~Community, Identity, Stability~

Continuation...
Another post is due for Brave New World because I find this book containing such rich metaphors that it is a rip fertile ground to harvest.

To start with one, take all the characters in the book. I found it very interesting that none of the characters were definitively heroic, neither perfect nor entirely likable.

First, the Savage is the "hero" of the story but as the story progresses he is not completely heroic. His act of heroism lies in resisting the "masses" and sticking to his beliefs, choosing a life of imperfection, hence discomfort and unhappiness. This is what sets him apart. Yet he is unrestrained, rash, violent and towards the end turns into an extremist, going through great lengths to set himself apart from the world.

And there's Bernard Marx, he starts off as the one most disconnected to the capitalist mentality and society. He is attune to his emotions, not fearing solitude and preferring to go against conventions. Yet, once he brings the Savage back and his presence gives him popularity, he changes. Marx becomes a prideful buffoon salivating in the limelight the Savage brings him, the attention he now gets from the ladies that before ignored him and found him weird, the inclusion and acceptance as part of society, whom before relegated him to the sidelines. This drastic change brings about the revealing of his imperfections and his nature: just a man longing to be accepted.

Then there is the writer, HELMHOLTZ WATSON . His role in the story plays a dual part, one of giving the reader a glimpse of the yearnings of a writer and portraying the importance of solitude, innovation and the breaking from convention that is necessary to indulge in the art that is writing. His is a character that proposes and confirms that idea that writing is an act that cannot be streamlined by the media, by society nor by the governing rulers and their ideals. Writing is a task entirely apart from all those aspects of life. It is an act of disengaging oneself from the surroundings and revealing the connotative that therein lies.

These three main men, all play an interactive and integral role in humanizing the story told to us readers in this book and further concretizes the ideas herein presented. This books isn't so much an intricate plot driven story but a work meant to expose specific and intricate ideas in a tangible manner.

There is a surplus of ideas and concepts that can be explored in this book but I leave that for the readers to explore in their own time as they read Brave New World and reflect on its' connotations.

In-depth, links:
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