BNW vs. The Island
October 6th, 2008 by Amie Neigum
After reading and watching Brave New World and The Island I concluded many similarities between the character’s personalitys. John definitely contributed to Brave New World. John being the stoic thinker that he was tried to attack the system by filling the lower castes with ideas to revolt against the stability system. The savage’s ideas and actions reflected the works of Shakespeare. John felt that Shakespeare was not only better than all those feelies, but reflected his suicide as well. Shakespeare’s writings state that death is virtuous and it brings eternal life, which influenced John to become the Mark Antoney in Julius Caesar. Lincoln six Echo in “The Island” has many of the same characteristics of Linda’s son. They both try to crack their respectable factory systems. They systems that they were fighting were against what they believed in and they took a stand. Another character that took a stand in Brave New World was Hemholtz Watson. He was a true thinker and mastermind of the book. Hemholtz felt unfulfilled writing endless propaganda doggerel and read a heretical poem to his students, which indirectly got him exiled to an island. John and Hemholtz were similar because they were very similar in spirit. Being both stoic thinkers they exhibited much independence. James McCord from “The Island” showed characteristics of Hemholtz Watson. They both knew how the system ran in their worlds and they eventually both fought the system in one way or another. James McCord fought his system by helping Lincoln Six Echo and Jordan Two Delta leave the factory and explore the new world. Hemholtz Watson was a lecturer at the factory and got exiled to a island for preaching true thoughts to the students.
Bernard was a character in Brave New World who had a significant role in the beginning of the book
but was unhelpful and disappointing in the end of the book. Bernard was a intelligent man but was easily overwritten. He really disappointed me when he used John as a display to the factory people to elevate his social status. I applaud Bernard for expressing his stoic feelings to Lenina who had intense epicurean thoughts. Bernard was filled with humanly emotions and he risked sharing them with Lenina even if he would be exiled to a island. When I compare Bernard to the characters in The Island he has characteristics of Lincoln Six Echo. Both these characters in their respective books started to see the cracks in the system and what was going wrong. But in another sense he was different than Lincoln six echo because Bernard just sat back and watched they stability system run, and Lincoln Six Echo fought the system.
The Island and Brave New World had almost identical controllers. Mustapha Mond in Brave New World had very epicurean thoughts as did Dr. Merrick in The Island. Both controllers were hiding the truth behind the little minds of the residents of the factories. They were both looking for stability and were willing to give up science and religion and all that is true to keep the factories stable. Mustapha Mond thought that stability is the highest social virtue because it leads to lasting happiness. Dr. Merrick also would believe that stability is the highest social virtue in his system because he was running a insurance company. All the “humans” in the building were insurance policies, what else would he have to look onto except stability? Dr. Merrick and Mustapha Mond were using coverups to hide the real truth in the “humans” lives. In The Island he told the residents that there was a contamination and he was “saving” them from being contaminated. Mustapha Mond was using soma to exchange misery with false happiness and to take away true emotions. Mustapha Mond was obviously doing something wrong in his controlling system because humans like Hemholtz and Bernard began to wonder if there is more than just false happiness. I can only imagine how many more workers in the factory are going to begin to find those cracks in the system. Soma can only work for so long when the humans are inheriting thoughts in their Genes before they are fully developed. The true thoughts will eventually begin to happen. Both controllers initially conditioned their “humans” to believe in untrue beliefs. Both controllers created a all around false lifestyle.
When I compare the characters to Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychic apparatus. His definition of Id reminds me of Lenina. She had such intense drives and satisfies those drives for whatever it takes. Lenina was probably the most epicurean character of the book and showed the strongest characteristics of Id in Sigmund Freud’s theory whether it was sensual pleasures or just the need for soma. Lenina put no thought into how she was alternating her happiness, she was only doing it to support her sudden drives. On the other hand Bernard was a good example of having a super-ego. Bernard did not only have a balance on basic drives and passions, but a true conscience and spiritual goals. Bernard being the stoic character that he was thought about the meaning of his life and the world he was living in. I applaud Bernard for doing this because being a victim of peer pressure before I know how hard it is to stray away from the herd. Bernard has to courage to not only stray away and have super-ego thoughts but to express them to another being. John was a character that confused me in the stage and level he was in Sigmund Freud’s theory. I do agree that John had a balance of common sense and basic drives. John also was very spiritual and had a heavy conscience that criticized and prohibited his drives, fantasies, feelings, and actions. I felt like John was all over the scale through the book. This was because of John having to deal with immense pressures all at once. John’s suicide could have possible been because of his lack of ego and super-ego and immense id at the time.
The Island was a great source of outside text to relate to Brave New World characters to because the setting of each story was similar and with cloning many similar situations came up. In each story the system was hiding world truths for stability and strength. The character’s personalities were easy to relate to one another with stoic and epicurean thoughts and the different stages of Sigmund Freud’s theory of id, ego, and super-ego. Carl Jong could also be used as a example of what happened in Brave New World. The idea that you inherit thoughts when you inherit genes of physical features. All people do inherit just as Carl Jong states. In the island Lincoln Six Echo definitely inherited his initial thoughts. The movie displays this by him knowing the name of the boat his actual owner owns. Lincoln Six Echo’s genes actually were holding his thoughts that early on in is lifetime when he was producing his personal physical features. I found that the personality of the characters in Brave New World and The Island were very similar in the actions they displayed in their respective books. The humans in Brave New World and The Island are living in contaminated worlds of false happiness.
When children,especially girls, go through the Bovanovsky’s process they are taught what to do and what not to do. Lenina on the other hand has discriminated her creators and disobeyed some actions. Girls are taught to have sex with men after men, but they must not Love one. In chapter 13 its very clear that Lenina has strong feelings and loves John. She knows he loves her too but she just couldn’t get it out of him. Lenina presents her body to him to see if he would have sex with her but he backs down in fear. In johns opinion below the girls waste is the devils pit. John shakes her with fear calling her a whore and threatening to kill her. If I were in Johns position I wouldn’t know what to do either. A women that loves you and wants to seduce you, well its either you do it or not. When she stripped down I think John let his emotions get to him and this made him angry. Lenina was just trying to love him, and he didn’t know how to react to this.
Bernard has the feeling of being an outsider in Brave New World. When he goes to the savage reservation he is more comfortable than Lenina. Bernard has had experience being an outsider back in the Brave New World. Being judged as an alcoholic and a low caste person he is used to being an outsider. Another person that is a outsider in Brave New World is Linda. I would too feel like an outsider being left in the savage reservation, previously residing in the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Center. Although Bernard and Linda may feel like outsiders in their situations, I feel the most for John. I would be confused as to where I would belong. Sure I was born in the savage reservation but John is white skinned, has straw hair, and blue eyes. His characteristics are much different than the other savages. Being an outsider is a hard think to deal with. I think that John will find a way to integrate himself into the Brave New World.
