The concluding chapter of the novel brings John the Savage into direct physical conflict with the brave new world he has decided to leave. The sudden violence, shocking as it is, has been prepared for ever since the visit to Malpais and, in some ways, echoes the flagellation ritual Lenina and Bernard witness on the Savage Reservation.
Left on his own, John reveals the true form of his religious feeling — self-destructive rituals of purification by vomiting and whipping himself. Tortured by the memory of his mother's death, he will not let himself enjoy even the simplest pleasures of his austere life — making a bow, for instance.
The intensity of his self-punishment, the lack of a positive focus for his spiritual feelings, make clear that John's life is not influenced by the hermits of Christianity but by the demons of his own guilt. If the dystopia is the horrifying spectacle of a life with nothing but self-serving comfort, John's lighthouse retreat emerges as the equally horrifying vision of a life with nothing but self-induced pain. As different as they are, both worlds represent emptiness and purposelessness.
