A different outlook on death (Brave New World-14)

"They met his eyes and simultaneously grinned. One of them pointed with his eclair butt.
'Is she dead?' he asked.
The Savage stared at them for a moment in silence. Then in silence he rose to his feet, in silence slowly walked towards the door.
'Is she dead?' repeated the inquisitive twin trotting at his side.
The Savage looked down at him and still without speaking pushed him away. The twin fell on the floor and at once began to howl. The Savage did not even look round." (Brave New World, page 207)


I feel bad for John in this chapter. All his life, John has been surrounded by a completely different society. His mother constantly told stories of the glory of this "other place" and John longed to be able to see this place for himself. However, now that he is in this place with his dying mother, he wants nothing more but to be anywhere but in the "Park Lane Hospital for the Dying". In an unfamilar place, John is given anything but comfort. Instead, he is given a drugged mother who continually calls her son, Pope, a name of one of her former lovers that John absolutely hated. (The author is using an apostrophe here. To further add to the dying state of Linda, the author uses an apostrophe to show how her mind is completely gone.) The nurses in the hospital could care less about Linda's lifelessness, instead they focus only on the children and conditioning them properly to handle death. Now faced with the death of his mother, John doesn't know what to do or where to go. This whole chapter was an example of how different the Reservation society is from the New World society. Death is just a five letter word to the people in the New World. However, to John, death is real and sad. John is grieving, but unfortunately, he is alone. John is now stuck in a world where he doesn't belong, doesn't understand, and has no one else to turn to.