The chapter includes the first appearance of the quotation from The Tempest that gives Huxley's novel its title: "O brave new world / That has such people in it." The difference between John's awe of the wonderful "Other Place" and the reader's own knowledge of the dystopia produces powerful dramatic irony at a crucial point. The irony of the phrase not only hints at the disappointment that awaits John but draws the novel together for the reader as well, giving a coherent focus to Huxley's satire. In later chapters, John himself will repeat this phrase, as a means of expressing his changing reactions to the world of London — the reality behind the fairy-tale "Other Place" his mother once described to him.
Note especially in this chapter John's own experience of conditioning, different in kind but not in essence from the conditioning of infants and children in London. John associates the reality of sex, for instance, with the absence of his mother, fear, humiliation, and intense physical pain. This conditioning (accidental, but powerful) occurs early in his life, first when Popé pushes him out of the bedroom, then when the women violently whip Linda and him, and finally when the boys mock him for his mother's sexual freedom. As a result, John displays a strong, persistent aversion to sex, despite his longing for Lenina. Again, Huxley makes the point that all people — civilized or uncivilized — are vulnerable to powerful suggestion.
