John comes out of the shadows at the formal dance, meets Bernard and Lenina, and tells them that he wishes he could have been whipped to a mash instead of that other person. When he at last sees Lenina’s face, he’s love-struck. John takes Lenina and Bernard back to his home and introduces them to his mother. While Linda securities with Lenina inside, he goes outside with Bernard and narrates his personal history. John speaks about how his mother is essentially the town prostitute, yet simply because she doesn’t know any better. He moves on to explain his learning how to read. Since the main book Linda had for him was a direction guide for embryo storage, his education was generally less than ideal until the point when he got The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Shakespeare rapidly became an emotional conductor for John. He saw bits of himself in a large number of the characters, and he used the literature to understand his feelings, especially his anger toward Popé, the person sleeping with his mother. Truth be told, John even got the idea of murdering Popé from reading Hamlet. He gave it a shot, yet Popé stopped him and sent him on his way. Generally, he says, he was ostracized for being white and for having a wanton mother. John likewise explains to Bernard how he used to hurt himself on purpose to be more like Jesus, to prove he was a man. When Bernard requests that John return to the civilized world with him, John gets excited, inquires as to whether Linda can come as well, and really lets loose once he’s told that, no, Bernard isn’t married to Lenina. This is where he initially quotes Miranda’s “brave new world” line from The Tempest. While Bernard is off making phone calls, John breaks into their room and discovers Lenina sleeping (she’s entirely a soma trip) on the bed. He falls even more in love with her as he rifles through her things. When Bernard approaches, John scuttles off.
