Dialectical Journals 27-55

Dialectical Journal 28

“After all, everyone belongs to everyone else.” (Page 43)

This pretty much sums up their society. People have no individuality and no sexual boundaries. Their only limitations are those placed on them in their embryo state and during conditions.

Dialectical Journal 29

“Our Ford’s: History is bunk….is bunk.”

This is to remind people that history is worthless and dangerous to study. Knowing history allows one to have knowledge outside their own lifetime and this makes people think, which is what this society doesn’t want to happen.

Dialectical Journal 30

“A New Theory of Biology…if one didn’t have to think about happiness.” (pg 177)

Strangely by not allowing an emotional commitment to another person and not to be allowed to think and wonder, the World State believes they are keeping people in a state of happiness. When, in fact, they are not allowing the people to grow intellectually through these emotional or intellectual experiences.

Dialectical Journal 31

“How much I love you…..holy rit.” (Page 191)

John has committed a sin in Lenina’s world by bringing to her the emotion of love. Even though she has been frustrated with him, she cannot understand the commitment of marriage or being together with only one person. He quotes Shakespeare, which further confuses her. Their two worlds are about to collide.

Dialectical Journal 32

“Whore……clenched his fists.” ( Page

 John’s savage’s world and Lenina’s world of no emotion are no longer compatible. Brought up by the Indian way of life by having to prove himself to become a man, he tries to prove himself to Lenina, but she misinterprets what he wants. He desires marriage, which is something that was taken away from him when Kiakime was married to another man. By Lenina giving herself to him and other men, she is no longer on a pedestal but has become a whore like his mother was in the village.

Dialectical Journal 33

“Pope!.......Every one belongs to every” (Pages 204 – 205)

John is trying to remember the good times with his mother, but she ruins this by focusing on Pope and not her son. This brings back all the bad memories, which foreshadows events to come. Her last words are a reminder that no one belongs to anyone in this society, and this is something that John cannot deal with.

Dialectical Journal 34

“She steps forward….warblings of the Super-Wurlitzer.” (Page 207)

Once Linda dies there is nothing left for him except his belief in God, which comes from the world of the Indians. The children’s and nurse’s reaction to her death make him realize how cruel the people. All of the advantages of living in this world have now become morally wrong to John.

Dialectical Journal 35
“Linda had been a slave…….Poison to soul as well as body.” (Page 210 – 211)
John takes out his frustration of Linda’s early death from too much soma, by trying to release others from its bad effects. The drug removes any human suffering, which John believes is the key to spiritual development. The soul cannot be nurtured if it is numb all the time.
Dialectical Journal 36
“Go away, little girl….suffer little children, said the controller.” (Page 56)
Mustapha is referencing the bible where Jesus says, “Suffer the little children to come unto me,” when his companions are trying to send the children away. This mirrors when D.H.C. tells the children to leave his fordship alone.
Dialectical Journal 37
“Because our world is not the same as Othello’s….can’t help behaving as they ought to behave.” (Page 220)
The Controller is justifying the outcome of making the world stable. Their interpretation of what stable means is unchanging just like the people. The World Controllers have done this through conditioning. If the people don’t know that something exists, then they cannot want it, and therefore will be happy.
Dialectical Journal 38
“Thank Ford! He was not…..still not unoccupied.” (Page 79)
The Solidarity Group was made of 12 people, which is the same number of the Apostles of Jesus. They were chosen to carry the true message of God to all nations. Ford is compared to God, and each person must attend a solidarity group to hear the message, carry it forward, and to be unified in Ford as those Apostles were unified in God.
Dialectical Journal 39
“The President stood up, made the sign of the T.” (Page 80)
Another reference to Christianity as Catholics make the sign of the cross before they begin their prayers. The President makes the sign of the T before the starting the Solidarity Service referencing Ford as God.
Dialectical Journal 40
“The loving cup of strawberry ice-cream soma was passed from hand to hand and, with the formula.” (Page 81)
Instead of the usual bread and wine of the Christian communion ritual, soma and ice cream are used. Ironically, the eating of bread was actually meant to study, internalize, and contemplate the Bible and the word of God, but the World State has banned the Bible and, along with it, spirituality.
Dialectical Journal 41
“Orgy-porgy, Ford and fun,
Kiss the girls and make them One.
Boys at one with girls at peace;
Orgy-porgy gives release. “ (Page 84)
Hymns, chanting and dancing, which are all related to church services, are used to alter the Solidarity ceremony into a sexual orgy instead of a religious experience. Sex is used to unite multiple individuals.
Dialectical Journal 42
“Didn’t you think it was wonderful…..perhaps it was his own fault.” (Page 85-86)
All who attended the Solidarity Group feel fulfilled and invigorated except for Bernard who cannot connect with the group. They lack individuality and a sense of self-awareness that Bernard has. He feels unfulfilled by this sexual orgy experience.
Dialectical Journal 43
“You’re a friend of the prisoner’s….waiting police car.” (Page 216)
Bernard finally has a self-realization that he is an individual like Helmholz and John. This is a foreshadow of what is to come and that he has accepted his fate of being sent to an island, which is something he has fought all along to keep from happening to him.
Dialectical Journal 44
“There was a loud noise, and he woke up…..hated Pope.” (Page 124 – 125)
Linda, Pope, and John are caught in an Oedipus complex triangle. John hates Pope who acts like John’s father and falls in love with his mother, Linda, his opposite parent. John even tries to kill Pope so he can have his mother to himself. It is ironic, because even in Linda’s death, John cannot have her to himself.
Dialectical Journal 45
“The Savage struck at his own rebellious flesh…at his feet.” (Page 258)
After all these years, John finally becomes the sacrifice of the ceremony paralleling the Indian ceremony in which a boy was sacrificed through being wiped to death to satisfy Pookong and Jesus. John’s fantasy was to be that boy to show that he was a man and to belong to a community.



