also seemed like John never really had a strong upbringing. Like many people said above he never really fit in. There was never a lifestyle or society that he was in that he seemed to really fit. He never had that part of his life where he was stable. I think as a result of John not having that "stability" he was subconsciously searching for it. In that way he was a man without direction like "fanofmachiavelli" stated. This was symbolically shown in his death as his feet continued to turn in directions like a compass.
I interpreted this along the lines of what Amber and Katie said. I see John as someone who had a set of ideals and expectations for the world. When he found the new society he at first started to turn towards their ideals and accept parts of their society. He only twisted so far, however, before he returns to his roots. We see him headed in the other direction when he draws the line with Bernard at the party. He is already turning back east as he rejects Lenina.
I think this is could also represent Bernard's desire to break away from society. He reached and a certain point before succumbing to "the pressures of a twisted rope."
A Compass is only supposed to point North. However, in the passage from Brave New World, the “compass” is swaying in a clockwise manner before turning around a while later. This may symbolize that John lost his way since the needle spun in different directions. John came into the society of Brave New World, expecting great things, but was in the end, disappointed and disgusted with their way of life. His once strong resolution crumbled when he found out that he had given in to the very thing he had resolved to abstain from.
However, the two “unhurried compass needles” sound much more like a clock that is slowly moving in one direction. It may represent a journey for something and in John’s case; it may be a journey for his ideal world. Although John rejects the ideas of World State, he desperately clings to what he believes in, searching for his ideal world. Since the compass swings in many directions, it may indicate his failure for finding such a place, as the compass never once points north. When the compass swings backwards, it may be when he realizes that he may never attain his freedom, his happiness as he says “But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin...I'm claiming the right to be unhappy” (214). The “compass” also ends on east and I wondered whether that was intentional by Huxley or not. In the Bible, east is almost always associated with something bad and generally means falling away from heaven. This could mean that John ended up with his morals and ideals crushed by the World State or can show that he may have given up on his quest/journey since he could not forgive himself.
As for whom John represents, I think there are many. John may represent all who desire their own ideal world and those who have stood firm for what they believe in. He may also represent all those that are aware of their individuality, that they are different in the society. I also agree with Keli on how John may also represent Aldous Huxley himself as he lost his mother just as John did in Brave New World. He also was aware that he was an individual and was curious to find out about America, similar to how John was in Brave New World.
I believe John killed himself because he realized the futility of his fighting the system and being truly free. In the end, John was a person who should have been born into a Shakespearian society; his outdated ideals and values made it impossible for him to be happy in either Malpais or the World State Society. Participating in the orgy was the final straw; though John had found a happy medium in solitude, he could not escape some of the aspects of the society he hated so much, and his self-disgust and remorse pushed him over the edge.
Like several others, I agree with Keli; John was satisfied with neither of the worlds he had to choose from, and had a sort of grass-is-greener approach to life (while living in Malpais, he dreamed of civilization; once there, he yearned for the simplicity of life in the Reservation). Even in death, he could not decide where he wanted to go. I think that the swaying symbolizes John's search for something that could not be found in either world. He had spent a very long time searching for enlightenment, and turned "unhurriedly" because he now had eternity to find it.
Keli articulated most of my initial thoughts much better than I could have. As previously mentioned, I think that the fact that John’s feet did not complete a full circle is crucial in this last passage. He searched for the perfect society in the “brave new world” but only went so far before he realized that it was not what he was looking for, and thus altered his direction once again. I think this also symbolizes how John never found what he was looking for, not even in his death because even after he committed suicide, his legs were still turning like a compass, still searching for the right direction.
I think Aldous Huxley does not want us to be like John. Huxley is warning us not to give in to the aspects of our society that we disagree with but may be tempting to us. He uses John as an example since John succumbed to the World State and was, as a result, overcome with frustration in his lack of self-control and committed suicide. Huxley does not want to see us be like John.
