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Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Chapter XIX By Inga Duechting, Christina Pichlmaier, Nicole Tessmer
obviously a Beta minus. Cautiously the two friends stepped out of the helicopter and took their first look at this mysterious new world.The first thing they saw was the green of the woods and meadows. Cows were grazing freely all over the place.'They must have broken out of the cow-factory', Bernard thought,'but these strange people, sitting in the shadows of their primitive huts, don't even seem to care about this'. There was a noise behind them ,so they turned around and saw the helicopter rising into the air. Now there was no way back. They were totally isolated from the outside world. The two men looked at each other and Helmholtz saw the hysteria arising in Bernard's eyes. A voice interrupted their silent communication. 'Are you from the Far-away land?' A little boy looked at them curiously with big brown eyes.The wind was blowing through his unkempt black hair.He wore leather clothes and was barefooted. Helmholtz wondered why this little boy had been left alone and where his erotic playmates had gone.'Have you lost your group?' The boy glanced at him in friendly astonishment.'What group are you talking about? Ah, if you mean my Mum ',he pointed to a young woman sitting in the shadow of her hut,'she is over there. Come with me.' 'Albert ,I see you've brought some guests.' The woman looked at them with a warm smile of welcome.'So you are the new arrivers. You must be surprised by this view. I am sure you are wondering what will expect you here. Can I offer you something?' Helmholtz was surprised indeed. This lady who, to his eyes, appeared quite beautiful had to be the viviparous mother of the little boy Albert. At once he asked himself if this was just an exception or if all women became viviparous mothers as soon as they lived there. This was too much for Bernard, who looked as if he had gone mad, and even Helmholtz needed a few seconds to recover his speech. 'Yes, we are the new ones. If you don't mind ,I'd like to ask you some questions.' The dainty woman smiled at him and nodded. 'Just ask me, I hope I can help you. Oh, maybe I should first of all introduce myself to you. I am Sheila Morrison and this is my son Albert .' 'There it is again', Bernard thought nervously,' she really wants to tell us that this is her son and she does not even seem to feel a bit ashamed; more or less she seems to be proud of him.' Helmholtz started talking again. 'Oh, yes, sorry, I am Helmholtz Watson and this is my friend Bernard Marx. Well, it seems so, so, excuse me, but the surroundings really appear to be quite primitive here .Don't you make use of any technology? ' Sheila nodded again, as though as she had anticipated that question .'Of course it seems primitive to you, but this is only a deceptive facade.The best will be if I tell you a little bit about our history. Now, just listen .' The two men sat down and and looked curiously at Sheila as she began to speak . 'As you know, there was a world war in 2336, or in A.F.428 . I'm sure they told you that it lasted 10 years, but they never told you the truth about it. Island inhabitants learn much more about history than you do. Well ,the people in 2300 began to go almost insane ,as they invented more and more things and methods to manipulate life. Then in 2330 our government even created a new system, which should be based on cloning .They promised that it would be a very efficient system with different types of human beings whose intellectual levels could be controlled . When they had got through with this plan and started to clone babies, other countries wanted to fight for the miracle of life . So the world war began . Since the government created more and more deadly weapons and ways of influencing people, they finally won. Many of us were killed, but we were still a danger to them, so they brought us to islands where we could live our own lives.They went on cloning, and that is why we still get our children in the natural way; life is still a miracle, and it is sanctified . People have the freedom of speech and worship, everybody is equal and has the same rights .But I tell you one thing you should really keep in mind ',the softness in her eyes began to disappear,' don't ever even think about cloning anything living here. Some men from the other world started to do so and instigated a brutal civil war in which half of the island population was killed. The rest is up to you ,discover it on your own.' During the next weeks Helmholtz and Bernard tried to adjust themselves to the new way of life. Two small huts, which were not that primitive as Helmholtz had imagined them to be, had been allotted to them.Bernard even began to like the life on the Island. He was no longer an outsider there ,not everybody looked like an Alpha double plus, and it was normal to look different, for everybody was different. He loved to take walks through the crowded streets on the weekends, just watching people go to their churches and the markets.He read books about the Island's religion and art, which was just normal for the people there. He found out why it had been prohibited to read such books in the other world.The Island also seemed to please Helmholtz .His dream finally came true when a newspaper offered him a job as an editor. Moreover,he often met with Sheila, and it was obvious that they were becoming a couple. One evening they sat together with Bernard in front of Helmholtz's hut and were having dinner.Suddenly a boy passed by with his dog . The two men stared at him . 'I could swear I know this boy, but I have never seen him here ', Bernard murmured to Helmholtz, 'Yes, I know him too, but this just can't be true'. 'What shocks you? That's Dave Ahpatsum, just a normal boy who lives with his mother and his sister next to my house. His father must be dead.' Bernard and Helmholtz were silent, and they just looked at each other in astonishment. Both knew exactly who this boy resembled, but they did not dare to say it loudly. 'But sometimes ', Sheita continued,'a man comes to visit them . He seems to live somewhere in the woods . He always comes from that direction .' She pointed towards the woods, which could be seen far away on the horizon, where the sun was setting right then. Hetmholtz pricked up his ears .'A man? Do you know more about him, Sheila?' 'Hm, well, I have spoken to him just once, but this was long ago. He does not talk very much, except to children. I remember that he was reading quite an old book and he seemed to be very educated .Sometimes he gathered children around him and taught them history and told them about former times. At the moment he does not seem to come any more. The last time I saw him was weeks ago.' Bernard and Helmholtz understood one another without saying anything. They knew exactly why the man did not come, but did not lose any more word about their suspicion in Sheila's presence.They changed the topic of their conversation and talked about Bernard's new job. He worked as a real scientist in a science center and seemed to enjoy his new occupation, which had been forbidden in the old world. 'Would he really do this ? Live here with the expellees?' Bernard was upset. 'Well, it's risky, but he likes books, science, art and everything else, which is not prohibited here,' Helmholtz reminded him. 'So, you mean they all don't want to live over there themselves, sitting in their world of steel and abusing mankind? Oh, if this should be true, John was really right :'Brave new world'.' Helmholtz nodded, 'But for us it will be better if we let the grass grow over it and don't think about it any longer.' A few weeks later Helmholtz came from his work to visit Bernard.They wanted to go to an assembly for scientists in exile. The sun was only a small red ball in the sky and it was getting dark.It did not take very long to go into the city,so they went on foot.As they went down the small path which led along the woods behind Sheila's house, they saw Sheila's neighbours sitting on their terrace.Everything would have been fine if there had not been that man among the two children and their mother.He was tall,one arm was put around the woman, and with the other one he held a book from which he seemed to read something aloud to his family. 'Perhaps he tells them how bad the other world is or he reads what John had always liked. Something which this big shot had laughed at',Helmholtz remembered, 'Shakespeare .' Lost in thought he just stood there and watched 'his fordship' with mixed feelings of disregard, anger and astonishment. Their suspicion had been confirmed. somaweb |