Metaphor

"...No, he didn't. The bird was too dangerous. His hand dropped back."  Pg. 144

     John has the fortunate dilemma of being familiar with literature. Just before he dares to touch Lenina, he quotes lines of Shakespeare. This familiarity does not exactly lend itself to his own happiness, but John has a much better idea of the expectations in the brave, cruel world outside the Reservation. This will serve him well once he leaves. I find it interesting that this is one of the first times Huxley describes a character as anything other than a human being. It is possible that the metaphor is to suggest what was said above: that John is literary enough to think of people deeper than living objects. He attributes them to creatures with personalities and unengineered traits. When I ponder John's thought process, it becomes clear why the World State prohibits unstructured thinking. The savages know much more than their "superior" Alphas.