Brave New World
Chapter 14: Fourteen
by Huxley, AldousThe chapter opens with the Savage arriving at the Park Lane Hospital for the Dying, a futuristic facility where death is sanitized and commodified. The hospital is described as a brightly colored, cheerful place filled with synthetic music, perfumed air, and constant television broadcasts, designed to make dying a pleasant experience. The Savage is directed to his mother Linda’s ward, where he finds her surrounded by other elderly patients, all kept distracted by entertainment and sensory comforts. The nurse proudly explains the hospital’s efforts to create a luxurious atmosphere, but the Savage is visibly distressed, focused only on finding Linda.
Upon locating Linda, the Savage is struck by her deteriorated condition. She is bloated and barely conscious, passively watching a tennis match on television while under the influence of soma, a happiness-inducing drug. The Savage is overwhelmed by memories of her as a young, caring mother in their homeland, contrasting sharply with her current state. The nurse, uncomfortable with his emotional display, hastily leaves, revealing the society’s discomfort with genuine human connections. The Savage sits by Linda’s side, whispering her name and reminiscing about their past, highlighting the emotional depth absent in this sterile, controlled world.
The scene is disrupted by the arrival of a group of identical eight-year-old twins, part of a conditioning program to desensitize children to death. They react with fear and disgust at Linda’s aged appearance, having never encountered natural aging in their engineered society. The Savage, enraged by their intrusion and callousness, physically rebukes one of the children, causing a confrontation with the nurse. She defends the conditioning process, emphasizing the society’s prioritization of societal stability over individual empathy. The Savage’s outburst underscores the clash between his humanity and the dehumanizing values of the world around him.
The chapter concludes with the nurse leading the children away, restoring order but leaving the Savage to grapple with his grief and anger. His emotional turmoil contrasts sharply with the artificial cheer of the hospital, exposing the emptiness of a society that avoids suffering at the cost of genuine human experience. The Savage’s struggle to reconcile his memories of Linda with her degraded state reflects the broader theme of loss and alienation in a world that has sacrificed authenticity for control and comfort.
FAQs
1. How does the Park Lane Hospital for the Dying reflect the societal values of the World State in Brave New World?
Answer:
The hospital embodies the World State’s prioritization of superficial comfort and distraction over genuine human connection, even in death. The ward is designed like “a first-class hotel and a feely-palace,” with constant synthetic music, changing perfumes, and television screens to pacify patients. This reflects the society’s aversion to discomfort or introspection, treating death as just another process to be sanitized and commodified. The lack of visitors and the nurse’s shock at the Savage’s emotional reaction further highlight the dehumanization inherent in this system, where relationships and mourning are obsolete.
2. Analyze the significance of Linda’s physical deterioration in contrast to the other patients in Ward 81.
Answer:
Linda’s bloated, aged appearance horrifies the conditioned children because she represents the taboo reality of natural aging and decay. While other patients in this “Galloping Senility” ward retain youthful features (as senility “had no time to age the cheeks”), Linda’s body bears the marks of her life outside the World State—malnutrition, childbirth, and soma abuse. Her condition is a visceral indictment of the society’s rejection of natural human processes. The twins’ disgust underscores how thoroughly the World State has pathologized normal biological transitions.
3. Why does the Savage react violently to the twins, and what does this conflict reveal about his character?
Answer:
The Savage strikes a twin for intruding on Linda’s privacy, an act rooted in his reverence for individual dignity and familial bonds—values foreign to the World State. His outburst (“What are these filthy little brats doing here?”) contrasts with the nurse’s justification that they are being “death-conditioned.” This clash reveals his inability to reconcile with a society that instrumentalizes human experiences (even death) for conditioning purposes. His rage is both protective of Linda and a rejection of the dehumanizing spectacle the children represent.
4. How does Huxley use sensory details to critique the World State’s approach to mortality in this chapter?
Answer:
Huxley satirizes the society’s artificial comforts through overwhelming sensory inputs: the “gay synthetic melodies,” perfumes, and flickering TV screens create a grotesque parody of care. These distractions are meant to anesthetize patients and visitors alike, replacing authentic emotional engagement with sensory overload. The verbena scent and Wurlitzer music underscore the irony—these details are pleasurable yet hollow, mirroring the society’s broader use of pleasure to suppress inconvenient truths like suffering and death.
5. Compare the Savage’s memories of Linda with her current state. What thematic purpose does this juxtaposition serve?
Answer:
The Savage recalls Linda as a nurturing figure (“that young, bright face… her voice, her movements”), contrasting sharply with her present “imbecile happiness” induced by soma. This juxtaposition highlights the tragedy of her reduction to a broken, infantilized state. His grief underscores the cost of the World State’s ethos: Linda’s humanity has been erased twice—first by her exile, then by chemical escapism. The memories also anchor the Savage’s identity, making his alienation from this sanitized dystopia more poignant.
Quotes
1. “We try to create a thoroughly pleasant atmosphere here—something between a first-class hotel and a feely-palace, if you take my meaning.”
This quote encapsulates the dystopian approach to death in the World State, where dying is sanitized and commodified as just another consumer experience. The nurse’s explanation reveals the society’s obsession with superficial comfort and distraction, even in life’s final moments.
2. “You’re not feeling ill, are you?” […] “She’s my mother,” he said in a scarcely audible voice. The nurse glanced at him with startled, horrified eyes; then quickly looked away. From throat to temple she was all one hot blush.”
This pivotal moment highlights the profound cultural clash between the Savage’s human emotions and the World State’s values. The nurse’s visceral reaction to the concept of motherhood underscores how thoroughly natural human relationships have been pathologized in this society.
3. “Linda looked on, vaguely and uncomprehendingly smiling. Her pale, bloated face wore an expression of imbecile happiness.”
This haunting description of Linda’s soma-induced state illustrates the novel’s critique of chemical happiness. The juxtaposition of her physical deterioration with artificial contentment shows the tragic consequences of the World State’s pleasure principle.
4. “They had never seen a face like hers before—had never seen a face that was not youthful and taut-skinned, a body that had ceased to be slim and upright.”
The children’s shock at Linda’s natural aging process reveals how completely the World State has eliminated normal human biological processes. This moment powerfully demonstrates the society’s denial of mortality and worship of perpetual youth.
5. “They’re being death-conditioned. And I tell you, if I have any more of your interference with their conditioning, I’ll send for the porters and have you thrown out.”
This chilling statement exposes the systematic indoctrination of children to accept death as trivial entertainment. The nurse’s threat emphasizes the society’s prioritization of conditioning over genuine human compassion or mourning.