The intense and vivid imagery presented by Huxley in the last paragraph is extremely powerful because it is symbolic of so many aspects of this utopia as mentioned by the people before who posted before me. The compass-like movement of John’s feet moves in circular motion; however, as they near completing a full circle, they pause. As if pulled by a stronger force the momentum to complete the circle, his feet soon turn the other way,. The uncompleted circle is similar to the “T” discussed in class. Readers expect that somehow someone will breakthrough the “T” or complete the circle and win against conditioning. The short pause before the feet turn back represents the short moments when readers believe that someone will be able to break through the conformist ways. Both Lenina and Henry experienced the “pause” as they almost broke through conditioning, but quickly turned back as the force of conditioning overpowered their freedom of thought. Lenina showed signs of having the ability to genuinely love someone, only to ultimately give into the conditioning for instant gratification Henry briefly used a “melancholy” tone when he and Lenina flew over the Crematorium, but quickly reverted back to the fact that “everbody’s happy...” (75). They both briefly paused at the brink of completing that full circle, but could not finish, just as John’s feet never did.
I definitely agree with what Keli and Kirsten previously mentioned when it comes to the compass being a simile for John's moral compass as well as his journey throughout the book. His feet first turned slowly towards the right, incapable of making a full circle, pauses then drifts in the opposite direction; a metaphor for the two crucial points in the book where John truly changed courses. Never having been able to find a place among the people on the Reservation, John turns to the Brave New World but quickly denounces it. This new world proves too much for him and he decides he wants no part of it any longer. When Mond denies him salvation on the islands, John changes direction and sends himself into exile and takes refuge at the lighthouse where he can be alone.
Disgusted and grief-stricken by the BNW society, the death of his mother, and his inability to forget Lenina, he is driven to his breaking point. Prior to his suicide, his participation in the "orgy of atonement" marks his defeat by the society he wanted no take in. His moral compass had been led astray and overwhelmed by what he had done, he ends his own life (ironically in a lighthouse which is typically a beacon for those lost at sea).
John's death was poetic in a sense that it represented the metaphorical death of old world morality in Brave New World. Everything in that society that was old, beautiful, or morally straight was destroyed and for our hero John who represented all these things to die in the end really helps to bring the story full circle. The author leads us to this fitting end to demonstrate the incorruptibility of the Brave New World society and the death of all things that may hinder the World State.
The two direction of the book represent the two opposite societies of Brave New World. North represents the reservation, the place John is first brought into. South represents the World State. The two societies are completely backward to one another, indicated by the opposing compass signs. Linda is an example of how opposite the two societies are. While abandoned at the reservation, she acts as though she never left the World State, allowing any man to sleep with her whenever they want. Because of this, she earns the disapproval of the rest of the villagers, creating outcasts of both her and her son, John although John has done nothing to deserve their hatred. Because of this, John is always searching for acceptance. In the beginning, he wants to join the society of the reservation, but because of his mother Linda, he is rejected again and again. John proudly tells Bernard that "I did it by myself, though...Didn't eat anything for five days and then went out one night alone into those mountains there" (137). By trying to enact the rituals of the reservation, he is trying to be accepted by all the other boys of the village by doing what they have done. His journey starts in the reservation, the north of John's compass.
The needle slowly gyrates south, which represents the ideas and the culture of the World STate. When John is forever named outcast by the village, Bernard throws him a lifeline by asking if he wants to go the World State. He will see the things that Linda has been always telling him of, and John rejoices. He has another chance to join and be accepted by another society. However, this chance does not go well. He sees how twisted and skewed the "brave new world" is, and decides once again, to change course. This time he is no longer wanting acceptance; John has accepted himself and realized what he truly wants. He wants to be able to experience emotion, to grow old, and to have disease. He wants to have human experiences and to be unique, an individual. The needle swings again and towards the north. John has gained a direction, a heading in which to follow, but when he is unable to follow his heading, John kills himself, appalled that he was no longer 'John', but just another face in the mob.
Huxley is demonstrating how indominable the World State is, and how even an unconditioned individual can become part of a mob. The compass turns and turns because he can't find his place in either society. He is forever a loner as he tries to find a path between the two very different worlds, one that he can accept and abide by.
John represents Huxley to an extent. Both Huxley and John are people who did not fit in. They both were different from other people and criticized society as they saw it. They both lost their mothers at young ages. John also represents Huxley's brother who hung himself.
Like many others above, I think Huxley uses the compass metaphor to show John’s moral development. It is also an ironic depiction of John’s view of the World State. Throughout the entire book, John’s exclamation of “Oh Brave New World” becomes more ironic as the society he dreamed of seeing became the one he killed himself to escape. This development started with the dreams of the World State stemming from Linda’s stories to the subtle realization during the final conversation with Mond, when John realizes he cannot fit into the Brave New World. In the last scene, John finally sees the world for what it is. Huxley portrays John hanging by a rope, slowly rotating. I picture this sight as John turning to observe the new society like how you would look around after entering a completely new place. At a certain point he pauses and turns around. This pause symbolizes how John has seen enough and cannot take more.
