As I read more into this book, I find it a little easier to understand. The society as a whole is a completely bizzare outlook on a possible future. I don't understand why the author started the book with the conditoning center and that whole world and then suddenly in the middle of the story, decides to introduce the savage reservation in new mexico. The two different 'worlds' are pretty much opposite from their everyday activities and even to the way people are associated with each other. For instance, in the "other place" as John calls it, people belong to each other and it doesn't matter who it is. But in the savage reservation, people are known to stay with one person [like in our society, which we consider normal]. It is pretty disturbing thinking if we lived in the new society that Huxley produces, in which, everyone belongs to one another and sleeps with whomever they want just because they could. I also find it interesting how Linda relied on soma in the new world before and is conditioned to need something like that so she starts to depend on the mescal in her new village. It seems like people in the "other world" are always depending on something [soma] or someone else [promiscuous sex] to fulfill their needs of being normal or fitting into society.
Jenn Headley
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I think the reason Huxley introduces the reservation into the storyline is to show the appreciation one should have for the natural world. Back in the world state, everybody is taught to have a strict aversion to everything that is natural. This is why the DHC wanted to banish Bernard to Iceland, because that country is the complete opposite of the technological society of the world state.
By juxtaposing the world state to the reservation, Huxley shows how serene life can be without the intervention of technology. This may also be an example of forshadowing, because we, as a society, are moving more towards a technological future.
I agree that as the book continues, it is a bit easier to understand. I also agree that the outlook of our possible future is far fetched. I think that it is directly on target to say that in the book someone always is depending on either soma or the erotic play. The morals of always depending on something to fit in to a certain crowd may be in our society, but the examples are incomprehensible.
Paul Morrison
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