Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Opposites attract?

"'Don't you wish you were free, Lenina?'
'I don't know what you mean. I am free.'" (pg. 91)
Throughout the chapters, Lenina and Bernard have proven to be foil characters. They contrast one another because Bernard often feels like an outsider, while Lenina doesn't. Because Bernard feels like an outsider, he begins to question the World State and the values it teaches, while Lenina rarely questions anything she has been taught. I believe that later in the book, Bernard's ideas will get through to Lenina, causing her to also question the values of sexual promiscuity and the idea that everyone is happy. The author uses Bernard as a foil character of Lenina (and truthfully, most of the other characters in the story) in order to introduce a different mind to a world full of clones and implanted thoughts.
As I mentioned before, I forsee Bernard taking part in a rebellion. However, I don't think he will necessarily be a leader, because he doesn't harbour a hate for the World State or really stand for a cause like many rebelious leaders. Instead, he just feels set apart from everyone else, which may be enough to cause him to want to overthrow the World State, or at least make a change in it. Bernard and Lenina are foil characters, and Bernard may be so different from everyone else that he is not only a foil character to all, but is a piece of a rebellion.

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