Soma Brave New World Analysis

963 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Love in a brave new world university essay

In a perfect society drugs would not be used to keep people happy. However, in Brave New World the drug ‘’Soma’’ is used so that the people of the world state do not reach any point of dissatisfaction. Soma is meant for a euphoric trip away from the harsh society in Brave New World; just as well as the present day drugs that is used for a mental leave that is lead to substance abuse. People of Brave New World use Soma so there is no feel angry or sad feeling. "Our world is not the same as Othello's world. You can't make flivvers without steel-and you can't make tragedies without social instability. The world's stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can't get...And if anything should go wrong, there's soma. Which you go and chuck out of the window in the name of liberty, Mr. Savage. Liberty! Expecting Deltas to know what liberty is! And now expecting them to understand Othello! My good boy! Of course [Othello is better than those feelies]. But that's the price we have to pay for stability. You've got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art." World Controller Mustapha Mond, Chapter 16, (Huxley 224) Any kind of negative feeling they think is coming gets blocked by their high. In present day, there are a lot of drugs people use in order to escape this cruel world. Molly, a new popular drug is meant for serotonin to be released to feel euphoria. Molly is known as ‘’the happy molecule.’’ Molly is a psychedelic drug compared to LSD. Doctors say Balitsky 2 there is no medical use to make this drug appropriat... ... middle of paper ... ... Balitsky 4 but would be socially harmless. There, you can relate to Soma in Brave New World. In Brave New World Soma and Alcohol are in its purest form in the savage reservation. In Brave New World you won’t find any illegal drugs because the government uses their control through the drug abuse. In Brave New World this society goes completely against our own. Huxley creates a controlling drug environment where it is necessary to be monitored, artificial and controlled in order to be ‘’normal.’’ Huxley is trying to depict the differences between to fantasies of a utopian society. Both societies, our society and world state both use drugs to reach the desirable feeling of happiness. It is a shame that people feel the need to take in things that ruin your body just for a short euphoria.

Show More
Related

  • Postman's Analysis of Brave New World

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    As analyzed by social critic Neil Postman, Huxley's vision of the future, portrayed in the novel Brave New World, holds far more relevance to present day society than that of Orwell's classic 1984.  Huxley's vision was simple:  it was a vision of a trivial society, drowned in a sea of pleasure and ignorant of knowledge and pain, slightly resembling the world of today.  In society today, knowledge is no longer appreciated as it has been in past cultures, in turn causing a deficiency in intelligence and will to learn.  Also, as envisioned by Huxley, mind altering substances are becoming of greater availability and distribution as technology advances.  These drugs allow society to escape from the problems of life instead of dealing with reality.  With divorce rates higher than ever in the past few decades, it has become evident that lust has ruined the society's sexual covenants.  People are indulging in their sexual motives; lust runs rampant, thus strong, long-lasting relationships are becoming a rarity.

    Read More

  • World State In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    Soma is the gateway to pure happiness. "you do look glum! What you need is a gramme of soma." (Huxley). In a way Soma is like nicotine or marijuana. It puts you into a trance or high like state of mind. It gives the user an exit from reality, a way to escape everyday life. Because of this the citizens have become codependent on soma; without it they feel in complete. “Again twelve stanzas. By this time the soma had begun to work. Eyes shone, cheeks were flushed, the inner light of universal benevolence broke out on every face in happy, friendly smiles. Even Bernard felt himself a little melted” (Huxley). By having entire nation dependent on a single drug it becomes simple to control the people. Codependency affects people both mentally and physically. Going through withdrawals is one of the worst experiences out there; especially if you have been on the drug for long periods of time. The World State made its natation dependent on soma and sense it’s the only disruptor, it made its citizens dependent on the World

    Read More

  • Societal Drug Use in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World

    665 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a perfect society, humans do not need to resort to drugs to keep society in balance. In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, society is based on keeping everyone happy- and if for some reason someone becomes unhappy then there is always soma- the “perfect” drug. Humans are conditioned from the very start to be happy while performing their specific tasks. “We also predestine and condition. We decant out babies as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or future Directors of Hatcheries.” (Page 13) Brave New World’s society is built on keeping everyone happy and keeping everyone working in balance with civilization. However, without soma, Brave New World’s society wouldn’t function properly. The soma helps to keep the society moving, always working to keep production moving, just like Ford’s assembly line. However, is there something wrong with depending on a drug to keep a society working?

