Quote 7
"Have a gramme," suggested Lenina.
He refused, preferring his anger. (6.3.31-2)
Bernard's reaction is admirable—but it doesn't last long. He very quickly resorts to soma to escape his anger rather than facing it. What is the turning point for him, and why?
Quote 8
Astonishment made Lenina forget the deprivation of soma. She uncovered her face and, for the first time, looked at the stranger. "Do you mean to say that you wanted to be hit with that whip?"
Still averted from her, the young man made a sign of affirmation. "For the sake of the pueblo—to make the rain come and the corn grow. And to please Pookong and Jesus. And then to show that I can bear pain without crying out. Yes," and his voice suddenly took on a new resonance, he turned with a proud squaring of the shoulders, a proud, defiant lifting of the chin "to show that I'm a man…" (7.45-6)
John's constant desire to suffer is a product of his upbringing, just as Lenina's aversion to pain of any kind (mental, physical) is a product of hers. In this way, is John just as brainwashed as Lenina?
Quote 9
Lenina suddenly felt all the sensations normally experienced at the beginning of a Violent Passion Surrogate treatment—a sense of dreadful emptiness, a breathless apprehension, a nausea. Her heart seemed to stop beating.
"Perhaps it's because he doesn't like me," she said to herself. And at once this possibility became an established certainty: John had refused to come because he didn't like her. He didn't like her… (12.23-4)
It is unclear whether Lenina's suffers here because she can't have John, or because she actually has genuine feelings for him. Your thoughts?