Exile In Brave New World

Makala Hernandez

6-1-16

Assignment One: Brave New World

Exile. The thought of being excluded from one's “home” can be unimaginable to countless individuals. When encountered with the term many become horrified with the fact of alienation. Away from home and the ones you love; Away from your customs and everyday life. Everything you knew and admired has suddenly disappeared. However, exile can become a noble experience filled with enriching qualities. With the vile follows the pleasant. In the novel Brave New World, Linda emerges into the world of exilement. She is faced with the abandonment of civilization due to the birth of her own child in “savage” territory known as Malpais. Having this child meant that Linda could never go home; not

Linda was not used to the ways of the “savage.” She did not understand them. It was incomparable to the manner of the civilized. “Here, nobody's supposed to belong to more than one person. And if you have people in the ordinary way, the others think you're wicked and anti-social ” (p. 121). In Malpais, Linda did not realize that her customs and habits were not of those of the savage. Being with everyone in a sensational aspect was a way of the new not the old. She soon learned their customs the hard way through several beatings and lashes of the whip. She did not belong; They knew it and she did too. Upon these experiences of alienation, Linda blamed her son, John. “ If it hadn’t been for you...I might have got away… Little beast ” (p.127). In her eyes it was all his doing. The exilement, alienation, punishments, and incrimination. If it was not for him she would be back home taking soma and enjoying life and the ways of the civilized. She would have her nice clothes and men and job back. Everything she ever wanted in life and more. “ I’m not your mother. I won't be your mother” (p.127). Linda never heard of a mother and now she was one and every so often refused to believe it. Being excluded from what she loved and admired compelled her to implicate the blame and torture on John and even occasionally herself. When all along society was the

Even though Linda was exposed to pain and withdrawal from society she still was able to seize the understanding of the true meaning of love and life. Within the relationship between Linda and John she quickly attained the knowledge about true love and affection a mother has for her child. When confronting the Director with the information that she was alive and that they had a son together Linda defends John with the explanation of his empathy. “...But he was a comfort to me all the same” (p.151) At the start of her exile she blames John for the rift she experiences after his birth, however, Linda instantly begins to enjoy his presence and her life with him. From the duration of their time together, Linda realizes what a mother should be. A mother needs to nurture, teach, care, and love her child. In civilization mothering was abnormal and conflicted with the social norm. From Linda’s exile she realized that this is not the case. She loved John just as much as one loved soma, perhaps occasionally even more. Assuming that Linda never endured the inadequate misery of exclusion from modern society and never gave birth to John she would never fully understand the importance of love for one's own flesh and blood and the enriching experience mothering can bring. Even though Linda realized these aspects of life she eventually descended back into accustomed habits of soma. “ The return to civilization was for her the return to