Ending

In the ending of Brave New World I thought it was interesting that John killed himself because of his own self disgust which was formed when he interacted with a society in which he originally yearned to be apart of. On the reservation where he was born, he did not fit in, and because of his civilized mothers the other boys and men would not let him do the normal activities on the reservation - he was always left out. Now, when he was in civilized place, he couldn't fit in either because of the values that were instilled in him. He didn't want to belong to everyone - he just wanted to belong to Lenina, but she belonged to everyone else as well. John is the character that is in between - he fits in neither society because he has mixed beliefs. I think that he is more representative of the people today who live and have mixed beliefs. I really think that John acted like an American when he said "But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin" (240).  John seems to recognize that in order to have a society in which everyone is perpetually content and subservient to the government, they are required to give up rights, rights that they didn't even know they had. In order to have a stable society, the people had to give up their freedom, their emotions, their independence, and their beliefs. They had to give up everything that made them who they were in order for the society to work. John, while excluded, grew up being free, having independence, and allowed to have his own set of beliefs. He is not willing to give them up, even if it would mean eternal happiness often brought on by a drug. Instead he goes out into the wild to be on his own, but, because Civilization is obsessed with him, they follow him and end up making him join the festivities. After, he is so ashamed of himself that he kills himself. He had claimed the right to be unhappy, and unhappy outside of society he became especially because society wouldn't leave him alone. In order to have a stable society one has to give up everything that could make it unstable: truth, science, religion, anything that could create conflict.
I think that Controller is the most interesting character because he, like John, understands perfectly what everyone has to give up in order to live in this society. Instead of going to an island or moving into the wild, he becomes a Controller (he earns a Controllership) and helps other people live their lives and makes sure the society remains stable. He chose a different path than John and managed to live. He reads his odd books and does his own thing in private and acts like a Civilized person in public. I thought it was particularly intriguing when he said "Sometimes... i rather regret the science. Happiness is a hard master--particularly other people's happiness. A much harder master, if one isn't conditioned to accept it unquestioningly, than truth" (227). He sees both sides of the matter - he understands the yearn for truth, but also the necessity of happiness. John does not understand the necessity of happiness because he can't see past the need for independence and his own beliefs. He tries to change it by throwing out the soma, but he can't. Civilization is stability built upon happiness, and eventually, by claiming his independence and his right to unhappiness it will kill him.