“Turned, the babies at once fell silent, then began to crawl towards those clusters of sleek colours, those shapes so gay and brilliant on the white pages. As they approached, the sun came out of a momentary eclipse behind a cloud. The roses flamed up as though with a sudden passion from within; a new and profound significance seemed to suffuse the shining pages of the books. From the ranks of the crawling babies came little squeals of excitement, gurgles and twitterings of pleasure” (Huxley 13).
The reader is seeing what the babies see: bright colors,
pretty shapes, and beautiful flowers. Like said babies, the reader is supposed
to have good feelings about these things. They are pleasant to the eye and
represent the beauty of nature. As seen in the last sentence, the babies like
what they see the same way the reader does. They have infantile reactions, but
the writing has served its purpose. The scene is meant to draw out similar
feelings from the babies and the reader. When the sirens begin blaring and the
children are given electric shocks, the reader is abhorred. I mean, the babies
are more upset than the reader, but it’s still disturbing for the reader to
watch. In the end, the author is trying to say that our reactions are infantile,
likening the reader to babies.
