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petey
petey

In "Brave New World" John quotes Shakespeare "eternity was in our lips and eyes" speaking of his objection to soma. What did he mean by this?

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Posted by petey on Sunday August 16, 2009 at 10:07 AM and tagged with eternity, john, linda, shakespeare quotes, soma.

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  1. mrs-campbell Teacher
    High School - 11th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    When John quotes this, he is in the middle of a conversation with Dr. Shaw, who is looking after John's mother, Linda.  Linda, upon her return to civilization, has taken so much soma that she is constantly "absent," and gone from any interactions.  They let her have as much as she wants, because she is old, she "hasn't got any serious work" to do, as Dr. Shaw puts it, and because she just wants to escape.  She has lived a hard life away from it, and was so preconditioned to her previous life that she never really adjusted.  So upon her return, she just escapes.

    John feels that giving her so much is detrimental to her health.  He doesn't understand why they would let her shorten her life so much just to take soma.  The doctor explains that yes, it will shorten her life by several years, but that on a "soma-holiday" she will experience "a bit of what our ancestors used to call eternity."  He is meaning that in her dreams, she experiences years and years of happiness, adventures, and journeys.  It seems like forever to her.

    At this point, John understands a bit.  The books states, "John began to understand," and then he quotes the Shakespeare line you mentioned above.  I'm not sure that John really meant anything by it, other than the fact that he understood what "eternity" meant, because of his exposure to Shakespeare, and that according to Shakespeare, eternity wasn't a unit of time, a literal expansion of time, but rather something that we hold within ourselves, or, in our "lips and eyes."  John was saying that he understood how Linda could be experiencing a figurative eternity, because Shakespeare himself had said that our own minds control our concept of eternity; our minds are capable of helping us to feel it and experience it.

    Shakespeare helped John understand a lot of things in civilization, and the concept of dreaming, taking a break through the power of your mind, or a figurative "eternity" was one of them.  It helped him to understand why Linda was so content to just escape into "eternity" in her mind.  I hope that those thoughts help a bit; good luck!

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/brave-new-world/shakespeare-references
    http://www.enotes.com/brave-new-world/summary
    http://www.enotes.com/brave-new-world/themes

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    Posted by mrs-campbell on Sunday August 16, 2009 at 7:06 PM

  2. fuckingshitfuckfuckfuck
    fuckingshitfuckfuckfuck Student
    High School - 12th Grade

    well mate, maybe if u weren't SPASTIC then FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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    Posted by fuckingshitfuckfuckfuck on Thursday September 3, 2009 at 7:41 PM

  3. fuckingshitfuckfuckfuck
    fuckingshitfuckfuckfuck Student
    High School - 12th Grade

    well mate, maybe if u weren't SPASTIC then FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK ME IDIOT

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    Posted by fuckingshitfuckfuckfuck on Thursday September 3, 2009 at 7:47 PM