Aldous Huxley's Brave New World
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Bernard Marx

He is in the Alpha caste but because of his physical appearance, he is looked down upon. His size makes him the odd one out and throughout the novel he struggles to fit in the society. His need for acceptance by this world's people and his doubt in the society are what causes his irrational behavior and lack of humanity.

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  • His thoughts against the society's culture
              "' No the real problem is: How is it that I can't, or rather- because, after all, I know quite well why I can't- what would it be like if I  could, if I were free- not enslaved by my conditioning.' ... 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 91)
        
              "Ashamed, now that the effects of the soma had worn off, of the weakness he had displayed that morning in the hotel, he went out of his way to show himself strong and unorthodox. 'What a wonderfully intimate relationship,' he said, deliberately outrageous. 'And what an intensity of feeling it must be generate! I often think one may have missed something in not having had a mother. An perhaps you've missed something in not being a mother, Lenina. Imagine yourself sitting there with a little baby of your own...'" (Huxley 111-112)

  • His Plan for 'Success'
              "'I wonder if you'd like to come back to London with us?' he asked, making the first move in a campaign whose strategy he had been secretly elaborating ever since, in the little house, ha had realized who the "father" of this young savage must be." (Huxley 138)


  • His Arrogance While at the Top
              "'And i had six girls last week,' he confided to Helmholtz Watson. 'One on Monday, two on Tuesday, two more on Friday, and one on Saturday. And if I had the time or the inclination, there were at least a dozen more who were only too anxious...' Helmholtz listened to his boastings in a silence so gloomily disapproving that Bernard was offended. 'You're envious,' he said. Helmholtz shook his head. 'I'm rather sad, that's all,' he answered. Bernard went off in an huff. Never, he told himself, never would he speak to Helmholtz again." (Huxley 156)    

              " Success went fizzily to Bernard's head, and in the process completely reconciled him ( as any good intoxicant should do) to a world which, up till the he had found very unsatisfactory. In so far as it recognized him as important, the order of things was good. but, reconciled by his success, he yet refused to forego the privilege of criticizing this order. For the fact that criticizing heightened his sense of importance, made him feel larger. Moreover, he did genuinely believe that there were things to criticize. ( At the same time, he genuinely liked being a success and having all  the girls he wanted.) Before those who now, for the sake of the Savage, paid their court to him, Bernard would parade a carping unorthodoxy. He was politely listened to.But behind his back people shook their heads... Meanwhile, however, there was the first Savage; they were polite. And because they were polite, Bernard felt positively gigantic- gigantic and at the same time light with elation, lighter than air." (Huxley 157)









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