Chapter 7

Lenina and Bernard are at the Mesa, accompanied by a “savage” guide, who, Lenina complains, smells. As they walk along the base of a hill, they encounter a large eagle and the bony remains of a corpse. They also hear the sound of piercing drum beats emanating from a summer festival nearby.

As they continue to walk, they are greeted by two half-naked Indian men adorned in their tribal paraphernalia—feathers, bracelets, and tattoos; one of these men is also carrying a snake, and as they pass by, Lenina is overcome with disgust.

She is also taken aback by the sights she witnesses at a Pueblo settlement; she also finds the smells of dogs, dust, and people overwhelming here. However, her attention is diverted by her first sighting of an old person. She watches on as the old man carefully walks down a ladder.

Lenina has never seen old age, and she is struck by the sight of this old man. In her world, people are preserved in youth with the help of chemicals and secretions. They live only until the age of sixty. In fact, no one ages in her world. Shocked, Lenina reaches out for her bottle of soma, only to find out that neither she nor Bernard had remembered to carry the bottle.

Lenina and Bernard then encounter breastfeeding mothers, an old lady, and a dead dog. They also observe aspects of the Indians’ daily lives; Lenina finds herself wanting to leave at once, but their guide takes them to a terrace to watch the summer festival, which features whiplashing act, snakes, and tribal dancing. Lenina is more horrified to learn that the dangerous celebrations have just claimed the life of a young boy.

Bernard and Lenina are now approached by a young man, of a lighter complexion than the other savages. He tells them that he regrets his lighter complexion, since it had rendered him ineligible to be considered the sacrifice in the summer dance.

The young man is taken aback by Lenina’s beauty and finds it difficult to focus on their conversation. Soon, readers find out that the young man is Linda and the DHC’s biological son. The DHC, whose name is Thomas, is referred to as Tomakin here.

Linda is stunned to see Bernard and Lenina—people from her old world. As she covers Lenina in kisses (much to Lenina’s disgust), Lenina finds Linda uglier than the old Indian man she had seen earlier.

Linda is now struck by nostalgia about her time in the civilized world, where she was a Beta. She tells them that though she lives in the reservation, she abhors the ways of the savages. She is particularly upset that the savages practice monogamy, that they don’t lend credence to the “everybody belongs to everybody” tenet of her former world. Even John is savage in his opinions and principles.

Analysis

The two worlds—the Savage Reservation and civilization—come face to face in this chapter. Lenina and Bernard’s personalities are in stark contrast to the temperament of the savages, including those of their guide, John, Linda, and the old Indian man. Linda, left behind in the savage world, now looks physically revolting; her physical decline seems to have been quickened by her lack of access to the serums and chemicals she’d been pumped with in the civilized world. She misses her old life, and is yet to come to terms with ways of the savage world.

Lenina is disgusted by Linda, but listens to her story. Despite her apparent disgust for Linda and John, she displays semblances of humanity from time to time. Interestingly, she is as attracted to John as he is to her—signifying that she can think beyond the restrictions of her conditioning when she is not under the effects of soma.