Enduring Love Chapter 12 Summary

591 Words3 Pages

Although it is not mentioned candidly, sex is significant in chapter 12. In chapter 12, Bernard throws a party with the pretense that “the Savage” will be in attendance. When John rejects the invitation, Bernard has to announce the news to the guests, which were less than pleased. “As for the women, they indignantly felt that they had been had on false pretenses,” (173). Most of the women in attendance slept with Bernard with the promise that they will be able to meet John. This shows that the only reason for women wanting to have sex with Bernard was for their own gain and not because of their attraction towards him.
Further in the chapter when the guests leave the Arch-Community-Songster calls for Lenina to follow him to the roof where they …show more content…

Lenina had been sleeping with dozens of men in order to get her mind off of John, but to no avail she just feels her feelings for him grow stronger. “But it’s absurd to let yourself get into a state like this. Simply absurd. And what about? A man-one man” (187). Fanny cannot believe that Lenina feels so strongly about one man when there are “millions of other men in the world” (187). Lenina sets up a plan to approach John and have sex with him whether he wants to or not, which leads to the assumption that her feelings for John would not be classified as love, but rather lust. John admits that he loves her and wants to marry Lenina, but that freaks her out, as she only came for sex. Lenina does not love John and he does not feel worthy of her so when she starts stripping he pushes her away and calls her a whore. A quote that stood out was, “How much I love you, Lenina,”(191) because of how this is the first time those words are uttered from a character. I think Huxley will later reveal why John rejected Lenina when she offered herself to him and I think love is going to be further spoken of and explored due to the fact that it involves a Savage who was raised around married couples and a Beta who was conditioned to think that promiscuity is what is