Contents
CHAPTER—X
Overview
The Director stages a public denunciation to have Bernard exiled, invoking social order and orthodoxy. Bernard counters by presenting Linda and John. Linda reveals the Director fathered her child, and John publicly acknowledges him. The scandal humiliates the Director before the entire staff, overturning his authority and Bernard’s immediate threat.
Summary
At the bustling Bloomsbury Centre, the Director brings Henry Foster to the Fertilizing Room, declaring he will make a public example of Bernard for dangerous unorthodoxy. He frames Bernard’s nonconformity as a societal threat warranting dismissal and transfer to remote Iceland.
As workers fall silent, the Director formally indicts Bernard’s views on sport and soma and his irregular sex life, then demands a reason not to execute judgment. Bernard, nervous but resolute, says his reason is outside and calls it in.
Linda enters, shocking the room with her age, appearance, and open familiarity with the Director, whom she calls Tomakin. Amid awkward laughter and his attempts to disown her, Linda announces he made her have a baby, openly declaring herself a mother—an obscene admission in their society.
John then enters, kneels, and addresses the Director as “My father!” The taboo word breaks the tension into hysterical laughter among the staff; the revelation shatters the Director’s authority.
Overwhelmed by humiliation, the Director covers his ears and flees, leaving Bernard’s punishment thwarted and the Centre in uproar, with Linda and John’s existence now publicly tied to his disgrace.
Who Appears
- Bernard MarxTargets the Director’s public denunciation, then reveals Linda and John to thwart his exile.
- The Director (D.H.C., Tomakin)Attempts to dismiss Bernard but is exposed as John’s father and flees in humiliation.
- LindaConfronts Tomakin, discloses her motherhood and his paternity, triggering scandal.
- John (the Savage)Publicly kneels and calls the Director “my father,” catalyzing the crowd’s hysterical laughter.
- Henry FosterAccompanies the Director, witnessing the failed denunciation and ensuing scandal.