What is the symbolic significance of John the Savage?
Introduction
John represents the most influential and most complex character of Brave New World. He is the child of the director of the hatcheries and conditioning center of London. Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) (1894-1963) reveals that John is the only person in the brave new world who born naturally of a mother. He is born on the Savage Reservation and raised under the proper care of his mother Linda. When Bernard Marx takes him to London, the plot of the novel starts to be interesting.
The symbolic significance of John the Savage
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John’s role in the arrangement of the plot
John makes the plot developed and attractive. Without him, we can’t think of the novel. Bernard Marx takes him to London with his mother Linda. Then the background story of the novel is exposed. Tomakin is the real father of John, the Savage. After the revelation of the news, everyone starts to think that the Director is a bad, cruel, and unkind man. He resigns from his duty and the plot becomes more attractive.
Mission of John
The adult John comes to civilized society as an experiment by Marx and Mond to see how a “savage” would adapt to civilization. Frankly, he does not adapt very well. He is appalled by the lifestyle and ideas of civilized people and gets himself into a lot of trouble by denouncing civilization. He loves Lenina very much but gets very upset at her when she wants to have sex with him.
He physically attacks her, and from that point on does not want to have anything to do with her. When his mother dies, he interferes with the “death conditioning” of children by being sad. Finally, his frustrations with the civilized world become too much for him and he decides to take action. He tries to be a sort of a Messiah to a group of Deltas, trying to free them from the effect of soma.
” 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.
John as a rebel
He tells everyone about the truth of Soma, but it is not the truth that the Deltas have been conditioned to believe, so to them it is a violent liar and they begin to cause a riot. When the riot is subdued, John is apprehended and taken to have a talk with Mustapha Mond.
John is a Cross- Bred
John is crossbred. He absorbs both his mother’s culture and Indians. He learns from his mother’s little knowledge that she has gained from the World State. He gains the culture of savage reservations from his childhood. But he learns also about the cultural value of London hatchery and conditioning.
John exposes the faults 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. Again the class distinction is criticized by John.
John as a prophet of humanity
John represents the most important and most complex character of Brave New World. He becomes rebellious against all injustice. Bernard’s dissatisfaction with his society expresses his heroism, but John lives out his ideals. In turning aside Lenina’s advances, John rejects society’s values. He acts boldly in calling the Deltas to rebellion and in throwing out the soma. Finally, he faces the powerful Mustapha Mond intelligently and sets out on his own to create a life for himself, which ends in tragedy. He repeated.
“O brave new world that has such people in it. Let’s start at once.”
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Conclusion
John’s deed makes him a hero. Huxley ends the novel Brave New World with his death. His death is the result of his own imperfect understanding as well as the inhuman forces of the world state.
