Brave New World 16

"The nurse stood irresolute, looking now at the kneeling figure by the bed (the scandalous exhibition!) and now (poor children!)..." pg. 206

I understand why John became so angry during this chapter. No one could comprehend why John would be grieving over a death. It is so odd because John's reaction would be fairly typical in our world; however, everyone in the World State found it very strange that John felt the need to mourn. None of the people at the hospital had ever been so emotionally connected to another person before, so they found John's remorse to be disrespectful and inappropriate. I think that is kind of ironic because today when someone close dies, it is often disrespectful and inappropriate not to mourn. I think that this death will be very hard on John, one because he has just lost the only person he has been truly close to, and two because he has no one to share in his grief. I know (at least for me personally) it is much easier to deal with tragedy when you are surrounded by loved ones. I could not even imagine dealing with a death so close to me, let alone being isolated and without comfort and support from others. I would not be surprised if John's violence becomes a more prominent issue as a result of Linda's death.