Brave New World Chapter 9

Reeling from her experience at The Savage Reservation, Lenina takes enough soma to go on an eighteen-hour soma holiday. Bernard leaves Lenina at the rest-house and contacts World Controller Mustapha Mond to arrange for the transport of John and Linda.

Meanwhile, back at the rest-house, John goes looking for Bernard but cannot find him. He breaks into Lenina's room and goes, with fascination and fetish, through her things, reveling in the novelty and the sweet smells. He sees her lying on the bed, vulnerable and beautiful, and leans over her and, cautiously as not to wake her up, breathlessly admiring her beauty, he recites from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, in which the speaker is idealizing Juliet's eyes, her hair, and her modesty. John is so awed by Lenina's beauty that he does not even dare touch her. He has a sudden temptation to pull the one zipper of her pajamas, but he immediately is ashamed of himself. He hears what he thinks is a fly in the air, and realizing with a panic that it is actually a helicopter, he runs into the other room to receive Bernard.

Topic Tracking: Sexuality 12