Chapter 18

When Watson goes to John’s apartment, he notices that John looks pale and ill. When Watson enquires about John’s wealth, John says that he has “eaten civilization” and has been poisoned by it. He adds that, in accordance with Indian customs, he has attempted to purify himself with turmeric and water.

Bernard and Watson have come to bid goodbye to John. Bernard tries to apologize to John, but John cuts him short, but does so politely. He also acknowledges Watson’s help.

Though John had requested Mustapha to transfer him to a remote island, Mustapha had refused. He wants to observe and continue experimenting with John. However, John is determined to leave and picks an old lighthouse not frequented by the civilized as his next destination. John spends his initial days exploring and praying to the Gods. Though he’s carried some supplies and money with him, he aims to become entirely self-sufficient soon. He is uplifted by the toil and labor necessary for daily sustenance on the island.

Nonetheless, John also chastises himself for not remembering his mother enough, and he calls himself ungrateful. He begins to “purify” himself with whiplashes on his back, but is seen by people from the civilized world. The next day, the reporters arrive in swarms.

John is startled by a reporter who wants him to say a few words. John curses in a tribal language into the microphone and then assaults the surprised reporter. The incident gives rise to the following headline the next day: “Hourly radio reporter has coccyx kicked by mystery savage.”

As more reporters hound John, they are all dealt with violently. Eventually, people learn to respect John’s privacy.

Returning to his solitary domesticity, John is plagued by thoughts of Lenina and her physical beauty; he once again punishes himself in an attempt to forget her. Meanwhile, John is completely unaware that he is being filmed by Darwin Bonaparte, a filmmaker from the civilized world who has been hiding in the woods to observe John. Darwin’s film, “The Savage of Surrey,” is released all over the civilized world a mere twelve days later to packed audiences.

Soon, helicopters hover over John’s home once again. They treat him as an animal in the wild, provoking his anger by throwing food at him, and when he yells at them, they laugh in amusement.

He eventually deduces that the people are there to witness the “whipping stunt.” He is then approached by a young woman, whose words he cannot hear due to the crowd’s noise. He is enraged by her approach and grabs his whip, hitting her and himself repeatedly. The woman cries for her friend, Henry, who by now has escaped. John falls asleep in a fevered, frenzied state. When he wakes up the next morning, he is horrified to remember the crowd’s cries of “orgy porgy.”

When the reporters return, they find John’s dangling dead body in the lighthouse.

Analysis

John wishes to live by himself, but is repeatedly harassed by people and reporters from the civilized world.

This is the novel’s last chapter, and it highlights the brutality of the civilized world against a supposedly savage man.

When John is whiplashing himself on camera, his life of solitude is upended, and he instantly becomes a celebrity.

Interestingly, John’s violence toward reporters who invade his privacy seems justifiable: he is enraged by people disregarding his will and treating him like a caged animal in a cage. At one stage, he has to contend with dozens of helicopters hovering above his island and people throwing packaged treats at him.

Though Huxley does not name the woman who approaches John on the island, it is apparent to readers that it is Lenina. She looks at him tearfully, and her visit suggests that she may have come to terms with herself for being fond of John.

Enraged by the crowd around him, John rapes and kills Lenina. In doing so, he unwittingly confirms the notion that only savages resort to violence. When John wakes up, he is ravaged by guilt and misery, and commits suicide. The chapter overturns common conceptions of civility and barbarity: when John, a lone individual, is hounded by civilized people his propensity for peace is put to the test. At the same time, readers also realize that it was wrong and unjustifiable on the civilized people’s part to corner John. There is no civility in the act. Readers are left wondering if Lenina would have been raped and murdered if John had not been hounded by people.