Bernard Marx as a Unique Individual in Brave New World Essay

Bernard Marx a Unique Individual

In the novel Brave New World, Aldous Huxley writes about a world in which people are created in levels, from Alpha (the smart), to Epsilon (the dumb). Everyone is supposed to be exactly the same within their levels, but this guy called Bernard Marx is unique, he possesses qualities that differentiate him from others. Bernard Marx is a very intellectual person; he is an alpha male, but also with his intelligence came his sense of rebellion and also his lack of self-esteem. These characteristics were showed when other characters talked about him.

Bernard is a very intellectual guy who had a different point of view about the New World. As an alpha-plus psychologist, Bernard was one of the few men she knew entitled to a permit (73). Everyone knew that Bernard was very smart and that he was very qualified for anything he wanted. The fact that Bernard was so intelligent intimidated the Director because Bernard had a very different way of thinking. Bernard always questioned something that he did not agree with; this gave him the sense of rebellion like when he says how is it that I cant, or rather- because, after all, I know well why I cant (67). With his rebellious characteristic he tried to persuade people to do things differently. An example is when he told Lenina that soma was useless, that she shouldnt use soma. His intelligence sometimes irritated others, but one of his main problems was that he had a low self-esteem.

Many people could also see that Bernard had a low self-esteem, he was depressed, and one of the main reasons why was because of is physical appearance. Too little bone and brawn had isolated Bernard. and the sense of his apartness, being by all the currents standards, a mental excess became a cause of wider separation (71). One reason why Bernard felt apart or isolated from others was because on top of people seeing him differently because of his size, people also thought he was too smart. Because people made so much fun of him, that isolated him even more from society. Bernard also said If you knew what I had to put up recently (74). This shows that Bernard was going through different problems which gave him less of a motive to adapt to his society.

Bernard Marx was a character whose characteristics made him stand out from the other characters. His intelligence and his rebellious character could motivate others to change the way they live. Bernard Marx could mark the change in The New World and in the Reservation.