A glimpse of John's early life (Brave New World-8)

"He shook his head. 'It's almost inconceivable. I shall never understand, unless you explain.'
'Explain what?'
'This.' He indicated the pueblo. 'That.' And it was the little house outside the village. 'Everything. All your life.'"
(Brave New World, page 123)


Bernard is able to speak to John and he asks him to tell him everything about his life as far back as he can remember. Bernard listens to John and truly wants to hear what John's life has been like. Bernard wants to understand this new, foreign world. Thus, the anecdote/flashback of John's early life begins. Purposefully, the author creates this flashback to show the differences of the Reservation life and the New World life. We see how John was brought up in his society. We also see how John is sort of a misfit in society because he was raised in the Reservation but raised by his mother who came from the "other world". Undoubtedly, John is a confused child. John only knows the life that he has experienced and the life that he lives in. However, he knows several stories of this "perfect life" that his mother lived in the "other world". I also found a similarity between the two characters of this chapter. Just as Bernard is looking for more in the world that he lives in, John is looking for more than the life that he is living. John is an outcast in his the society in which he lives. Bernard is an outcast in the society in which he lives. Both John and Bernard are looking to find something more and they long to fit in somewhere. The author effectively shows this point by explaining John's early life through an anecdote.