    Read More

  • Brave New World Soma Quotes

    633 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are drugs that do not require injections or ingesting, examples of those drugs are the Television and the Internet. In Huxley’s book, Brave New World, which takes place in what is supposed to be a utopian society, describes a certain substance that the main characters regularly used, Soma, throughout the story. The substance is "All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects"(Huxley 37), which puts away anger and creates the feeling of content. Television was mentioned in the book as “a thoroughly pleasant atmosphere” (135) and sometimes had scenes where a running Television was used as a condiment for Soma. Huxley believed the Television shared similar effects of Soma. If we look at our society today, he may have predicted the Television at its prime. How we see Soma in Brave New World is similar to our Television today because Soma is abundant, part of people’s lives, and provides the feelings of pleasure.

    Read More

  • The Use of Soma to Shape and Control Society in Huxley's Brave New World

    1711 Words  | 4 Pages

    The future of the world is a place of thriving commerce and stability. Safety and happiness are at an all-time high, and no one suffers from depression or any other mental disorders. There are no more wars, as peace and harmony spread to almost every corner of the world. There is no sickness, and people are predestined to be happy and content in their social class. But if anything wrong accidentally occurs, there is a simple solution to the problem, which is soma. The use of soma totally shapes and controls the utopian society described in Huxley's novel Brave New World as well as symbolize Huxley's society as a whole. This pleasure drug is the answer to all of life's little mishaps and also serves as an escape as well as entertainment. The people of this futuristic society use it in every aspect of their lives and depend on it for very many reasons. Although this drug appears to be an escape on the surface, soma is truly a control device used by the government to keep everyone enslaved in set positions.

    Read More

  • HIstory of Cocaine

    1390 Words  | 3 Pages

    Credibility material: Its intake results in adverse medical conditions that are further exalted by its addiction properties that ensure a continued intake of the substance. The drug can be abused through multiple means and is medically recorded to produce short-term joy, energy , and other effects such as increased heart rate and blood pressure. This ultimately results in numerous psychiatric and social problems; factors that played a major role in its illegalization after multiple and widespread cases of its effects were reported in the country during the 1900s. In addition to this, the drug results in immediate euphoric effect, a property which the National Institute of Drug Abuse (2010) attributes to be the root cause for its increased po...

    Read More

  • Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

    1172 Words  | 3 Pages

    Another cultural value that helps maintain social stability is drug use. Soma is a euphoric, hallucinogenic drug that the government freely gives to citizens.

    Read More

  • Brave New World Essay

    1073 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel The Brave New World, Aldous Huxley introduces a deranged world where humans are trapped, drugged, and obsessed with looks. The United World is presented as the ideal world; everyone knows their place in society, no one has any troubles, at the end of the day, everyone gets a dose of soma. However, throughout this ironic novel, the reader can see that, though portrayed as a flawless universe, Huxley has set it up to blatantly show its flaws. While showing how the real world, though more difficult to live in, is a better situation, Huxley also draws subtle parallels between the two worlds. Our abuse of drugs, both legal and not, are used to fade out the troubles we may be having, just as soma is used in the Brave New World.