I love Keli's comment about curiosity killing the Savage!
I agree Katie and Keli. John's morality takes many hits through his journey in the Brave New World; in fact, so many that he cannot bear to spend the rest of his days on the Reservation or in the BNW. He is searching for a place in the wolrd where he can be accepted for who he is, not for how he was conditioned or how much alcohol was administered into his blood-surrogate. But I can't stand by and not say that John killing himself was all right. John took the easy way out by committing suicide.
John has spent his entire life as an outcast. He is used to the way outcasts are treated. If he had wanted to live the rest of his life in peace, he should have been allowed returned to the mesa, where at least he could have been truly alone. Huxley admits in his foreword that he should have given John a third choice (pg. 2, paragraph 3). What could be more peaceful to John than to return to his roots and be allowed the hermitage that he craves? John only hurts himself by committing suicide (no pun intended). If he could have been returned to the Reservation and allowed to indulge his high sensibilities and broken heart in peace and meditation, he wouldn't have committed suicide.
The end of John's life comes at a time when he is most weak and vulnerable. His friends have left him for the island and only he is left to combat the World State and Mustapha Mond. John rejects this new world and begins a retreat into his native side. As the needles gradually turn from north or lunacy toward south and insanity they make a halt and turn back the other way. This could be interpreted as John's revulsion with the Brave New World and siding with his childhood culture of self-abuse. "Oh, forgive me! Oh, make me pure! Oh, help me to be good!, again and again, till he was on the point of fainting from the pain."
The compass needles follow John's journey from the Reservation to the World State. Neither place is ideal for he is an outcast of both entities. At one level the needles could signify his ongoing quest for his role or place and even in death he still restless. "Alone, always alone....If one's different, one's bound to be lonley."(pg.137)
Another perspective might lead to believe that John was a symbol for mankind. He was the world's moral compass, and in this extreme world he was its only hope. But not even he could suppress giving into the temptations of the flesh."...exhausted by a long-drawn frenzy of sensuality, the Savage lay sleeping...he awoke...then suddenly remembered-everything..'Oh, my God, my God!" There is no place for sanity or normality in this world. He has no place and at last has thrown in the towel. He has committed offense and recived a decisive punishment.
I have to start out by saying that the end of Brave New World was very disappointing to me. I agree with what Huxley said in his foreward, that he should have given John a third option (other than suicide). The ending is unsatisfying in that John could not choose between two worlds that both conflicted with what he wanted. Instead he chose to kill himself, because he could not deal with either option.
I think that Huxley's description of John's feet turning depicts that John is still struggling to find where he belongs,even in death. He wanted to end his life in order to end the battle between his ideal life and the only options he was given, but he was not able to escape it.
As many others have touched on, the compass symbolizes John’s enduring attempt to find the right path. He is unable to do so in the reservation or in the Brave New World, and finally death is the only path left. His whole life, John was turning, directionless, trying to find where he fit in. As he told Bernard, “If one’s different, one’s bound to be lonely” (137). He eventually gave up, but even his attempt at isolation was foiled. He simply didn’t have a place in that world, and as Mohammed said, he threw in the towel.
John could be seen as the moral compass of book, holding high Shakespearean moral standards, and when he dies it shows that those strong convictions can’t exist in their “stable” society. The ending really makes you think about the consequences of a utopian society and how it makes life impossible for individuals (like John) to survive. A happy ending wouldn’t have had the same effect- Huxley leaves us spinning, wondering if conformity and death are the only options.
Within the book, we see instant gratification and we see morals and values. John comes into Brave New World with morals and values that he seems very strong about. But once submerged into Brave New World, he begins to get pulled away from his beliefs by the desire for instant gratification. However, John hits a point where he realizes he has a reason for his morals and values. He wants to be happy. Instant gratification would be settling for content, if that. This ending scene symbolizes his moral journey through the book. His feet twist in the direction of instant gratification then rewind for true happiness.
