This chapter opens on an elevator where Lenina sees Bernard. She wants to talk with him about their planned trip to New Mexico, but he seems hesitant. In fact, Bernard wants to express his feelings to her, but when he tries, Lenina fails to notice. She’s late for a date with Henry Foster.
As Lenina and Henry take off in their helicopter for the date, their trip offers a panoramic view of London and its suburbs. It unfolds as a miniature version of this futuristic world—from Charing-T Tower to Hounslow Feely Studios to the Obstacle Golf Course.
The second half of the chapter returns to Bernard, who feels inadequate. Although an Alpha Plus, Bernard worries over his short stature (due, apparently, to a mistake during his decanting as a test-tube embryo). Because of this, he feels like a social “outsider”: “I am I, and wish I wasn’t.”
Bernard flies to Propaganda House to meet his friend, Helmholtz Watson, who writes state propaganda as an Emotional Engineer. Despite his overpowering stature and success with women, Watson, too, feels “all alone,” because he has “too much ability.” As a result, he senses a kinship with Bernard—the knowledge they share that they are “individuals.”
