BNW Journal Ch. 15

Ch. 15

Summary:

            The soma distribution lab is where John ends up after wandering out of the ward where Linda died. In shock and unable to process much, all he sees are two faces. The Deltas are women with orange hair and freckles or men with dark hair and eyes. He shoves through them mindlessly and there is a great grumbling. However, they quickly forget about the Savage when the soma comes out. They line up to get their daily rations when bam the Savage interrupts.

            John has been thinking about how evil soma is, using addiction to force compliance and weakness. He goes to the front of the line and announces his thoughts on soma and how he was going to save them by throwing it away. This makes the Deltas angry. Meanwhile, the distributer was phoning someone to deal with the savage.

            Bernard and Helmholtz were waiting for John, to go to dinner, when they received a call. The unknown person on the other end informed them of John’s “crazy” behavior. They arrive at the distribution center and find John ranting maniacally about manhood and freedom. He throws soma tablets out the window and that is when things turned ugly.

            Among the Deltas a large roar went up and the crowd surged angrily forward. It is now a melee, with John punching angry Deltas and throwing soma out the window. Helmholtz, before standing in the back with Bernard, laughs and joins John. Back to back they fight the furious Deltas who are now more like animals than humans.

            Bernard is still on the fringes and cannot decide whether or not to join the two on stage. He is not brave and fears the consequences, but feels like a coward for standing back. When the police arrive, he ran over to them saying, “Help, oh help!”, and generally being a nuisance.

            The men in blue spray the crowd with soma vapor and play a message of love and happiness. Pretty soon, everyone is hugging, saying sorry, and leaving peacefully. The police ask John and Helmholtz to come quietly and catch Bernard trying to weasel away from the scene.

            The fight scene in this chapter was the climax of the book. In the end we see how Helmholtz is more revolutionary than Bernard, not something I expected at the beginning.

Lit Elements:

            The biggest symbol of the chapter was, once again, based on the similarity. This time the author describes them as animal, unintelligent and vicious. All of the faces were reflecting the same idea. The reflection symbolizes the unity of opinions in this dystopia. This idea of unity is visible throughout the book, as unity often means strength, and the society is strong.

Vocabulary:

Dolychocephalic –adj- long headed

Vestibule –noun- an antechamber, hall, or lobby next to the outer door of a building

Derision –noun- contemptuous ridicule or mockery