The final scene described by Huxley in BNW symbolizes John's neverending quest to discover "sanity". Everywhere he turns he realizes that it is not what he wants/expected. On the reservation he was looked upon as an outcast because of his mother and is never able to be a part of society, but when he leaves and enters the Brave New World he is again looked upon as an outsider, but in a curious and strange way instead of in a form of disgust as he was treated on the reservation. So here is ultimate dilemma is brought out, a decision between lunacy and insanity: on one hand he has a society in which people can think freely yet he is not accepted by it's people who are in some ways eccentric and strange even to John; on the other hand he has a society in which nobody thinks on it's own and everyone is preconditioned to be "happy" and free of all "normal" morals and guidelines in which John has learned to live his life. John is unable to choose between an eccentric and primitive society and the one in which it's citizens have been so dumbed down that they do not question whether or not their way of life is "right" or not, like a herd of sheep blindly following the shepard. So John chooses a life of solitude, one in which he believes he can remain in for the rest of his life, but when he realizes it is impossible to choose such a life he decides to end his own life, resulting in a scene which resembles his own journey through life; going back and forth unable to choose a path. A journey, like everyone else has already picked up on, that resembles that of almost everyone.
John was seeking sanity. His life ended in a most insane way. The previous statements mainly agree that the compass simile can be extended to John Savage’s journey in life; in my opinion, specifically, he was searching for a society that reflects his worldview. The people of the World State are content because what they believe fits with what surrounds them. John Savage, due to his upbringing and eloquence, is left without a home that fits his internal beliefs. No place in the world of his time will feel sane.
John represents the individuality in all of us. As discrete units, humans struggle to believe they belong. Bernard Marx suffers in everyday life, “his self-consciousness was acute and distressing” (64). Self-consciousness is part of the mind, and so is that ugly self-critic. Savage’s self-flagellation and suicide stem from a vicious self-critic.
Huxley leaves his readers uncomfortable. The let-down of a protagonist committing suicide without self-actualization bewilders and frustrates. After two months to let Brave New World church through my subconscious (and for the disgust to fade away), I’m left asking, “Do I have to conform to society to be happy? Is there an in-between? Can I feel friction with the outside world and still be content?”
The swinging of John’s feet in opposite directions, east and west, represent the two choices he was given: lunacy or insanity—choosing between the Reservation and the BNW. Though he committed suicide to try and avoid making a definite choice, it continued to haunt him even after death. Ultimately, he is unable to choose a path. John never belonged to either of the two worlds—he was an outsider in the Reservation and an outsider in the BNW, which is why he felt trapped. John, in this situation, represents everyone, who at some point in their lives, are unable to choose the right path.
A compass is used to find something or to find direction. I think that John throughout the entire book is trying to find his place. While in the reservation, he constantly dreams of the beautiful world that Linda always describes. "The happiest times were when she told him about the Other place"(85). He does not belong in the reservation and to escape from his unhappiness there, he dreams of the World State. However, when he arrives there, he is actually more miserable there than he was at home. He once again has lost his direction. What I find interesting about a compass is that it always comes back to North and John's feet do the same thing. They begin at North, slowly move away to South, and then begin their journey back to North. While John may have never found his place, I believe that he never wavered in what he wanted and I think that his feet symbolize that. What John desires most is to be happy. He was not happy in Malpais and he was more unhappy in the World State. He claims the right to be unhappy, but he claims that right in order to reach a higher level of happiness. This goal is where his compass will always come back to. That is what his objective was in life, yet he kept getting lost along the way. This is represented by his feet not resting in one direction.
The two unhurried compass needles represent John’s voyage to finding a civilization in which he can feel truly accepted. His death shows his failure in searching for sanity; sanity, meaning in his perspective, a society that not only allows someone to be unhappy, but doesn’t just limit people to one emotion of unhappiness. John seeks this ideal world, and had once hoped that the Brave New World could somehow fulfill his expectations of humanity and discard his lifestyle in the Reservation.
