Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Chapter III Summary - Part II

Part II PRESENT

In this second part of chapter three, Lenina Crowne and her friend Fanny Crowne come into the story, as well does Bernard Marx, the notorious black sheep, and Henry Foster from chapter one.

This part of the chapter begins with Lenina, among the other thousands of workers, are leaving the four thousand rooms in the Centre at four, as the four thousand clocks rang simultaneously. A voice called over the thousands of workers stating that the Main Day shift is off duty and the Second Day shift must take over now.
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Henry Foster and the Assistant Director of Predestination (who apparently has no name) are taking the lift up to the changing rooms with Bernard Marx from the Psychology Bureau, who has a most 'unsavoury reputation'.

The Predestinator asks Foster about the 'feelies' which is basically a sexual movie cinema in which you can feel everything that's happening. In this case, it's a love scene on a bearskin rug in which you can see and feel every hair of the bear.
Marx, obviously not a happy fellow as the rest of the society, smiles scornfully at this remark.
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Lenina goes into the elevator that shoots up from the crimson cellar up to the Girl's Dressing Room that has a hundred baths, eighty vibro-vacuum machines and a long nozzle that sprays fine talcum powder over the body.
She says hello to her friend Fanny Crowne, and we learn that the two thousand million in habitants of the world had only ten thousand names between them so it is not unusual for some people to have the same last name or first name. Lenina zips off her clothes and undergarments, as everything seems to have a zipper for easier access, and heads towards to the bathrooms.

Lenina and Fanny then partake in a conversation about who they are going out with tonight after Lenina has come back from the vibro-vac looking like an illuminated pearl with a pinkly glow.
When Fanny responds with, "Nobody", Lenina is astonished. Fanny confides to her that she needs to have a Pregnancy Substitution even though she is only nineteen (it is compulsory when you are twenty-one).
Lenina comments on how horrid intravenals are when she sees Fanny's mammary gland extracts and the placentin that she must inject intravenally every third day.

Fanny continues to say that she won't be off the market for long, only a week or two where she will be playing Musical Bridge until she can go out with boys again. She asks Lenina who she is going out with and when Lenina replies, "Henry Foster", Fanny takes on a disapproving tone as Lenina has gone out with him for four months without seeing anyone else, "…without having another man - why, he'd [Foster] be furious if he knew...".
Fanny continues to chastise Lenina for her unconventionally and comments that Director has the 'strictest conventionality' for having patted Lenina on the behind.
Lenina decides that even though she would rather not, she will make the effort to be more promiscuous.
Lenina then tells Fanny that she has decided she is bored with Foster and would now like to go with Bernard. Fanny is shocked as Bernard is seen as unusual, and even has a rumour going around that he had alcohol accidentally put into his blood surrogate by one of the workers that thought he was a Gamma. Lenina gets mad at the accusation and does not care about the rumour, and would like to go with him to the Savage Reservation anyways.
Fanny and Lenina, being mad at each other, change in silence until Lenina asks to stop fighting. Fanny agrees and they chat about Lenina’s morocco contraceptive belt that she received from Foster.
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The chapter returns back to Henry Foster and the Predesinator in the changing room as they chat about Lenina Crowne and how pneumatic she is and how he is surprised that the Predestinator has not 'had' her yet. Marx turns pale at the thought of them talking about Lenina in such a way.
Bernard thinks of Lenina in a more lovingly way, and is rather odd to the others as he prefers to be alone. Bernard thinks in a more brutal style than the rest of the society as he talks and thinks in an angry fashion.
He is discouraged that Lenina thinks of herself as a piece of meat that the men can share around, and wishes she would answer him on his proposal of going out together. He wishes he could punch Foster and the Predestinator in the face over and over again.
When Foster uses the hypnopaedic, "Everyone belongs to everyone else" Marx's thoughts are bitter and harsh as he thinks that Foster is an idiot. 'Sixty-two thousand four hundred repetitions make one truth'.

Bernard continues to think about how much he hates them when Henry and the Predestinator come up to Bernard and ask if he would like a gramme of soma, as he looks depressed. Bernard attempts to fend off the tablets politely while thinking about killing them in his mind. Foster insists for Bernard to take them while the Predestinator states with hypnopaedic wisdom, "One cubic centimetre cures ten gloomy sentiments.", making Bernard to go over the limit and yell, "Damn you!" at them.
They just laugh it off and state, 'Remember that a gramme is better than a damn.'

Marx saunters off to the lift angry.
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