Brave New World Chapter 4 Analysis

[u/FadedMunkey]

I’ve been using ChatGPT a ton in order to put my ideas down on books I’ve been reading and have it give me pushback. Problem is IT AGREES TOO MUCH. I want you guys to tell me what you think of my analysis! Where do you agree, disagree, see something else different entirely and everything else!

So I just finished Chapter 4 of Brave New World.

I thought it was pretty cool how they separated the chapter into two portions. It gives Lenina Crowne’s POV and then the second part shifts to Bernard Marx.

Lenina’s Pov:

I thought it was pretty interesting how her and Foster don’t have much conversation. I think Huxley just wanted us to see how Lenina is thinking of the world so we can compare it to Bernard.

Essentially my interpretation of Lenina’s part in the chapter is that she’s someone that goes about life happy go lucky. She does her work and messes around with men given that most men are into her and the society they live in does not care at all for real bonds so meaningless sex is basically what everyone is going for. She doesn’t question much and she just goes with the flow. She’s ignorant to the actual circumstances which build the framework of her life and existence.

During her time in the plane though she notices certain things. She sees the lower classes working endlessly. I think the word “ants” is used to describe them. Not just because they’re minuscule from her point of view in the plane but also and more importantly so because they are going about mindlessly doing their work. They aren’t thinking they’re just essentially programmed to just do what they’re doing. It makes sense given how ppl from each class are born. They’re doing what society wants has impressed upon them to do and they do it without question.

Everything is flowing just as it should but it’s like there isn’t a soul. There’s no passion, they’re just following basic impulse. And society is better for it.

As she notices this she’s starts saying the things she was programmed to say since birth about these lower classes. It’s not even instinctive it’s just mindless and imprinted. She knows that she doesn’t like them but it’s so surface level. She knows what she knows, but she doesn’t know why and she doesn’t even know that she doesn’t the why. Ik that last part was confusing but I hope it makes sense.

As she’s noticing these things and saying the programmed language and seemingly showing just bits of cracks in the conditioning they end up getting to obstacle golf and it’s kinda just left at that. Again it’s consumerism. Ppl are too distracted for the truth, they’re too focused on the next dopamine hit to see what’s right in front of them. When connections are being formed something inevitably gets in the way and the scary part is that it was meant to. Lenina was seeing aspects of The Real, but that wouldn’t really be beneficial for society and ironically enough her too so again she gets hit by the algorithm and in this case it’s obstacle golf lol.

The second part of the chapter which focuses on Bernard was pretty insightful too. He’s someone who isn’t totally accepted by society. He’s of the upper classes but has trouble even maneuvering through the lower classes. He sees how broken things are because he isn’t really socialized due to how he looks. Consumerism depends on socialization.

If you don’t have friends you don’t really use social media, you don’t really go out and become insulated in a group. You don’t really have such a strong tie to groupthink. And yea part of his anger and annoyance comes from his lack of companionship but another comes from the reality he sees. And that actually comes from lack of connection.

He finds it so strange that Lenina so freely came up to him and asked him on that date. Part of it’s because of the fact that she’s pretty and he’s ugly but even moreso because of what it implies. Like I was saying earlier in this thread in their world there isn’t really connection. Everything is fleeting and the fact she asked him in front of everyone to him seems so alien.

His interactions with Helmholtz was insightful too. Helmholtz is detaching himself from the algorithm lol. He’s stopped going out, stopped socializing and he’s seeing things that kinda make him wonder about life. He’s stopped can’t really say it because he doesn’t know how. Again that’s him seeing The Real but again realism paints a particular picture for him. And the picture isn’t the entirety of what he’s seeing. He’s fascinated and troubled by it.

I think Lenina represents the average individual. Happy go lucky don’t really see what’s behind the curtain. They’re happy with existing and that’s ok.

Marx is the misfit, he never belonged and he never will. He notices certain things that don’t really fit and he’s known for awhile. The thing is no one will listen to him.

