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So Brave New World has two protagonists, right? In the first half, the protagonist is Bernard Marx, and in the second half the protagonist is John, the Savage. Well, not exactly. Aldous Huxley had a very different kind of protagonist in mind when he wrote this story.

Video Transcription:

The protagonist—aka the main character—in this story is Bernard Marx, right?

OK, so, the protagonist in this story must be John, The Savage, right?

So who is the protagonist in this story? Stick around for the answer.

On the surface, it seems like Brave New World has two protagonists.

During the first half of the novel, you might say the protagonist is Bernard Marx. This portion of the story revolves around Bernard’s struggle to find himself, and to wake others up to the problems inherent in the World State.

During the second half of the novel, you might say the protagonist is John, The Savage. This portion of the story revolves around John’s journey to understand the World State—and to rebel against it.

But actually, there’s really only one main character all the way through this story—someone you might call the real protagonist of Brave New World. That character is, generically, The Individual.

If you watched Recap 2, you know that in dystopian novels, the main character is often the one person who sees what’s wrong with his society and tries to fix it. In Brave New World, what’s wrong with the society is that there’s no liberty to be unique.

That’s why the main character in this story must be The Individual. And together, Bernard and John’s journeys come to represent the journey of The Individual—the main character who rebels against the rigid control of the World State.