The conditioning that goes along with this process aims to make the people accept and even like their "inescapable social destiny." That destiny occurs within a Caste System (or social hierarchy) ranging from the handsome and intelligent Alpha Pluses down to the working drone Epsilons.

The chapter also introduces two workers at the Centre: Henry Foster, who will figure as a minor character in the story; and "pneumatic" Lenina Crowne, a major character who will affect the destiny of the novel's protagonist.

In a flashback to their first date, Lenina and Bernard quarrel when he hovers their helicopter over the English Channel so that they can observe the power of Nature. Bernard wants an adult — and emotional — relationship with Lenina, not just the mindless sex that consummates their first date.

In the middle section of the chapter, Bernard submits his travel permit to the D.H.C., who remembers his own holiday many years earlier to the Savage Reservation. The D.H.C. tells Bernard about the young woman he took on his trip and how she disappeared mysteriously during their stay on the Reservation.

Embarrassed by his emotional reverie, the D.H.C. shifts attention by expressing his disappointment in Bernard's odd behavior outside work and threatens to exile him to Iceland. But this threat has a tonic effect on Bernard, who later boasts about it to his friend Helmholtz, who likes Bernard but hates his boasting and self-pity.

In the third section, Bernard and Lenina fly to Sante Fe, where they meet with the Warden of the Reservation. As the Warden leers at Lenina and describes the Reservation — there's no escape, and human birth remains a reality — Bernard suddenly remembers that he left the eau de cologne tap running at home.

When Bernard calls Helmholtz about the tap, Watson gives him some bad news: the D.H.C. intends to exile Bernard to Iceland. Appalled by the news, Bernard's "theoretical courage" evaporates, and Lenina persuades him to take soma to calm himself before they fly off to the Savage Reservation.

John's earliest memories involve his mother's relationships with Indian men — especially Popé, who also introduces Linda to the powerful hallucinogenic drug mescal (which she finds similar to soma). John also remembers how the Indian women beat Linda, because she felt no sexual restraints with their men.

As John grows, Linda teaches him to read. Popé finds an old volume of Shakespeare, and the young boy studies it. In fact, John's reading in Shakespeare inspires him to try to kill Popé, who is in bed with Linda. As an adolescent, John is not allowed to undergo the initiation ritual into adult Indian society like the other boys. Instead, John goes out alone into the wilderness where he contrives his own physical trials to enter adulthood. His self-torture gives him a vision of "Time and Death and God."

As John finishes his story, he and Bernard realize that they share the same feelings of being "terribly alone." Suddenly inspired, Bernard invites John — and Linda, too — to return with him to London. In response, John quotes Shakespeare: "O brave new world . . . ."

During Bernard's trip, John breaks into the Rest House, thinking that Bernard and Lenina have left for London without him. Inside, John discovers Lenina's suitcase and looks through her clothes — including her zippicamiknicks.

When John finds Lenina fast asleep, he thinks of Shakespeare's Juliet. He reaches out to touch her — perhaps even to unzip her zippypajamas with a single pull — but stops himself, thinking: "Detestable thought!"

John retreats when he hears the humming of Bernard's returning helicopter.

Meeting with John and Bernard, Helmholtz reads an anti-social poem he has composed. This reading inspires John to read Shakespeare aloud. Helmholtz's initial delight at the poetic language turns to laughter and ridicule when Shakespeare's ideas about love and sex clash with Helmholtz's own social conditioning.

The children annoy John, making it impossible for him to speak with his dying mother. When Linda wakes from a soma dream and mistakes her son for Popé, John's misery turns to fury. At the moment of death, Linda's terrified eyes seem a reproach to her son. John leaves the hospital angry and distraught.

John's formal acceptance of all the horrors of sickness, poverty, and fear — capped by Mond's terse "You're welcome" — ends the chapter.

Reporters, film crews, and then crowds intrude on his privacy. When Lenina herself approaches him, lovesick and heartbroken, John attacks her with a whip. A riot breaks out and turns into a sexual orgy.

John awakens the next day, groggy from soma, and realizes what has happened. Filled with despair and self-loathing, he kills himself.