Why does John commit suicide at the end of the novel?
Introduction
At the end of the novel “Brave New World” which is written by Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), the crowd gathers to see how John ritually whips himself. When Lenina comes, John whips her too. The audience starts an orgy, in which John takes part. Being defeated by guilt and shame, he kills himself. He commits suicide. But the question arises, what could be the possible causes of John’s suicide?
John commit suicide at the end of the novel
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Disharmony of happiness and truth
John’s motifs to seek the truth. He wants to seek truth at any cost. He thinks that it’s better to seek the truth, even if it involves suffering. He relates:
” But I don’t want comfort. I want God. I want poetry. I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness.”
He doesn’t need happiness and comfort in life. Mustapha Mond gives John the freedom to seek the truth through self-sacrifice and suffering but he assimilates into the temptation of pleasure by taking part in an orgy. Such an ending might suggest that the happiness encouraged by the World State’s Controllers is a more powerful force than the truth John seeks. The ending of the novel may also suggest that there is no truth to be found by John.
Despair of John
John watches a long line of the Delta workers of the Park Lane Hospital. He says:
” I’ll teach you;
I’ll make you be free whether you want to or not”
John sees the Delta workers in a long line. They are waiting to take Soma. It frustrates him. Again his mother’s death due to the overdoses of Soma disappointed him deeply.
The hypocrisy of the world state
He realizes the mortal effect of Soma. So he takes the role of a defender. He engages himself in a mission to rescue people. He starts to obstruct Soma distribution. Now he becomes so much popular throughout London and gets everybody’s attention. John throws the boxes of poisonous Soma outside. But the Delta workers can’t understand his great purpose because they are totally under the control of Soma.
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Conclusion
Finally, it is transparent that John’s heroic purposes appear insignificant for the hypocrisy of the world state. So, John rejects society and tries to go live by himself. John is soon overcome with passion, and, after coming under the influence of soma, he falls asleep. The next morning, appalled at his complicity in the system, he hangs himself.
