BNW chapter 7

a lot of this book reminds me of a song, called "the yeah yeah yeah song" by one of my favorite bands, the flaming lips. they are a very strange psychadellic rock band, and nine out of ten of their songs are random nonsense strung together into a bright and charming melody, but every once in a while, the songs make a very great statement. basically, the song is about power given to the wrong people. the verse asks the listener questions, like "if you could make everybody poor, just so you could be rich, would you do it?" and "if you could watch everybody work, while just laying on your back, would you do it?" and the chorus replies "yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah" but basically, the song says that people have a natural tendency to wish to be in control, because they believe that those in control are doing the wrong thing, but with all the power in the world, what would you do with it? it makes me think of the controllers, and this whole "brave new world" i'll try and post the music video of it on the blog.

the savage reservation is mostly modeled after ancient mayans, or incans, or aztecs, or one of those type societies, along with some american indian themes, and a hint of modern christian beliefs.

brenard and lenina first encounter a skinny, almost deathly skinny, old indian man. this sets the tone of just how different the outside place is from the reservation.

lenina is horrified of the ritual, and keeps wishing she had some soma.

the snake dance is a sort of ritualistic sacrifice ceremony, in which a man whips a younger boy to sacrifice him to their gods.

john is described as a naive kid. he is eager to fit in with the savages, because it is the only world he knows. he has some knowledge of the outside world, but not much.

john wishes to be in the snake dance, to prove his manhood, and to give himself up selflessly to the indian's god.

i think huxley wants us to focus on the huge gap between the two societies, and the segregation between john and his mother (OH NO! DIRTY WORD!) and the rest of the savages.

the only thing i see that the two places have in common is the fact that they are both different societies, both from each other, but more importantly to us, different from the world we live in

we learn that john the savage is the son of the DHC. this is important because monogomous relationships are frowned upon, and natural childbirth is frowned upon even more

linda is a loving mother, who wants to go back home, but is not allowed to. she is fat, and unattractive, but was "pneumatic" at one time in her life.

and, i will leave with my favorite line from the song, that relates to the way people act in the book, and their impulsive-ness.

it's a very dangerous thing to do exactly what you want.