In Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel Brave New World, John grows up on the Malpais Reservation.
Malpais is a reservation outside the World State where traditional family life, religion, aging, and natural birth still exist. John is born there to Linda, a woman from the World State who was accidentally left behind. Because he belongs fully to neither society, John becomes a key figure for comparing their values.
The word Malpais is Spanish for “badlands,” and the name emphasizes the reservation's harsh landscape as well as its position outside the technologically managed World State. John is later taken to London, where he is presented as the “Savage.”
The reservation is sometimes confused with the World State's controlled cities or with the Savage Reservation's broader fictional setting. Malpais is the specific reservation associated with John and Linda. Brave New World was first published in 1932.