Circle of Society

"The circle was disintegrating." Page 207

John's mother was dying. To all people living in London, death was an inevitability. Yet death was an accepted part of life, just as the sky is blue and that gravity cannot be shattered. They thought nothing of death because of their conditioning to its horrors. John yet again broke social etiquette when he showed anger and sadness for his dying mother. The head nurse in the death ward was confused by his actions, and even noted that the "circle was disintegrating". She recognized the danger of John's reaction to death, and was afraid that the children would begin to associate negative thoughts and feelings with death. John, the savage, doesn't care. He is grieving, and will break any social barrier he needs to to get over it.