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33 pages 1 hour read

Aldous Huxley

Island

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1962

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Chapters 13-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 13 Summary

Will lunches with Vijaya and his family. He discovers how their custom of saying grace is much different than what Will presumes. Rather than saying grace prior to a meal, the Palanese focus on the details of their food. In this way, they stay connected with the present moment.

Will leaves with Vijaya and goes to a school to witness how the educational system functions. Mary and Tom have joined Will and Vijaya for the car ride over. They will operate the scarecrows, which to Will’s astonishment are puppets of the Buddha and the Christian gods. Each is decorated according to how their cultures interpret them, the Buddha much more joyfully presented than the vengeful-looking Christian god-puppet. This leads to a comparison of religion and god.

Will meets the principal of the school, Mrs. Narayan, and the Under-Secretary of Education, Mr. Menon. Will tours the school, where he witnesses the way the Palanese tackle education. In Pala, the approach is far more holistic than in the West. It balances formal subjects, such as math, with metaphysical objectives, such as meditation, ethics, and helping students develop their spirituality.

Mr. Menon asks Will what boys and girls are for in the West. Will provides a long-winded answer, culminating with: “What are boys and girls for there? For cannon fodder, industry fodder, agriculture fodder, road-building fodder. So East is East and West is West—for the moment” (248). Mr. Menon says that boys and girls are “for being turned into full-blown human beings” (248).

Murugan and the Rani reappear as Susila and Will are about to leave in a jeep. The Rani expresses her disapproval of the school system and sees the scarecrows as blasphemous. When the Rani and Murugan depart, Susila expresses her dislike for the Rani.

Chapter 14 Summary

Susila brings Will to her bungalow. She hypnotizes him so that he can continue speaking of his problems, starting with his wife Molly’s death. Will’s memories form a stream. Soon he is recounting the death of his dog, Tiger, and that of his Aunt Mary, who died of cancer. Aunt Mary didn’t just become sick with cancer; she became totally unlike herself. An otherwise kind, charitable, loving person was reduced to misery. Will and Susila intensely discuss the philosophical problem of evil, the inevitability of suffering, and death and the after-life.

Mary Sarojini interrupts their conversation. She has come to inform Susila that Lakshmi’s condition has taken a severe turn for the worse. Will accompanies Susila and Mary Sarojini to the village. Susila goes to Lakshmi alone. Will asks Mary Sarojini if she understands what is happening with Lakshmi, to which she answers yes. There is a public performance of an adaptation of the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex called Oedipus in Pala. Many of the play’s events are adapted to better fit the Palanese worldview.

Murugan arrives equipped with a letter from the Rani. In it, she states that Aldehyde has empowered Will to act on his behalf so that the proposed oil deal can be confirmed. The Rani also hints that Rendang-Lobo may be planning a military operation and that it could be happening sooner than initially thought.

The letter has a bad effect on Will. Murugan becomes increasingly impatient at Will’s silence and refusal to quickly leave for the Rani’s residence. Murugan eventually becomes aggressive; Will shouts him down and says that he will not participate in finalizing the deal. Will and Mary Sarojini make their way to the hospital where Lakshmi is dying. Will is granted access and observes Lakshmi’s final moments. Susila speaks to Lakshmi and guides her through the final stages of her life. Dr. Robert arrives and tells Lakshmi that it is time for her to leave her body behind. Will, Susila, and Radha leave the room, giving Dr. Robert and Lakshmi privacy as Lakshmi dies.

Susila and Will walk back to her apartment. Susila asks Will if he would like to try the Moksha medicine. He says yes.

Chapter 15 Summary

It is apparent at the beginning of this chapter that Will has taken the medicine. The narrative describes what he sees, hears, and touches. A distorted lizard appears. Will sees a female praying mantis eating a male. Mixed with these more disturbing hallucinations are intense feelings of euphoria and well-being.

Susila is present and guides Will. At one point, she puts a Bach recording on; Will realizes that he has never heard it like he hears it now. Susila asks that Will open his eyes. He does and sees her beauty. They share an intimate, sensual experience in which they touch each other’s faces. This does not lead to sex.

As the chapter concludes, Will and Susila hear Murugan’s voice over a loudspeaker announcing that Pala is joining the kingdom of Rendang-Lobo. Will and Susila also hear military vehicles and gunshots ringing out from the direction of Dr. Robert’s headquarters. Presumably Dr. Robert is killed, although this is not explicitly stated.

Chapters 13-15 Analysis

Will’s character transformation is propelled by his visit to the school. The school’s scarecrows—one of the Buddha, the other of the Christian god—symbolize the school and Pala society in general. Will’s comment to Mr. Menon—that “East is East and West is West—for the moment” (248)—shows Will’s binary thinking. The school’s scarecrows are the antithesis to this, and this impresses him.

Westerners and the Palanese treat death differently. Will sees death as solitary, miserable, and lonely based on his experience with Aunt Mary. He says—“for of course nobody can help, nobody can ever be present. People may stand by while you’re suffering and dying, but they’re standing in another world. In your world, you’re absolutely alone” (290). In contrast, Lakshmi’s death has a communal aspect. In the time leading to her death, Susila and Radha guide and help her on a deeply spiritual level. Through Lakshmi, the novel explores the theme of Accepting Death and How to Give Life Meaning.

In the final chapters, Will transforms from a scheming Westerner to one who embraces Palanese values. We see this when he refuses to participate in the oil deal and when hallucinating and connecting with sensory experience. In other novels, such as Villette by Charlotte Brontë, hallucination represents a journey of self-discovery, as it does here. Though he is not seeing reality, Will is gaining vision. He feels things viscerally, such as the Bach concerto, rather than being numb and sarcastic.

Will’s experience is a culmination of what he has learned on the island about awareness. He has achieved one of the Palanese core values: Transcendence and Being Present. He says—“the fact was the awareness, the awareness the fact” (327). This suggests that the hallucinatory experience has given Will new meaning, a different way of seeing the purpose of life. 

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