Chapter 15 titles

"Warmongering and Peacekeeping"

John, who has become quite depressed and angered by the death of his mother, has begun to take his anger out on the clueless, ignorant, and conformist society he sees around him. In particular, he lets his rage loose on a couple of Delta workers, yelling at them not to take soma, and throwing their soma rations out a window. This causes the Deltas to attack John, who is saved by Helmholtz and Bernard. When the police come to break up the riot, the Deltas soon play the victim card when asked about their civil unrest, while the protagonists are arrested.

Throughout the book, John has been at a growing unrest with the World State, and that is finally brought to a peak when John causes the fight. This direct act of aggression toward the conformist society surrounding him is the culmination of all the things he struggled with in previous chapters, from his status among society as nothing more than a savage, to the death of his mother, to his romantic frustrations with Lenina.