In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, the world is controlled by an oligarchy, which seeks to control its subjects by catering to their every whim, brainwashing them, and making them think that they are living the best life possible. John, the protagonist, is born on a savage reservation, the last remaining place still stuck in the old world. However, he is born to a mother from the new world, leaving him in a state of isolation from both worlds. He is discovered by Bernard Marx, an Alpha Plus on vacation, and brought back to London for scientific research. John becomes increasingly dissatisfied with the new world, and he seeks freedom from the government. By breaking free from his infantile state, his primal desires, and his togetherness with others, John frees himself from the control of the World State and individuates.

John begins his first step of individuation by awakening from his infantile state. Although it is true that John was born, not decanted, and has already matured long past his infantile state, the arrival of Bernard Marx disrupts this. He offers to take John and his mother to the new world. At the mention of the new world, John’s memories of his mother telling stories about the new world begin to take over. “The happiest times were when she told him about the Old place. ‘And you really can go flying, whenever you like?’… And she would tell him about…people never lonely, but living together and being so jolly and happy” (Huxley 111). Flying symbolizes freedom, and the promise Linda gave John about flying anytime gave John the hope of having freedom from disease, unhappiness, and loneliness, the very things John despised about the old world. As he recalls his childhood memories of his mother painting a romanticized picture of the “perfect” new world, the infant inner self takes over, and he starts to dream about the seemingly perfect world he is going to live in. “John also laughed, but for another reason-laughed for pure joy. ‘O brave new world,’ he repeated. ‘O brave new world that has such people in it. Let’s start at once’” (121). Like Miranda in The Tempest, John is ignorant and unaware of the actual state of the World State, and he falls into a delusional, infantile state. This is further confirmed by losing his object petit a, a symbol of maturity from the infantile state. For all his childhood, he had dreamed of going to the New World, but now, it is achieved, and he no longer has the one thing he dreams of the most, symbolizing his transformation into an infantile state. However, after arriving in London, John’s dream begins to fall apart. First, he discovers the cruel side of happiness and the immense cost of having it. First, John discovers that Linda’s life must be shortened, and she must be isolated to have happiness through Soma. “She took as much as twenty grammes a day. ‘Which will finish her off in a month or two.’…There she remained; and yet wasn’t there at all” (135). John discovers that to reach happiness in this society, one must give up their life and become isolated, directly contrasting the statement made by Linda that “people [were] never lonely”. This realization kickstarts his quest for individuation and freedom from the new world. Next, after watching the Bombay Green Rocket, a symbol of the advanced and prosperous new world, John simply notes, “Ariel could put a girdle round the earth in forty minutes” (137). By comparing the symbol of the new world to Ariel, an angel that is exploited and abused by its master, John realizes that the citizens of this new world are nothing but servants who do the state’s bidding, making him even more disgusted at the state of the new world. His awakening from his infantile state comes to a boiling point when John visits Linda on her deathbed. After reminiscing about his childhood memories with Linda and reminding himself of the “reality of this real London, these actual civilized men and women” (177), he is suddenly interrupted by a group of children. “What seemed an interminable stream of identical eight-year-old male twins was pouring into the room. Twin after twin, twin after twin, they came-a nightmare.” (177). Linda not only symbolizes the old world but is also the source of John’s infantile delusions of a perfect new world. With her death came John’s total awakening that the new world is cruel and flawed. His anger at the “animals” (177) has become a direct projection of his anger against the new world as a form of rebellion, making sure that he is no longer one of them. However, he is forever stuck in this world as some kind of cruel experiment, and he is forever surrounded by an infantile society. Even in his tower of solitude, people come daily to visit him and mock him. They “began to mime the frenzy of his gestures, striking at one another as the Savage struck at his own rebellious flesh” (228). This mocking of John’s customs was also seen in page 141, but this time by children. John realized that the uncanny similarity of the two events could only mean that the so-called civilized world is nothing but a hoax, and the “brave new world that has such people in it” has died forever. With all hope lost in society, John commits suicide as a last attempt at freeing himself from the infantile society. Death is a symbol of an absolute conclusion, an irreversible act. It is also a symbol of maturity in the sense that John rejects the infantile way of life and strives to achieve maturity and independence. By taking his own life, John takes responsibility for his own actions, breaking free from his infantile state.