Dialectical Journal 46
“But I don’t want comfort…I claim them all, said the Savage at last.” (Page 240)
John has finally chosen which world he wants to belong in: the Indian world. He is willing to accept all the responsibilities and hardships resulting from having knowledge, spirituality, and emotions. John demands to be allowed to feel unhappiness as well as happiness from this society that won’t allow this independent behavior.
Dialectical Journal 47
“Now I am purified,” said the Savage.” (Page 242)
John is purging himself from society’s wrongful way of life. Their minds are manipulated, there is no freedom of choice, and their emotional and intellectual abilities have been altered. John is choosing to take control of his life, and this is a foreshadow of events to come.
Dialectical Journal 48
“ The Savage had chosen his hermitage the old lighthouse….civilizedly luxurious.” (Page 243 & 244)
The lighthouse has become his sanctuary and heavenly place to heal and worship the God he use to know. He is using all the tradition Indian medicines and rituals to help in this healing process. But just as at the reservation, outside forces can invade the peace at any time and change the outcome of events.
Dialectical Journal 49
“From time to time……fainting from the pain.” (244)
John’s actions mirror the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus sacrificed himself to save mankind from eternal damnation, and John is punishing himself for the actions of the world. Both were outcasts and believed that god was the authority and not the local and World State Government.
Dialectical Journal 50
“He wouldn’t let me. Why not?” (Page 243)
Why doesn’t Mustapha allow John to go off with Helmholtz where he might find true happiness since he hasn’t so far? Maybe because John is the only one who hasn’t had to be banished for knowing too much because he can hide under the façade of being a savage. This also allows a chance for Mustapha to have intelligent conversations with another human being.
Dialectical Journal 51
“He tried to think of poor Linda….you strumpet.” (Page 252)
Even in his cleansing state, John is not able to disengage himself from the two people he loved: his mother and Lenina. He calls them strumpet or prostitute and attacks the imaginary Lenina because she is clouding the memories of his mother. The very word society considers evil and dirty when John himself believes that Lenina is the one who is wicked not his mother. He whips himself trying to feel physical not emotional pain.
Dialectical Journal 52
“Charming, charming giving her two or three……away after the others.” (Page 17)
This is the first glimpse into the society that has no sexual boundaries. It is treated informally and publicly not privately. This leads to no emotional attachments.
Dialectical Journal 53
“Bernard’s physique was hardly…..which they had their being.” (Page 64 – 65)
Even though Bernard was a Alpha and should be at the top of the caste system, he feels incompetent because of the way he looks. He has an inferiority complex due to his shortness, which attributes to his feeling of being separate for society and allows him to have more independent thinking.
Dialectical Journal 54
 “Lenina looked down through…. aphides and ants…departure of helicopters.” (Page 63)
This shows a society that is helped by technology, but it is also imprisoned by it. Technology rules everything including everything from the embryo to death. No one can be truly happy because they cannot explore anything beyond what technology has to offer. The people act like little machines in their actions and life. They have been pre-programmed since birth.
Dialectical Journal 55
“Kill it, kill it……pair of feet.” (Page 258 & 259)
This is the end for John. He finally joins the crowd and loses his individualism. He no longer stands alone, but becomes a member of the society of everything he loathes. He cannot deal with his actions and in the end the only way out of this mess is to kill himself.