John's Experience in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

In Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World, the eventual protagonist, John, experiences alienation throughout society practically everywhere he goes. The isolation from his hometown of Malpis carries into London, where the unfamiliar environment leaves him feeling even more secluded. He is in exile everywhere because he does not belong anywhere. Which only furthers his loneliness and self-imposed exile. However, his exile from the “civilized” society he was brought to only enriches his knowledge on the flaws of the World State. Johns experience’s illuminate the importance of individualism, an unjust use of power, and truth.

John was born and raised in the Savage Reservation where he was wrongly ostracized for his physical appearance and his mother's’ actions. She constantly slept with men, but coming from the World State her actions were justifiable. This created a disadvantage for John and even continued when he was brought to a supposedly normal society. His presence was displayed for citizens to gawk at, leaving him to feel even more isolated and abnormal. Actions similar to these only emphasized the differences between John and the rest of civilization. Leaving him secluded and aware of societies ugliness.

Understanding to the extent of how troubling the World State truly is, he forces himself into exile. Johns actions can be represented in a sense of real world’s mortality. He reflects a unique piece of individualism that was not forced through manufactured thoughts or emotions. This, his love of shakespeare, and need for all aspects of life- not just stable, happy, and orderly-makes John unlike everybody else. He feels a desire to have complications within his life, something nobody within the World State wants. This places John in a mental seclusion. Realizing this mental, physical, and emotional exile, leaves John to believe there is no reason to live; so he takes his life. His individualism played a large role in his suicide.

John’s character was a representation of challenge. He objected the freedom taken by an arbitrary government and acknowledged the lack of individualism within the World State. His unique values and knowledge symbolized the dangers that the World State fought. All efforts to free the individual failed with Johns eventual suicide and only solidified the dangers of an all-powerful state. In Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World, the eventual protagonist, John, experiences alienation throughout society practically everywhere he goes. The isolation from his hometown of Malpis carries into London, where the unfamiliar environment leaves him feeling even more secluded. He is in exile everywhere because he does not belong anywhere. Which only furthers his loneliness and self-imposed exile. However, his exile from the “civilized” society he was brought to only enriches his knowledge on the flaws of the World State. Johns experience’s illuminate the importance of individualism, an unjust use of power, and truth.