He is anxious to find out if they are from outside the Reservation. He is dressed as an Indian, but speaks perfect English. She and Bernard are confronted by a blonde, blue-eyed white man. Lenina is at this point crying uncontrollably. With drums beating the snakes are removed and the young man is taken away. When at last he staggers and falls the old man puts a feather into the young man's blood and shakes it over the snakes. A young man comes out of the crowd and walks around the pile of snakes, as he does this he is being whipped. From the hatches, a painted image of an eagle and the painted image of a man, nude and nailed to a cross are brought up. An old man comes up from the underground chambers and throws cornmeal on the snakes, then a woman throws water on the snakes. At a signal he commands the dancers to throw the snakes down into the middle of the square. The dance line leader throws more and more snakes. Suddenly a woman screams and the leader of the dance line opens a large wood chest and takes out two black snakes, dancers rush to take the snakes. All the time there is a great deal of singing and circle dancing. The whole scene is foreign to Lenina and Bernard, not only the place and music, but also how the people look with their native clothing.įrom below up come Indians with frightening masks or painted bodies. There is also singing by the men and women. The sounds of flutes below the terrace floor is heard and the drums beat. These are the roofs of the underground chambers.

Below them in the village square are two platforms which are circles, one is masonry and one tamped down clay. He has them follow him to a ladder which they climb up to a terrace where the drums are being played. She is repulsed at seeing two women nursing their babies because it seems indecent to her.Īt this point the guide returns. Because now she has to deal with her feelings about being among the Indians on her own. Lenina repeats one of the phrases ingrained in her mind, 'cleanliness is next to fordliness.' He points out that the Indians had not heard of Our Ford and are not civilized. Bernard tells her that since they have been doing it for five or six thousand years, they are probably used to it. Lenina cannot comprehend how anyone can live like this. Here Lenina and Bernard encounter the dirt, garbage, dust, and flies that make up the living areas of the Indians. This is distressing to Lenina.Īt the pueblo entrance, their guide leaves them to go inside and receive instructions. They run by Lenina and Bernard, one Indian carrying a feather brush and the other four snakes. Soon they hear people coming, they see two Indians who are bare to the waist and have white lines painted on their necks and torsos. They climb up a steep path to the top of the mesa. A path takes them to the bottom of a cliff, which looking up is the mesa. As they approach Malpais they hear drums beating. Lenina doesn't like the mesa, the dust, the walking, or their guide. Lenina and Bernard travel with their Indian guide to the pueblo.

Brave new world chapter 7 summary