And steal immortal blessing from her lips,
Who, even in pure and vestal modesty,
Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin."
(Brave New World, page 144)
John speaks these words while he watches Lenina sleep. He is using an allusion to compare his attraction to Lenina to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I think this allusion is effective because it shows again how different John and Lenina's worlds are. Romeo and Juliet were from completely different families who hated each other; therefore, they couldn't be together. John is from an uncivilized world that values religion and literature such as Shakespeare. Lenina, on the other hand, if from a civilized world that values science and facts.
I feel like our world today is a mixture of the two. We do value science and reason but we haven't taken it to the kind of extremes in Brave New World. We still value family time, religion, and literature. I'm wondering if the novel will turn into somewhat of a love story between John and Lenina?
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