Prompt 2

In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, the main character, John, is plagued by conflicts bought upon him by two opposing societies. When he is brought from his native "savage land" to a futuristic society in London, he finds that everything about him, from his looks to his "primitive" beliefs, is conflicting with the people around him. Over the course of the book, John's main dilemma is struggling to find the proper balance between sticking to his beliefs and finally finding his place in society. As expected, this compromise sparks not only internal conflict, but external conflicts between John and the rest of society, thus further complicating his search for a sense of self.

Throughout the story, John's main conflict is internalized as he fights to find a place in society while sticking to his beliefs. At the beginning of the book, John is outcast from his native society because he looks too much like people from western society to be able to properly fit in. When he moves to London, he is still shunned by the community because although he physically fits in, the beliefs that he grew up with in the "savage land" are too primitive for their way of life, and are therefore frowned upon. It seems that no matter where he goes, John will never be able to satisfy his deep desire to find a place where he belongs while staying true to himself.

Aside from the internal conflict that plagues John over the course of the book, John is also faced with countless instances of external conflict. While in the "savage land," John found his very existence to be in conflict with the society he was raised in. Since he was the only white man in a world of indians, John was an outcast, which eventually drove him to violent actions when he attempted to kill a native man. The external conflict that haunted John in his native society followed him to London, and in fact worsened over time. Since John was very firm in his beliefs, and these beliefs contradicted everything that modern society stood for, John found himself butting heads with society once again. After the anger building inside of him boils over, John lashes out by publicly standing up for what he believes in, and he finds himself pushed out of society again. This recurring pattern of isolation, combined with John's internal and external conflicts, help the reader to empathize with the decision John eventually has to face: is it better to be physically isolated, or to be surrounded by other people but feel even more isolated because you have no sense of belonging?

Ultimately, the various internal and external conflicts that John faces over the course of Brave New World pushes him to seek refuge in isolation. Although John hoped at the beginning of the book that his move to London would help to resolve his internal conflicts, it ironically sparked even more conflict in his life. However, even though John never came to find a place to finally fit in, he was able to partially resolve some of the conflict over his sense of self by finally deciding that sticking to his morals was more important than the approval of others.

Time: 32 minutes