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Character foil
Beyond being individually interesting, characters often act as foils for each other. A foil is a jewelry term and is used to describe the use of metal to help a primary stone shine more brightly. So, in a literary sense, a character foil is a character who allows another characters attributes to shine more clearly, often through contrast. By situating two characters side by side, we can learn more about each by comparing and contrasting the two. Interesting character pairings that work as foils are: Lenina and Linda, Bernard and Helmholtz, and John and Bernard. This presentation will look at the John and Bernard as foils for each other. Their individual qualities, when compared an contrasted, highlight the differences between them, helping to reinforce what each each character is designed to represent.
More evidence...
Perhaps the most striking piece of evidence in the character foil situation comes in the incident with the soma. John, almost heroically, takes the fight to the Deltas, whereas Bernard does he best to sneak away. This incident quite strongly highlights Johns courage and willingness to stand up for his beliefs. Heres John: Free, free! the Savage shouted, and with one hand continued to throw the soma into the area while, with the other, he punched the indistinguishable faces of his assailants. Free! Heres Bernard: Hesitant on the fringes of the battle. Theyre done for, said Bernard and, urged by a sudden impulse, ran forward to help them; then thought better of it and halted; then, ashamed, stepped forward again; then again thought better of it, and was standing in an agony of humiliated indecisionthinking that they might be killed if he didnt help them, and that he might be killed if he did. Again, by essentially placing these descriptions side by side, each attitude is heightened. By placing Johns courage next to Bernards cowardice, the courage seems all the more courageous, while the cowardice seems all the more cowardly.
Implications
The foil is an effective technique for positioning the reader. Because it heightens both the positive qualities of John AND the negative qualities of Bernard, it really helps us figure our where our empathy should lie. It is Huxleys way of helping align the reader with John and to buy into Johns attitudes and values. It also quite effectively draws our attention to the role of the individual in society. Both Bernard and John are blessed with individuality, but only one makes use of it in a meaningful way. John embraces his individuality and we admire him for that, whereas Bernard despises his individuality and takes advantage of all opportunities to integrate himself back into the conformist model that everyone else follows. I think you could argue that Huxley believes that with individuality comes a responsibility to embrace that individuality and make use of it in a meaningful way. I think perhaps he is trying to remind us of how much a gift that individuality is and also to expose to us what we become if we give that up - fairly despicable and selfish. There is the sense that he is saying that individuality comes with responsibility, and that responsibility is to use your unique point of view to challenge and question the world around you and to stay true to that point of view. It is something that makes us distinctly human - this ability to have an invididual point of view and to use that as a means of influencing the world around us. By having Bernard and John work as foils for each other, we get a really strong sense of the right and wrong attitudes towards individuality.