Brave New World: Chapters 7 & 8 Analysis

Posted on Feb 24, 2025 in English

Chapters 7 & 8 Analysis

6. The Director sometimes dreams about not being able to find the girl he took to the Reservation, and the search in the thunderstorm.

7. The Director says that if any more reports come in, Bernard will be exiled to Iceland.

8. All Bernard can think about is calling Helmholtz to have him turn off the cologne tap in Bernard’s flat because it will be so expensive.

9. Bernard is outraged that this could be done to him. Then he begins to think of a way to get his revenge.

10. The Gamma pilot refers to everything on the Reservation as funny, whether it is the dead animals along the fence or the Savages. He says the Savages are tame but funny.

Chapter 7 Questions

  1. Why doesn’t Lenina like the Indian guide?
  2. To what does Lenina compare the top of the mesa?
  3. What shocks Lenina about the old man?
  4. How does Bernard try to appear strong and brave?
  5. Of what do the drums remind Lenina?
  6. How does the new Savage appear different?
  7. What about Lenina fascinates the blonde Indian?
  8. Why is Bernard so excited with the answers the Savage gives to his questions?
  9. Why was Linda segregated and shunned by the rest of the pueblo?
  10. What can the reader infer Linda hopes will happen now?

Answers

  1. The Indian guide says nothing and smells bad.
  2. The top of the mesa reminds Lenina of the view from the Charing T Tower.
  3. The old man is wrinkled and sagging. Lenina has never seen the real signs of aging.
  4. Bernard talks about mothers, babies, and birth. He tries to act very urbane about what he sees.
  5. The drumbeat reminds Lenina of the rhythms used during the Solidarity Services, especially the orgy-ending.
  6. The new Savage has blonde hair and blue eyes. He speaks to them, but his manner of speech is strange.
  7. Lenina is dressed differently; she is fair-skinned, clean, and beautiful.
  8. Bernard begins to realize that this is the Director’s child and a means to Bernard’s revenge.
  9. Linda misused the Indian drugs and was openly promiscuous.
  10. Linda sees Bernard and Lenina as her salvation because they will take her back to the Other Place where she belongs.

Chapter 8 Questions

  1. What is one of John’s earliest memories?
  2. What do the women do to Linda in the weaving room? Why?
  3. How do the women punish Linda for her promiscuity?
  4. When John calls Linda “Mother,” what does she do? What does he always call her after that?
  5. Why does John often turn to the old men of the tribe?
  6. Why is John always in ragged clothes? What is his solace?
  7. What book does Popé bring for John?
  8. What does Mitsima teach John?
  9. What does John do when he is denied the initiation rite?
  10. When Bernard offers to take John to London, what does John ask?

Answers

  1. John remembers being locked out of Linda’s room so Popé could have sex with her.
  2. Linda had broken some threads on the loom. The women scream at her and chase her out.
  3. The women of the pueblo break into Linda’s house, hold Linda down on the bed, and beat her.
  4. Linda slaps John when he calls her Mother. After that, he always calls her Linda.
  5. The old men of the tribe can use tribal lore to explain many things to John that are beyond Linda’s comprehension.
  6. Linda has no idea how to mend or wash clothes; so John always looks ragged and dirty. He uses his reading as his escape.
  7. Popé had found an ancient copy of Shakespeare’s plays in a trunk. He brings the book to John.
  8. Mitsima is kind to John. He tries to teach him how to make decorative and practical pottery and promises to teach him how to make a bow.
  9. John goes to the edge of the mesa and sits facing the moon. From his own mixed-up mythology, he creates his own initiation rite.