33 pages • 1 hour read
Aldous HuxleyIsland
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1962A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary
Ranga and Radha leave the room, and Will naps. When he awakes, he continues reading the Old Raja’s book. As he comes upon a section that deals with self-inflicted sorrow, a loose paper falls out. It is a poem, evidently written by Susila, who appears in Will’s room just as he has finished reading it. Will asks Susila about the poem and how it relates to her childhood. Susila explains how her parents’ marriage failed because they had completely different personality types. Susila discusses how families on Pala are different than in Western cultures. Rather than being exclusive and predestined, the concept of family in Pala is far more community-minded. This idea is best represented by Mutual Adoption Clubs, which encourage a community child-rearing approach.
Will reveals his shame to Susila. He cheated on his wife, Molly, and slept with his affair-partner on the night of Molly’s funeral. Will also flashes back to the death of his Aunt Mary, which devastated him. Will had been an aspiring poet but was not skilled enough to make it his career. He chose journalism as a practical way of earning income. He came to see the world and people as pointless, and his cynicism grew. Molly offered him a respite from this, and because she loved him, Will married her. He can’t say whether or not he loved her.
Will asks Susila for her help, a request which she grants.
Chapter 8 Summary
Dr. Robert tells Will that he is aware of Colonel Dipa’s military ambitions, and that Dipa is like Hitler. Dr. Robert recognizes that this does not bode well for Pala, which does not have a military. Will asks what course of action Pala will take should Rendang-Lobo become hostile and try to invade Pala. Dr. Robert says an appeal to the United Nations for protection is their only option. Will was emotionally moved by his previous discussion with Susila. He asks Dr. Robert if he can remain in Pala for a little while after he has been healed. Dr. Robert grants him a month as a temporary visitor, then explains how Pala came to be the kind of society it is now.
He traces Pala’s roots back to his grandfather, Andrew MacPhail of Scotland. Andrew had grown up in a strict, Calvinist home. Robert discusses how Andrew’s adult self was shaped by his strict upbringing, fortified by corporal punishment and the threat of eternal damnation. Andrew didn’t continue the Calvinist legacy or rebel by fleeing. Instead, he received an education and became a doctor. By chance, he was approached to provide medical care for the Raja of Pala, who had a tumor on his face. The Raja had been precariously close to death; Andrew realized that an operation was necessary. Anesthesia would be difficult, as would operating without it. He recalled an article he had read in The Lancet that discussed animal magnetism, which purports that living beings possess a force, one that can be used for healing . After practicing hypnosis on the Raja, Andrew performed the surgery and removed the tumor. The Raja did not experience any pain. After, the two men became close friends. Andrew stayed in Pala and with the Raja, they pursued making Pala a utopia.
Chapter 9 Summary
Will has recovered enough to stand on his own and walk. He leaves his room and heads to the Experimental Station, where he notices Murugan in the laboratory reading. When Will enters, Murugan quickly substitutes his book for a textbook on ecology. Finally, Murugan admits that he had been perusing a Sears and Roebuck catalog and looking at scooters.
Will thinks about how consumerism is the quickest way to conquer non-Western cultures. Dr. Robert returns with Vijaya Bhattacharya from working in the fields, just as Murugan mentions that the Palanese habitually use “dope” (164). Dr. Robert and Vijaya reveal that “dope”—or mushrooms—help people see a different aspect of their realities. Dr. Robert objects to the term “dope;” he says that European culture conditioned Murugan to view mushrooms that way. Dr. Robert and Vijaya shower because they had been doing manual labor. Dr. Robert compares the sedentary lifestyle of Western cultures to the active Palanese. All in Pala practice and value manual labor.
The four men depart for the mountains. During the drive, they make further cultural comparisons, including why Pala sees so little crime. Dr. Robert attributes this to his study on the “anatomy and physiology of power” (183). Dr. Robert theorizes that crimes are generally committed by either Peter Pan types or by Muscle Men. In Pala, they have preempted crime by determining which individuals are destined to become one of these types. They discuss how punishment is meted out, what little of it is actually needed. Finally, the men near their destination in the mountains, the vehicle ascending toward a Shiva temple.
Chapters 7-9 Analysis
Will’s views of economic models begin to shift. We see this when Susila explains the value system at the center of Palanese culture. She tells Will: “Buddhist ethics and primitive village communism were skillfully made to serve the purposes of reason” (106). As Susila speaks to Will, he begins to see that a valid alternative exists, one that is not solely capitalist or communist. Pala stands as distinct from both capitalist and communist systems; their approach to governance borrows from each to form a best-of-both worlds system.
Will’s pessimism clashes with the book’s ideology, which is embodied by Dr. Robert. Will and Dr. Robert’s dialogue juxtaposes ideologies and shows why one should always hope, even when there seems little reason to. Will asks Dr. Robert: “Don’t you sometimes despair?” (140). The question reveals Will’s worldview, namely that despair is inevitable. He asks how the island can defend itself in the face of the growing threat imposed by their neighbors, Rendang-Lobo. The doctor answers that “[o]ne’s justified in feeling pessimistic about the current situation. But, despair, radical despair—no, I don’t see any justification for that” (141). Dr. Robert makes a distinction. He separates despair and pessimism. When Will asks Dr. Robert whether he feels despair when reading history, the doctor says no, because he remembers what history is: “the record of what human beings have been impelled to do by their ignorance” (141). Dr. Robert tacitly admits that human history is largely a record of individual ignorance. However, it does not have to be that way, and this allows one to hope. Therefore, there is no reason to despair.
Will believes that Colonel Dipa gave Murugan the Sears catalog to make him more interested in materialistic goods, and to show him what he’s missing out on in Pala. Colonel Dipa wanted him to become envious and greedy, to want to grow wealthy and accumulate goods. The narrative says—“the future Raja of Pala was being made to realize that he was no more than the untrousered ruler of a tribe of savages” (163). Dipa is grooming Murugan to see the people of Pala as subjects that must be conquered, to exploit them for material gain. Through Murugan, we see the novel’s exploration of Greed and the End of Utopia.
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