Nadia 11-01

14 October 2016

Outcast

"Whatever makes you different, thats exactly who youre here to be, not someone

that fits with everyone else" (unknown). The quote reflects one of the characters attribute

which is nonconformity and being himself. In Brave New World written by Aldous Huxley,

Bernard Marx in the World State, the controlled world, is the problem character because he

has totally different idea almost everything from others in the World State. Therefore,

Bernard isolates himself from the society because of his three different ideas about physical

features from the same class, relationships, and happiness.

Bernards different physical characteristics from others in his same class, Alphas,

cause him to be distressed. Everyone in the World State is created by cloning. In the World

State, people are divided into five classes, which are Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and

Epsilon. Bernard is an Alpha, so he is supposed to be tall. However, other people predict that

alcohol is accidentally put into his egg which make him to be shorter than others in his class.

The author explains: He stood eight centimetres short of the standard Alpha height and was

slender in proportion. Contact with members of he lower castes always reminded him

painfully of this physical inadequacy (Huxley, p.55). The quote clearly shows that Bernard

always feels worried even when he deals with those who are in lower classes because they do

not listen and follow his order, they think he is not an Alpha. It makes Bernard loses his

confidence, and wants to be alone. Bernard physical appearance makes him does not fit on

the society, so he has negative thought of society.

Bernard has different ways of thinking about relationships from the society, which

makes him against the society. In the World State, there is one way of thinking, which is

everyone belongs to everyone else (Huxley, p.34). Therefore, everyone has freedom to find
a sexual partner because he or she just has sex for fun. No wonder why everyone will not

have long relationship with each other. Bernard shows his idea when he hears other people

talk about having sex with Lenina: Talking about her as though she were a bit of meat.

Bernard ground his teeth. Have her here, have her there. [...] He would have liked to go up to

them and hit them in the face hard, again and again (Huxley, p.39). Bernard feels angry

because he disagrees with the societys idea. Bernard is always lonely, so he never

experiences happiness.

In Bernards view, people in the World State should have different ways to be happy

rather than using soma, which is in contrast to others view about happiness. When people in

this world feel stressed or cannot solve their problems, they will take soma to relieve their

symptoms. Since they were young, they will automatically get the condition. Then,

everybody becomes happy in the same way. According to chapter six, He laughed, Yes,

Everybody's happy nowadays. We begin giving the children that at five. But wouldn't you

like to be free to be happy in some other way, Lenina? In your own way, for example; not in

everybody else's way (Huxley, p.79), it reflects that Bernard thinks people should not take

soma to be happy. Everyone should create his or her own happiness. By doing this, there will

be no same happiness in the World State. He also disagrees with everyone will get a condition

since he or she was young.

Loneliness of Bernard is motivated by his three individual attitudes. Firstly, he has

awful physical appearance, and it makes him feel low because he cannot command the lower

caste. Secondly, he has a different idea about everyone belongs to everyone else. Lastly, his

different belief about taking soma. All of these make Bernard become different. Huxley uses

Bernard to illustrates how non-conformity reveal in the future world.