John fails to complete a full circle, because he “pauses” for a few seconds. At this point, while experiencing the insanity of BNW, he realizes his intolerance towards its cruel way of civilization and swings away from it. Now, in isolation, John was ashamed to see himself wanting Lenina and struggles to resist these temptations. He also goes through a stage of denial when faced with the harsh reality of never being able to satisfy his wants for the ideal world. In the end, the experiment proved that outsiders would see BNW as insane, but is the only place that offers true happiness and stability. This final fade-out was a chance to side with readers. It made a hypothetical situation of what would happen if we were placed in BNW, in which our arguments would be immediately depressed by the World State. Aldous Huxley only wants us to improve, and that requires us to express our thoughts to others. In the reading given to us last class (“Brave New World Satirizes the American Present, Not the British Future), it read that “The inhabitants of the Fordian state are aware (insomuch as they are aware of anything) of a reality which is totally “happy”; the inhabitants of the Indian Reservation (including, for the most part, the Savage), on the other hand, are aware only of a sinister, “unhappy” reality. In neither society is there an awareness of the whole truth...” (85). John was alone throughout the whole process, and only lost hope in himself. Individuality still survives, even in societies with the most absence of humanity. We must increase awareness of each other. I agree with others that John speaks for Huxley; they both experienced the death of ones they love, both experienced loneliness, and individuality. John also represents many of us, who felt frustrated while reading the book, looking for possible heroes to end such madness.
Callie made an interesting point that John's goal in life was to be happy, but I wonder if that is completely true. John critizes the World State for its continual focus on making certain that everyone is always happy. I think John yearned for truth, beauty and sanity. He wanted the world in a more natural state. Callie said, "He claims the right to be unhappy, but he claims that right in order to reach a higher level of happiness. This goal is where his compass will always come back to." This could be true, but I think that rather than happiness it is actually morality and sanity that John's compass will always come back to. And interestingly enough, John committed suicide after he participated in the orgy, which was the highest point of immorality he reached in the novel.
Also, I like what Mohammed said about John representing mandkind. I think that almost all of us can relate to John one way or another.
I agree most with ac2919's post (Ariel Chen?). That is that the simile found in the last paragraph portrays multiple characters in the book, perhaps all of mankind. People progress by moving forward and falling back, then moving forward a little further the next time. I believe this is what the compass is representing. We will never be one hundred percent successful (or complete the circle)in whatever we do. We will turn back around, sometimes without even realizing it to begin progressing again.
This is seen when Bernard starts out shy and awkward, then moves to the cool kid on the block when he bring John the Savage to town, then back to the scared friend at the hospital riot. He ALMOST completes the full circle. I believe that if he would have stepped up and fought off the mobs with Hemhlotz and John that he could have completed a full rotation. But he didn't, so he swayed back to the left. Retreating to the cautious ways he knew best.
After reading the ending for the first time I first thought of why a compass would change direction. For those of you who have never used a compass, it is supposed to ultimately face north. However, when you bring the compass close to metal it gives a false reading. So, what skews the needles for John? What skews the needles for mankind? What is the metal in our own lives?
For John, I think he is aware of the metals in his life. He started out facing north but after moving to the World State realized his needles were skewed. This leads to his move to the lighthouse. While attempting to correct his moral compass, the metal comes to him (the reporters), and his compass becomes permanently out of order.
The compass’ spin could refer to a number of things in “Brave New World.” John’s experiences and feelings in the World State are mapped out by the rotation. First, it travels northward, as does the excited and curious John. He is entranced by both society and Lenina. However, like his feet, things turn around and head south. His mother passes away, Lenina is seen as a strumpet, and the world disagrees with his ideals, finally leading to his suicide.
John’s feet spin as uncontrollably as his life. Never has he been given a position of power, of direction. He was born by a mother who despised him into a reservation filled with those that hated him. Even when John escapes into the World State and is the talk of the town Bernard manages him. John’s mother is drugged and wastes away despite his protests, and “in the end John was forced to give in.” Lenina makes advances on the timid but passionate John, and until he turns away she whom he desires he has no power in the situation. Even as the “offense” in his debate against Mond the World Controller holds every card in the discussion. When John finally seeks solitude it is not his choice to make, as the World chases after him. Finally, he makes the one decision, the one exercise of power he is allowed: he ends his life.
I agree with what Brendan said about things turning south for John! That definitely seems a part of Huxley's compass metaphor
I agree with Katie and other posters who shared similar opinions, that the “compass” represents not only John’s incomplete journey but that of mankind as well. But this idea is almost contradictory to what others have said about John and other characters’ inability to break through the “T”. If the compass indeed represents mankind’s restlessness (for there is no long pause at either north or south before the needle reverses its course), then Huxley must agree that a utopia like BNW would not exist for long. Even though Bernard and Lenina and Henry do not break off the wax completely this time, there seem to be enough hope that some day, someone will.
