chapters 9 - 13

while listening to my ipod the other day, i remembered that there is a song by the band the strokes called soma. i listened to it, and then looked up the lyrics, which are as follows.

"Soma"

Soma is what they would take when
Hard times opened their eyes
Saw pain in a new way
High stakes for a few names
Racing against sun beams
Losing against their dreams
In your eyes

And I am
Stop
And go
In your eyes
See I am
Stop
And go
In your eyes

Let's go

When I saw her for the first time
Lips moved as her eyes closed
Heard something in his voice
"And I'll be there", he says
Then he walks out
Somehow he was trying
Too hard to be like them

Well I am
Stop
And go
In your eyes
And I am
Stop
Oh, darling, let me go

Tried it once and they like it
Then tried to hide it
Says, "I've been doing this 25 years"
But I'm not listening no more
And these friends, they keep asking for more
Oh, yeah
Oh, but that's it

i don't see much of a resemblance to BNW, other than the first few lines. it's possible that it was written with the book in mind, but not likely. it seems that the song might be about drugs, and it would be interesting to know if the fictional drug from BNW was used as a metaphor for other real drugs. hmm...

john quotes romeo and juliet, when thinking about lenina, and how beautiful she is.

it is called a hive of industry, again comparing the society to insects.

brenard brings john to the brave new world to study him, and the effects of the society on him, and also to help him escape exile from iceland

the DHC says that brenard is a conspirator of civilization, and is trying to destroy the society.

after the DHC is outed as the viviparous father of john, he resigns, never to return to the hatchery again.

people do not want to see linda, because she is fat, and ugly, due to the fact that she spent time on the reservation, and did not get the necessary blood transfusions and such to stay young and attractive.

thee doctor says "soma may make you lose a few yars in time, but think of the enormous, immeasurable duration it can give you out of time. every soma-holiday is a bit of what our ancestors used to call eternity." basically, he says it makes you feel immortal.

he is glad that he is popular. he then acts condescendingly towards others, and becomes arrogant. hemholtz is upset, because his friend is no longer interesting, different, and nice, and is now boring, and mean.

i do not recall an ariel being in the chapters, and i do not remember any mention of what you get after a hard day's work.

john the savage does not like the feely. he thinks it is stupid, but later on he compares it to othello, simply because the main characters are both black.

he embarrasses brenard by not showing up to an event about the study of the savage. he then does not show up to the party either, and people think he is a fraud.

mustapha mond refuses to publish "a new theory of biology" although he did find it interesting, he cannot allow the public to read it.

after hemholtz meets john, brenard is jealous of their new friendship, and feels like a third wheel.

he gets in trouble with the authorities because he writes "propoganda" poetry about solitude, which is frowned upon in the BNW

hemholtz enjoyed the strange, foreign scenarios of shakespeare, but later found it too absurd.

john was at first in love with lenina, but once he found that she is not as innocent as he imagined, he thinks she is a whore.

she tries to seduce him, and he gets scared, and freaks out. she locks herself in the bathroom, when john gets a call, about who i assume to be his mother OD'ing on soma, and rushes to the hospital.