Brave New World Lenina Crowne Quotes

"What a marvellous switchback!" Lenina laughed delightedly.

But Henry's tone was almost, for a moment, melancholy. "Do you know what that switchback was?" he said. "It was some human being finally and definitely disappearing. Going up in a squirt of hot gas. It would be curious to know who it was—a man or a woman, an Alpha or an Epsilon.…" He sighed. (5.1.13-4)

Not only has individual identity been destroyed, but so has the very notion of what it means to be a human. This society has been dehumanized to the point where dead bodies are akin to a thrilling bump in the road. The interesting part of this passage is that Henry is momentarily bothered by this fact. Lenina, of course, isn't. Dissatisfaction and individuality are solely the realm of the males in the novel.

"Then why on earth didn't you say so?" she cried, and so intense was her exasperation that she drove her sharp nails into the skin of his wrist. "Instead of drivelling away about knots and vacuum cleaners and lions, and making me miserable for weeks and weeks." (13.66)

Not only is this quote a reflection of the increasing tie between sex and violence in the novel, but it's a clear hint that John is a big-time Christ-figure. The quote also suggests that Lenina drives this aspect of his character.

Lenina Crowne

Quote 18

"And to tell the truth," said Lenina, "I'm beginning to get just a tiny bit bored with nothing but Henry every day." She pulled on her left stocking. "Do you know Bernard Marx?" she asked in a tone whose excessive casualness was evidently forced. (3.121)

For Lenina, monogamy leaves something to be desired. Is this the result of her conditioning or of a natural urge to have different sexual partners?