But the despairing thing in Huxley’s compass is that even though the needle does not stop at a utopia, it is still trapped between two extremes, oscillating back and forth but never getting to a place that is, perhaps, truly “sane”. I agree that “north” and “south” could each represent BNW and the Reservation, though I don’t think that John is necessarily moving towards ultimate civilization and away from primitivism. Like the needle, John only swings back and forth between two extremes. After John has had enough of the insanity of civilization, he immediately regresses to lunacy, ferociously punishing himself with the whip. Then, having succumbed to the orgy-porgy forced upon him by BNW spectators, John is disgusted with himself and commits suicide—an irrational and arguably “savage” solution. Thus, John’s suicide is an ultimate act of defiance of civilization, not a sign of submission.
The movement of the compass represents mankind’s constant oscillation between “insanity” and “lunacy”, rather than our tendency towards either end—but that hardly makes it a less desperate case. Perhaps Huxley portrays John the way he does not only because he wants to construct a contrast between him and the characters in BNW, but also because he is passing a critique on John as well. Perhaps Huxley is only using John and those in BNW as equal opposites to point out the human dilemma, the hopeless choice between chaos and sterilization, barbarous pain and idiotic happiness.
I agree with most of what has been said already by others - more specifically, that the steady rotation of John the Savage's feet symbolize the moral compass that dictates his journey throughout the book. As even after death, his feet continued turning in an implied perpetual motion, never making a full circle. This represents how throughout the book, the Savage continues to sway, morals turning him one way, and instincts another. Beyond his internal conflict, the feet may also be the physical location of John and his tendency to move from one place to the other, never satisfied. However, just as a compass is a circle and is not an indicator of a goal reached or an end, but rather a tool used for finding direction and the right path, the continual rotation of John's feet show he never had any true purpose and never will (or rather, did) find one. Not even he himself knew what he truly wanted, and his wants were always fleeting.
I agree with Josh that a compass is designed to always point to North. John’s deviation from this point (whatever it may be) symbolizes his uncertainty with his direction in life. As an outsider to both Malpais and the World State, he does not understand how he fits into society, and perhaps, he never will (especially since he’s dead now). I think the specific direction from North to South-south-west to east is a metaphor of the dominance of his true individuality and the conformity of the World State during his journey in the novel. If North is the true direction of the needle, then I think it would make sense that North are the true morals and values of John Savage. And since South is the opposite direction from North, it should represent the opposite of John Savage’s morals and values, that of the World State.
He begins, in the novel, knowing what he wants in life (North). When he comes to the World State, he starts to lose his identity and starts to become insane (direction towards South-south-west). Finally, at the end, he snaps, and he conforms to the mob, chanting “orgy porgy” as a conditioned citizen would (South-south-west). When he realizes what he has done, he achieves “inner-peace” by committing suicide (direction towards North). But this is only an attempt to achieve inner peace, or individuality. John never really fulfills it, so he never truly spins back to North. Instead, he is stuck in the middle between individuality and conformity.
I also have a question. Has anybody stopped to ask why Huxley stopped at “south-south-west?” South-south-west is halfway between south and southwest, which is also 119.5 degrees from the North direction. I found it interesting that John did not stop spinning at South, one of the extremes of the compass metaphor (it seems as though North and South are being used as extremes for metaphors: e.g. lunacy vs. insanity, the Reservation vs. Brave New World, etc.), but he passes that extremity for a slight bit before turning back towards North.
*247.5 degrees from East (like in regular mathematics)
I double checked. 191.5 is completely off. So I calculated it myself.
Huxley's description of John in the last paragraph leads me to believe that John had been looking for his own utopia, because the utopia he was living in clashed with his own morals. I think that because of the way Huxley described John's feet swinging showed that he got lost in his journey for sanity and a better world. I don't think John ever found what he was looking for in the Brave New World. Huxley used the last paragraph to show that even though it is an efficient and working society, it is not a perfect society.
I think that the last paragraph of BNW was written the way it was in order to illustrate how this brave new society touches all four corners of the world and the cultural plague has wiped out any sign of difference or individuality. "... the feet turned toward the right; north, north-east, south-east, south, south-west; then paused, and after a few seconds, turned as unhurriedly back towards the left." Leaving no direction untouched by John's death, it seems to me that Huxley wanted to say that this cultural suicide was far more spread out than anyone really realizes while reading the book. It's not just in this one city-state, it's truly everywhere. No matter which way you're pointed.
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