CHAPTER TWELVE
Summary: Bernard has invited a whole bunch of important people to a 'Come-gaze-upon-the-reason-I'm-so-popular' party so everyone can meet the Savage. Although, before the party starts, Bernard has to go get John, but John has experienced a lot in the past chapter and has grown upset with the New World society. Bernard pleads for John to come out but all he gets in reply is some Zuñi words as well as a "Go to hell!".
Bernard has to then face his guests without a Savage causing everyone to get pissed off at him for tricking them into treating such an inferior Gamma-Minus with respect for taking care of such a creature. All the party-goers leave disgruntled and Bernard slips back into the depression and melancholy that he had in the beginning of the book.
He goes back to Helmholtz and hopes that he will be taken back as a friend, which he does! Helmholtz didn't really feel any hatred for Bernard when he abandoned their friendship, so there is almost no hesitation to re-friend each other. Helmholtz says that he has got himself into trouble by teaching his students some rhymes that he made up about being alone. (An individualistic writing that is looked down on in society.) Although it was a bad thing to do, he is happy because he found that inner calling that needed to come out; he found his voice.
John and Helmholtz also become friends, better than Helmholtz and Bernard had been. (Which infuriates Bernard with intense jealousy!!!!) Helmholtz and John exchange poetry and rhymes which please one another, but when John reads about the Capulets wanting Juliet to marry Paris, Helmholtz finds the situation hilarious and John gets offended.
Vocabulary:
Sepulchral - (adj.) pertaining to a tomb or a burial site.
Why Chapter is Important:
Mustapha looking over the 'New Theory of Biology' paper and praising it for how ingenious, however it affects the social stability of the society, and is therefore condemned. It brings censorship into the fray of governmental control in this book, as well as showing that the World Controller some individualism much like Helmholtz and Bernard.(As evidenced in "What fun it would be, if one didn't have to think about happiness!")
Helmholtz being an individual as well gets along with John very well as they can share their insights about poetry. However, Helmholtz is a product of the new society and has been conditioned like everyone else. This is why he finds the Paris and Juliet marriage situation so absurd and comical. It's this that destroys John's image of Helmholtz as being one of the only people he could really open up to. This furthers his contempt for the brave new world that had such people in it.
No comments:
Post a Comment