“Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley (post 4): “John” and “Savage” are both capitalized, because they are names of two different personalities

One major character is referred to in five different ways: John, John the Savage, Mr. Savage, the Savage, and Savage. At first, I thought this was just a reference to John’s uncivilized upbringing. But if that were true, “Savage” would not always be capitalized. It would be “John, the savage” or “the savage,” not always “John the Savage” or “the Savage.”

Why is “Savage” always capitalized? Because the character has two different names: John and Savage. And the latter is not just a nickname used by other characters, since the narration often refers to him as “Savage” even when it would have been natural to refer to him by the name he was raised with, John.

The character has evidently had two personalities since childhood. One personality thought of himself as John, the white-skinned son of a couple vacationing on a Native American reservation. The other personality wanted to fit in with the Native Americans among whom he was raised when his pregnant mother got lost, was thought dead, and was left behind on the reservation.

The narrator, other than by capitalization, does not make this duality obvious. The character is not called “John” only when he is quoting Shakespeare and called “Savage” only when he whips himself (a ritual that he had wanted to participate in on the reservation).

But in real-life, undiagnosed, multiple personality, the alternate personalities usually don’t announce themselves, but act either incognito or by pulling strings from behind-the-scenes. Indeed, both personalities may be simultaneously conscious behind-the-scenes while they are fronted by a host personality (search “host personality”).

In short, there are two manifestations of multiple personality in this novel: 1. the cloning metaphor, and 2. the character with two names, John/Savage.