Brave New World
Aldous Huxley

In chapter 8, the similarities between John and Bernard are obvious. Both face isolation for being different. John is a white man in a Native American environment. He has "white hair" and his mother is an outsider (136). She came to the reservation from the "civilized world" and because she does not understand their customs, she sleeps with other women's husbands. This drives the hostility toward John and prompts the Indians to exclude him from their ceremonies such as the manhood ceremony. However, John also does not fit in in the "civilized world." He was born and was raised differently than the people in London; therefore, he is a novelty and not someone who can just be normal and fit in. Similarly, Bernard is also seen as an outsider. He is smaller than the other Alphas and there is a rumor that someone accidentally put alcohol in his blood-surrogate when he was being formed. Others look down on him and he feels like an outsider in his world. In both cases the men do things they wouldn't normally do to fit in.

In these ways Bernard and John are similar; however, John wants to be a part of a community and tries to follow the rules and traditions of the society he was raised in while Bernard wants to get away from it all.