The Lecanian Reading Of John The Savage In Huxley's Brave New World

Aldous Huxley(1894-1962) is a British voluminous novelist. His masterpiece, a typical dystopian novel Brave New World, published in 1932, makes a prediction to the human life of six centries later.This thesis, based on Lacan's theory of mirror stage and three orders, analyses the multi-mirrors which cause John's fragmented subject and explores the interplay of the imaginary and the real in the process of the subject constitution. John the Savage in the imaginary order harbors great hopes and illusions to brave new world. And his life in new world is the symbolic. When he is brought into the new world, he seems so incompatible with everything in the symbolic order. John cannot identify with the Law-of-the-Father in the symbolic, thus causing his fight and leaving the new world. He is imagining an impossible real order. Lacan states that an individual's subjectivity is established through identifying the social principles. However, John the Savage can not identify with the social laws and principles of the society he is living in, therefore he fails to establish his subjectivity through his entire life.This thesis consists of five parts. The introduction contains the life story of Aldous Huxley and the present research and responses to his masterpiece Brave New World. The possibility and significance of reading this novel in a Lacanian way is as well analyzed.Chapter one depicts the birth background of John the Savage and analyzes the formation of John's self and emphasizes function and the influence of language and culture during the process of the constitution of John's fragmented subject, pointing the special significance of the moral and dialogue attributes of language to the establishment of one's self. At the same time, the culture including the native culture on the Reservation and Shakespeare's works helps John finish constructing his fragmented subject in the mirror stage.Chapter two illustrates the attempt and thorny process of John's seeking subjectivity in the imaginary stage. According to Lacan, the imaginary is full of illusions, images and desires. When John feels disappointed about his life on the Reservation, he begins to long for the life in the new world. This part mainly reveals the pursuit of John's self-identity and his desire to happiness. In this way this thesis interprets the features of illusions and cheating of the subject's mirror images in the imaginary order.Chapter three analyzes the psychology of John in the symbolic order and discusses the interplay between his imaginary and symbolic order making him get disgusted about the dehumanization and the distorted interrelationship of the symbolic society. He, thus, starts to rethink about his surroundings and his pursuit of his subjectivity, holding that the identification with the social laws in the new world is meaningless.Chapter four analyses John's pursuit to his ideal world and his terminate choice. His fleeing from the new world is his unconscious fight against the new world. According to Lacan, the real order is unknown and unassimilated. The perfect world that John pursues can not be achieved at all. John's self-flagellation is the challenge to the new world and the punishment of his human shortcomings. When his human shortcomings are defeated, he commits suicide with the regret of not being able to choose his ideal world. The root reason for John's failure to establish his subjectivity is that the new world ignores individuals' subjectivity.The Conclusion sums up the significance of interpreting the fiction in a Lacanian way. This thesis reveals the function of the mirror stage in the process of one's searching for self and also interprets the fact that the dehumanized social system causes the lack of individuals' subjectivity based on the theory of Lacan. In addition, one of the most remarkable functions of the dystopian novels is warning. Huxley warns the modern people through the image of John the Savage that if the future human world is just like the World State in Brave New World—no freedom, no humanity, our life will then be meaningless.