A Chance at Freedom: Chapter 16 of Brave New World

"'He's being sent to an island. That's to say, he's being sent to a place where he'll meet the most interesting set of men and women to be found anywhere in the world. All the people who, for one reason or another, have got too self-consciously individual to fit into community life'" (227).

Helmholtz and John, with Bernard accompanying nervously, were given the chance to speak with Mustapha Mond, to meet the real Controller. They learned he was educated in the classics with a passion for science. He also gave them Helmholtz and Bernard the opportunity to go to an island where they could pursue their studies and individual thought without the censoring of the rulers. Mond gave them the chance to explore their independent ideas and better themselves without the restrictions of modern society. The significance of this reward is that the Controllers were not able to completely destroy individual thought; they had to send those individuals to islands so that they could continue their studies without jeopardizing society's stability. I was pleased to see this side of Mond, an educated man who realizes the value of individual ideas. He was protecting the men and women who dared to explore these restricted areas of thought, allowing them to go to islands to study. I also enjoyed the fact that the Old World prevailed, that not all men and women conformed to the stability of the New World, and that the ideas of the Old World still existed. The thinkers, "who's any one," got the chance at freedom, away from the smothering of the utopia.