Extended Metaphor (Brave New World)

"In a few minutes there were dozens of them, standing in a wide circle round the lighthouse, staring, laughing, clicking their cameras, throwing (as to an ape) peanuts, packets of sex-hormone chewing gum..." "The ape had spoken; there was a burst of laughter and hand-clapping." PAGE 255

This is an example of an extended metaphor. The first quote is presented a few paragraphs prior to the second. They both contain the comparison of the savage to an ape. Throughout this last part of the book, several different animal comparisons are made. The savage is apparently the ape. The helicopters of the reporters are locusts and grasshoppers. Also, as the crowd began to shout about the whip, the noise is referred to as parrot-like. The parrot connotation comes from their repetition of the phrase that they continuously did. As the crowd began to disperse and shift, they are described as being like swine. All of these animal comparisons served a deeper purpose than just describing what people or things resembled. The different comparisons of the people to animals presented them all like animals, like savages. The people are supposed to be completely civilized because of their "conditioning" but when it comes down to it, there is savage in all of us. It was a little ironic that they were all acting like animals and savages because they are supposed to be the civilized one. It was hypocritical of them to be calling John the Savage and referring to him as that as opposed to his name, because they were all acting similarly. I feel the message behind this is similar to that in Lord of the Flies. In Lord of the Flies, the proper boys all turn savage to survive the island. In this situation of Brave New World, the civilians all turn savage and animal like to observe the Savage.