The final section of Chapter 18 in Brave New
World describes how the helicopter pilots uncover John the Savage's body in
the lighthouse:
readability="5">Just under the crown of the arch dangled a pair
of feet.The pilots yell "Mr.
Savage," and we see that John hangs from the rafters in the arch. His feet dangle like
the needles of the compass and the like the spinning of the helicopter blades outside.
He hangs metaphorically like Christ, whose death saved others. John's literary death
is to awaken us, the readers: to save us from ourselves.He
swings one way, and then another. Such was the duality of his character: Savage and
Utopian; lover and loather; Christ-figure and sinner. In the end, he has no compass to
guide him, no mentor, no books, no father or mother, no home, no direction, no hope.
And so he martyrs himself:readability="21">Slowly, very slowly, like two unhurried compass
needles, the feet turned towards the right; north, north-east, east, south-east, south,
south-south-west; then paused, and, after a few seconds, turned as unhurriedly back
towards the left. South-south-west, south, south-east, east.
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