Main Characters List / Descriptions
Bernard Marx - an Alpha male, who does not feel he belongs in this kind of community, and he resents to be part of the world community He wishes to be free from the society- "No, the real problem is: How is it that I cannot or rather - because, after all, I know quite well why I can't - what would it be like if I could, if I were free - not enslaved by my conditioning"(78) He struggles with the ever-present concept of happiness. "We begin giving the children that at five. But wouldn't you like to be free to be happy in some other way, Lenina? In your own way, for example; not in everybody's way" (79).
He hates the idea of promiscuity, he would much rather carry out the normal way. "I still rather wish it had all ended differently...I didn't want it to end with you going to bed...Not at once, not the first day" (80). Bernard also has a complex from being too short for an alpha male (shortness is a sign of lower casts). He feels frustrated.
He has a physical inferiority that causes him to find it hard to fit it, he is very self conscious about it.
Lenina Crowne-
Lenina is an Alpha. She is very submerged into the society and follows all of the rules but sometimes in a way that makes it almost so that she is defying them. She is the object of many men's attention but tends to be attracted to the misfits, aka Bernard and John. She sometimes seems to question society but she can't comprehend the ideas that Bernard comes up with.
John-
He is the son of the Director and Linda. Views everything through his knowledge of Shakespeare. He grew up outside of the World state society and therefore has trouble fitting in.
Helmholtz Watson-
He is an Alpha. He works as a lecturer at the College of Emotional Engineering. Only has second thoughts about society because he wishes he could write something more meaningful. He is friends with Bernard because they both have similar feelings about the state, however Bernard is way more radical and emotional in his views and Helmholtz is more intellectual.
Mustapha Mond-
He is one of the ten World Controllers, his area is Western Europe. He originally was a scientist working on illegal things but when he was discovered he was given the choice to be sent into exile or to become one of the Controllers. As a controller he exiles people who don't adhere to society and censors scientific discoveries yet he has his own stash of illegal books.
Linda - John’s mother, and a Beta. She got lost while visiting the New Mexico Savage Reservation. They left her behind and the natives saved her. She was also pregnantt at that time with the Director’s son. Linda could not get an abortion on the Reservation, and she was too ashamed to return to the World State with a baby. Her World State–conditioned promiscuity makes her a social outcast. She is desperate to return to the World State and to soma.