Brave New World #4

Summary: Lenina has just gotten on the lift and Bernard is there. She very publicly discusses that they will be going on a date to New Mexico. Bernard is uncomfortable. And Lenina then leaves for her date with Henry, leaving Bernard with Benito Hoover who says that she is nice to have. Bernard is upset because he wants Lenina to be different but she isn't; she's like everyone else. He is feeling insecure about his caste postition because he is shorter than other people in his group. Mixing with lower classes reminds him that he is an outsider. He goes to visit his friend Helmholtz Watson. Watson has greater intelligence than most Alpha-Pluses so he too feels like an outsider. This is what makes the two men such good friends. They both realize that they are individuals, which is what sets them apart from everyone else.

My Interpretation: This chapter is still setting up the rest of the story. But we see that Watson and Marx are both different from others in their caste. They are individuals. We also see that Bernard is jealous of Watson because he is a lady magnet and he makes it a point of telling him about his date with Lenina to boast. I see that he is insecure in his social standing because he is a little shorter than the others.

Allusions: Benito Hoover- Italian WWII leader
Bernard Marx- Karl Marx communist party founder
Helmholtz Watson- American Psychologist

Irony:  In this world people openly discuss their unfaithfulness- situational irony; Asking someone who their mother is, is a dirty joke, mother is derogatory in this world- situational irony;

Vocabulary: ruminating- verb, to ponder; cordiality- noun, courteous and gracious; waylaid- verb, intercept or attack from ambush;