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Henry notices Lenina's growing sadness and suggests a Pregnancy Substitute or Violent Passion Surrogate treatment. Lenina tells him to shut up. She'd laugh if she weren't on the verge of crying—she has enough violent passion on her own. Later, in the Changing Room, Fanny tells Lenina that if she won't try someone else, she should just go to John and have him, period. Don't take no for an answer, she says. Lenina follows Fanny's advice. Bolstered by a half-gramme of soma, Lenina goes to the apartment and confronts John. She asks him if he doesn't like her, and John says he loves her, but that he wants to do something to show he's worthy of her. Lenina doesn't understand, and grows more and more exasperated as John rattles on about the traditional methods of a man showing his worth—like bringing home the skin of a mountain lion. Lenina is horrified when he starts talking about marriage, and asks him to tell her simply whether or not he likes her. When he says he does, she kisses him. But the kiss reminds John of the feely they saw and the disgusting moans of the viewers. He's horrified and tries to disengage himself, but Lenina persists. Then she strips off her clothes. John retreats in terror, but she follows, pressing herself against him. Now enraged, John calls her a whore. He grabs her wrists and roughly thrusts her away. He shakes her by the shoulders, calls her a strumpet and tells her to get out before he kills her. Lenina runs into the bathroom. Outside, she hears him muttering and pacing, repeating "impudent strumpet" over and over again. She asks for her clothes, which he tosses through the vent over the door. Lenina wonders how she's going to get out, when she hears the phone ring. She listens as John responds to the caller; someone is ill. He quickly hangs up and leaves the apartment. Once he's gone, Lenina darts out the door and runs. In this chapter, Lenina's conditioning collides finally with John's idealism, sparking fury and violence. Lenina, a product of her society, has failed to live up to John's idealistic notions of perfection and purity, just as the New World has. John feels that Lenina has not only defiled herself but him, as well. Her promiscuity and John's perception of it drive home the point that a world in which everything is shared and everyone is the same is one that degrades individual significance. In John's mind, Lenina has been reduced to Bernard's earlier perception of her as a piece of meat.
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