Wednesday, July 6, 2011

ACCEPTED (for now)

"Bernard went off in a huff. Never, he told himself, never would he speak to Helmholtz again." (pg. 157)

In the time following Lenina and Bernard's return from the Reservation, Bernard feels new and included. It is a testament to mankind's tendancy to want to be accepted; no matter how much someone says that they want to be "different" or that they don't care if they are included, they are lying. Every human being has an urge to be accepted, and happiness can directly stem from that feeling of acceptance. Before he was in the "in crowd", Bernard felt animosity toward the World State and some of society's rules. Afterwards, however, he felt no guilt being with many women and associating himself with people who only wanted his company in order to be near the "Savage". It was shocking to me that he even alienated himself from Helmholtz, his one true friend. I believe that Helmholtz may have reminded him of what he was before he discovered John, and he didn't want to stay tied to his old, unhappy self. There is no doubt in my mind that Bernard will regret leaving Helmholtz in the dust, and that it will come back to bite him in the butt.

"Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities which he does not possess, and to gain applause which he cannot keep."  ~Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, 1750

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