The answer to this question can be found before Bernard
and Lenina actually travel to the Reservation, when they visit the Director who gives
them an account of the kind of life that the "savages" lead there. Note what the
Director tells them in Chapter Six of this excellent
novel:
...about sixty thousand Indians and
half-breeds... absolute savages... our inspectors occasionally visit... otherwise, no
communication whatsoever with the civilised world... still preserve their repulsive
habits and customs... marriage, if you what that is, my dear young lady; families... no
conditioning... monstrous superstitions... Christianity and totemism and ancestor
worship...
Thus we can see
that the religion practised in this Reservation is actually a mix of a number of
different elements of religion, incorporating (to us) traditional religions such as
Christianity with more primal religions such as totemism and the worship of ancestors.
However, whatever religion is practised, the point is clear. The Reservations are
depicted as uncivlised places, in contrast to the rest of the world, which has erased
the need for "superstitions" such as religion.
No comments:
Post a Comment