Why Does John Commit Suicide at the End of the Novel Brave New World?

Answer

Why does John commit suicide at the end of the novel Brave New World?

Comment on the suicide scene of John in the novel  Brave New World.

At the end of the novel “Brave New World” (1932) by Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), the crowd gathers to see how John whips himself. When Lenina comes, John whips her, too. The audience starts an orgy in which John takes part. Being defeated by guilt and shame, he kills himself. Let discuss the reasons of suicide behind the John commited suicide. 

Disharmony of Happiness and Truth: He wants to seek truth at any cost. He thinks seeking the truth is better, even if it involves suffering. He relates:

But I don’t want comfort. I want God. I want poetry. I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness.

He doesn’t need happiness and comfort in life. Mustapha Mond gives John the freedom to seek the truth through self-sacrifice and suffering, but he embodies the temptation of pleasure by taking part in an orgy. Such an ending might suggest that the happiness the World State’s Controllers encourage is a more powerful force than the truth John seeks. The novel’s ending suggest that John found no truth to tell in the world.

Despair of John: John watches a long line of Delta workers at Park Lane Hospital. He says:

I’ll teach you;

I’ll make you be free whether  you want to or not.

John sees the Delta workers in a long line. They are waiting to take Soma. It frustrates him. Again, his mother’s death due to the overdoses of Soma disappointed him deeply.

The Hypocrisy of the World State: He realizes the mortal effect of Soma. So, he takes the role of a defender. He engages himself in a mission to rescue people.  He starts to obstruct Soma distribution. Now he has become very popular throughout London and gets everybody’s attention. John throws the boxes of poisonous Soma outside. But the Delta workers can’t understand his great purpose because they are totally under the control of  Soma.

Finally, it is evident that John’s heroic purposes appear insignificant to the hypocrisy of the world state. So, John rejects society and tries to live by himself. John is soon overcome with passion, and after coming under the influence of soma, he falls asleep. The next morning, disgusted at his complicity in the system, he hangs himself.