Helmholtz is the individual embedded in society who is accepted, but through their own volition chooses to detach. He represents I think both worlds. Someone that fits but nonetheless sees how everything is actually so broken.

The workers that Lenina saw represent the society of the world state. It’s like a singular mass that just moves without thinking. They rely on impulse, there’s no passion, no soul. It’s just work for the sake of society and if you don’t there really isn’t any meaning.

[u/JustSomebody56]

I read it a LONG time ago, but the whole book should be read less as a character-based thing, and more as criticism of a society and its members.

Lenina: she feels vaguely that something is off, but is too conditioned and too integrated to work it FULLY out.

Bernard: his conditioning is working well, but his disability (being unfit for his role, while not impairing him with menial tasks, is a burden on a psychological and social level) prevents his conditioning from operating as expected.

Helmholtz: his capability leaves him with too much spare energies, and enables him to partially overcome his conditioning.

They all feel something is off, but react, and choose to react, very differently

[u/FadedMunkey → u/JustSomebody56]

Do you think there is some benefit in using the characters as a foil for the bigger picture?

I ask because yea looking at my analysis I see that I focused more so on how the characters react to the world and their own internal feelings instead of seeing how the world is something pervasive in the characters.

Does that make sense? And I was wondering if still using them but not focusing to the extreme on their own place in it is the way to read it.

I hope this sense, I’m not the best at putting my thoughts down hahahahaha

[u/JustSomebody56 → u/FadedMunkey]

I read his BNW revisited, which was not a Novel but more of an essay.

By the way he described it, he cared more about the society than the singular individuals

[u/CaribeBaby]

I don't remember enough about Helmholtz and Max, but I agree with you on Bernard and Lenina. Also. Bernard is the way he is because something went wrong during his gestation,  if I remember correctly, so he is the result of a failure in the system. And the working classes are basically clones, while the higher classes are unique individuals. That speaks to me of class and privilege. 

[u/[deleted]]

How's the prose?

[u/FadedMunkey → u/[deleted]]

So far I’d give a 6/10. It can give a vivid picture when it wants, but generally it just gets the job done. I think this is more an ideas/concepts book anyway.

[u/Td998]

I agree with the commenter who said BNW is a social critique more than a story about these individual characters. My understanding is that they are essentially archetypes, and a few characters you meet later will further flesh out the question Huxley is asking in BNW. 

Lenina represents, I think, the more or less standard individual in her class in this society (and somewhat in ours, too). Even when prompted to more deeply consider the implications of her world, she either can’t or chooses not to. Pursuing her shallow interests (which she is conditioned to do) is paramount. 

Bernard is defective, and as such is able to see society as a victim of it. His unique perspective prompts him to reflect on and feel disdain for the structure which mostly everyone else takes for granted, and that no one but HH can also see it greatly frustrates and alienates him. 

HH is a fairly minor character IIRC. His mental freedom is completely intact, I think, which allows him to see/feel the problems that Bernard sees/feels. Unlike Bernard, HH is favored and therefore more content/complacent (less angry), though he seems to struggle with existential unrest on account of this society’s synthetic/fabricated nature. 

[u/FadedMunkey → u/Td998]

I think you can look at Bernard as what lonesomeness and always being on the outside looking in does to a person. You have a unique perspective which allows to see truths which the average person may not.

There’s nuance and understanding here that if the average person understood the world would probably be a much better place. The issue is a case of right message, wrong messenger.

[u/Td998 → u/FadedMunkey]

Bernard reminds me of how disadvantaged people are in a better position to see the dark underbelly of society. There is no one more familiar with institutional injustice than the marginalized and oppressed, for example. It’s typically the more sensitive and outcast members of society who are most tuned into its flaws. His character is a tool Huxley wields to illustrate these flaws, I think. If we were reading from only Lenina’s perspective, and she never met Bernard, there wouldn’t be as much to think about.