John achieves individuation by breaking free from his primal desires, which distracts him from true self-actualization. This is shown in John’s conversation with Mustapha Mond, the world controller. He reveals that there is no want for individuation if one’s desires are satisfied. “In the past you could only accomplish these things by making a great effort and after years of hard moral training. Now, you swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now.” (102) Soma is an instant gratification of desire and happiness, and like Mond mentioned, “anybody can be virtuous now”, meaning that people will not strive for individuation once the primal desires are satisfied. Upon arriving in the new world, John is surprised at the lack of restraint and the excess indulgence in primal desires like sex. He was utterly appalled at the low-brow entertainment such as feelies, which showed pornography in order to satisfy the five senses. “’I don’t think you ought to see things like that…like this horrible film.’ ‘Horrible?’ Lenina was genuinely astonished. ‘But I thought it was lovely.’” (148) His disgust for the feely translates into his hatred for giving in to the Id and appealing to the government’s idea of happiness and entertainment. The number 5 also symbolizes freedom and the government’s artificial arousal of its citizens’ basic desires that prevent them from seeking freedom and individuation, a sin in John’s eyes. This quote also establishes Lenina as the Id in John, constantly trying to seduce him into succumbing to his desires. One day, Lenina shows up uninvited in John’s apartment and tries to seduce him into sleeping with her. After declaring his love for Lenina, John proposes a marriage. “Listen, Lenina; in Malpais people get married.… They make a promise to live together for always.’… ‘For Ford’s sake, John, talk sense. I can’t understand a word you say. First it’s vacuum cleaners; then it’s knots. You’re driving me crazy.’” (168) By tearing down true love into nothing but animalistic lust, Lenina tries to trick John into thinking that his love is equal to her lust for him. However, John recalls the feely and rejects her advances, strengthening his resolve to not succumb to such basic desires. “Ooh! Ooh! The stereoscopic blond and aah! The more than real blakamoor. Horror, horror, horror” (168). The repetition of “horror” symbolizes the rejection of this hedonistic lifestyle and the desire to live a life of meaning and purpose. He recognizes that his primal desires are a source of weakness and that true fulfillment comes from living a life that is guided by reason and morality. He knows that if he accepts Lenina’s advances, he will, too, degrade into nothing but an animal, unable to think about anything else but pleasure, and unable to individualize. “The Savage pushed her away with such force that she staggered and fell. ‘Go,’ he shouted, standing over her menacingly, ‘get out of my sight or I’ll kill you,’ He clenched his fists.” (171) By pushing Lenina away, John’s ego has pushed away the influence of the Id as well, preventing it from corrupting his goal of individualization further. This notion is taken to an extreme when, later in the story, John physically punishes himself just thinking about Lenina. “Eternity was in our lips and eyes. Lenina… No, no, no, no! He sprang to his feet and, half naked as he was, ran out of the house. At the edge of the heath stood a clump of hoary juniper bushes. He flung himself against them, he embraced, not the smooth body of his desires, but an armful of green spikes.” (222) The thorns symbolize the crucifixion of Jesus, an act that saved humanity from sin, from animalistic desires. John imitates this by cleansing himself of primal desires by being pierced by thorns.  Along with his cleansing, came his total rejection of his primal desires’ control over his body. This is shown when John claims his rights in front of Mustapha Mond, the incarnation of the new world. “’All right then,’ said the Savage defiantly, ‘I'm claiming the right to be unhappy.’ ‘Not to mention the right to grow old and ugly and impotent; the right to have syphilis and cancer; the right to have too little to eat; the right to be lousy; the right to live in constant apprehension of what may happen to-morrow; the right to catch typhoid; the right to be tortured by unspeakable pains of every kind.’ There was a long silence. ‘I claim them all,’ said the Savage at last. Mustapha Mond shrugged his shoulders. ‘You're welcome,’ he said.” (104) By claiming his right to be unhappy, he denies his desire for control of his body and accepts pain and suffering to be a part of his identity, a total rejection of his desires. Throughout the book, John has repeatedly resisted the urge to give in to his desires, which further propels him to achieve individuation.

John frees himself from the lack of solitude in the new world, allowing him time to think and to individuate. In the reservation, John was always isolated because of his unique status. This gave him time to think about life and his purpose, the fundamentals of individuation. “All alone, outside the pueblo…He had discovered Time and Death and God. ‘Alone, always alone,’” (118) The emphasis on the word “alone” symbolizes that solitude shaped John’s identity and inner self as a child. Without it, he would not be the man he is today. However, as he is thrust into the new world as a curiosity, his schedule is packed with inspections of factories, schools, and bottling plants, with no time for solitude. This was because of Marx’s desperate grab at attention by using John as an attraction. “It was John, then, they were all after. And as it was only through Bernard, his accredited guardian, that John could be seen” (135) Bernard, a symbol of the new world, was limiting John’s freedom and individuation by forcing him to attend events just for Bernard’s benefit. John retaliates by rejecting further requests to attend events. “’Let them wait,’ came back the muffled voice through the door.’… ‘You ought to have asked me first whether I wanted to meet them.’ (150) By rejecting Bernard’s request, John has denied the new world the right to take his solitude away from him, and the right to stop him from individuation. The emphasis on “me” symbolizes the breaking away of John from the new world and achieving freedom. The muffled door symbolizes the first time John was truly alone since he arrived in the new world, isolating himself from the chaos outside and focusing on himself. Later in the book, when John confronts the World Controller himself, the supreme leader of the new world, John claims the right to be unhappy, solidifying his freedom from the state and a return to the isolation of the old world. Unlike the reservation, however, he does this on his own will, because he has individuated and understands that solitude and the unhappiness that follows is a critical part of his inner self that cannot be taken away. After claiming this right, he discovers more about himself and starts his physical journey to move away from the real world and to cleanse himself of the evils of it. “I ate civilization… It poisoned me; I was defiled. And then, I ate my own wickedness.” (213) By returning to isolation through his physical journey to the lighthouse, John has severed any connection he has to the new world, ensuring his freedom from its oppression. However, the new world still attempts to take John’s solitude away from him and strip him of his individuation process. Multiple media companies visit him every day on a whim, and John feels hopeless in that all his efforts to isolate himself have failed. This forces him to resort to suicide, to forever isolate himself from society. “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.” (229) The lighthouse in which he died symbolizes awareness and being, and the compass needles of his feet pointing towards his body further cement the idea that John has found where he needs to go. John recognizes the importance of solitude in achieving self-awareness and personal growth and seeks out moments of solitude and reflection, which allow him to gain a deeper understanding of himself and the world around him. By committing suicide as a final act of achieving solitude, John has completed his individuation.

Throughout the novel, one can see that John continues to strive to preserve his individuality and achieve true freedom from the new world. He starts out with a romanticized version of a perfect world, but finds out its ugly nature, and does everything in his power to free himself from it. By breaking free from his infantile state, his primal desires, and the lack of solitude that consumes his identity, John frees himself from the control of the World State and individuates.