Of course, when Bernard decides to uproot John and his mother, exposing them to scrutiny solely for his own selfish blackmail purposes, we can confidently say that we no longer like this guy.īut before we get too judgmental, we have to admit that the deck is stacked against Bernard to start. This scene is where our emotional loyalty starts to shift away from Bernard. When we hear his thoughts, Bernard starts to sound whiny and trivial. While the Warden is imparting information about a completely foreign culture-information that Bernard of all people should be fascinated by -Bernard is obsessing over a superficial concern. But instead of trying to analyze the Deep Hidden Meaning behind a running tap of cologne, just think about how this makes you feel about Bernard. He obsesses over it during the Warden's entire speech. Jump to Chapter 6: Part 3, when Bernard is absolutely flipping out about the cologne tap he left running back in the hotel room. His extravagant embellishments induce some eye-rolls on the part of the reader ("I simply told him to go to the Bottomless Past and marched out of the room"), and we get the sense that Bernard's victory wasn't so much about personal integrity as it was public bragging rights.Īnd it's really only downhill from there. Rather than take personal pride in his individual victory, Bernard has to brag about it to Helmholtz.
He's basically championing our thoughts and opinions within this fictional world.īut Bernard's glory moment comes when he's called out for being unorthodox by the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning: "Bernard left the room with a swagger, exulting, as he banged the door behind him, in the thought that he stood alone, embattled against the order of things, elated by the intoxicating consciousness of his individual significance and importance." Talk about a Rocky moment.īut following this very same paragraph of admirable integrity is the beginning of Bernard's transition. It's lines like these that put us, the reader, fully on Bernard's side. "It might be possible to be an adult all the time," he ventures (a thought for which he is severely punished). He's also the one to make the grand connection that easy sex is infantile behavior. Not somebody else, however jolly." Solid. On his first date with Lenina, which we hear about in Chapter 6, Bernard refuses soma on the grounds that he'd "rather be self.
Look at his character in the first few chapters of the novel. In fact, Bernard's character is interesting because of the remarkable and complete change he pulls, from a likeable hero to a detestable ninny. You were rebellious, smart, human, and wanted more from Lenina than sex. (Click the character infographic to download.)īernard, Bernard…what happened to you? We liked you so much when this whole thing started.
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