    Read More

  • The Authoritarian State In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

    807 Words  | 2 Pages

    The people of Brave New World are kept calm with a drug called soma. Described as having “all of the advantages of Christianity and alcohol and none of their defects”, it’s a psychoactive drug that induces feelings of calm, therefore contradicting any need to discover and potentially tackle the true source of one’s distress. Soma subdues

    Read More

  • True Happiness In Brave New World, By Aldous Huxley

    1524 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the Brave New World, almost all of the individuals are conditioned to take soma to alleviate any stress or unorthodox thoughts, like love or individuality, they may have. Soma is highly advertised and the officials always remind the people that, “there is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon” (Huxley 55-56). The use of soma allows the individuals to take a “soma holiday” to anywhere they wish and feel cool, calm, and collected. The soma never produces any negative side effects, so people continue to want to utilize the drug over and over. Bernard, a character searching for individuality, is the first to question the use of soma. He explains his disuse of soma by saying he would rather not use soma and feel himself “[himself] and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly” (Huxley 89). Although many people in society today take on Bernard’s point of view and feel that happiness is a result of both the good and bad times, there are also many people who use drugs and depressants to create

    Read More

  • Individuality Vs. Social Stability

    1330 Words  | 3 Pages

    Imagine living in a society where there is no sense of independence, individual thought or freedom. A society where the government uses disturbing methods that dehumanize people in order to force conformity upon them. Taking away any sense of emotion, It would be very undesirable to live in a society with such oppression. Such society is portrayed in Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World. The World State uses social restrictions to create permanent artificial personalities for people within the society. The World State also uses controlled groupings of people to brainwash them further to be thoughtless people with no sense of individualism. Lastly, the World State uses drugs to create artificial happiness for people, leaving no room for intense emotion which causes people to revolt against the World State. Within the novel Brave New World, it is seen that the World State eliminates individuality through social restrictions, government controlled groupings and the abuse of drugs to maintain control of the population.

    Read More

  • Brave New World Theme Analysis

    1557 Words  | 4 Pages

    .... The Savage could see that it was nothing but valueless vice, and when he accidentally succumbs to that which he so detested, he commits suicide after waking from his 'soma holiday.' Aldous Huxley is also sending us many warning messages with his novel. If we spend too much of our lives pursuing happiness through physical fulfillment, we will miss out on what is truly important, our relationships with other people and with God. He is also telling us to be careful with our science, or we may end up like the Utopians, mass producing identical citizens, then brainwashing them to think alike, and to think exactly what the government mandates. Huxley tells us not to cheapen sex through promiscuity, because it is supposed to be something to express a deep and undying love to someone, not a simple carnal pleasure. These were just some of the mistakes the Utopians made, all of which contributed to their lives being shallow and meaningless. They were not truly happy, because they misplaced their values and failed to see what brings true joy and peace in one's life. The apparent blissfulness in which they lived turned out to be nothing, their Utopia was not worth the high price they paid.

    Read More

  • Drugs In Brave New World, By Aldous Huxley

    1042 Words  | 3 Pages

    All throughout mankind, drugs have played various roles within society due to their positive and negative impacts. Evidently, groups like the Ancient Greeks and other religious groups used drugs for religious and spiritual reasons. Drugs like marijuana and other psychedelic drugs were widely used in the 1960s and 70s by the flower power hippy movement. Drugs are used in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World differently than modern and historic time, according to Mustapha Mond (controller), who states that Soma is “Euphoric, narcotic, pleasantly hallucinant”. Ultimately, Drugs in society help eliminate negative emotions, assist with legal control, and impact one's identity.

    Read More

  • Soma In Brave New World

    1180 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel Brave New World, the World State relies on each person to a play their role in society like cogs in a much larger machine. Machines are built to last and are preset to work in a certain way so that they do not stray away from their functionality and intended use. Likewise, citizens of the World State are preset by their conditioning, rules, and systems each person's compliance causes another person to do their job just like how a cog turns another cog perpetuating the cycle. However, machines do not come without their imperfections and flaws, but those do not necessarily hinder its performance like how major characters have something that makes them unconventional, yet do not challenge the reigning order. Therefore, the citizens

    Read More

  • Essay On Brave New World Society

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    Taking it a step further, to plug all the little holes that could form in someone’s schedule, the Controllers introduced Soma, a drug that keeps anyone occupied for any necessary length of time. This society riddled with control and pleasure is a genius work from the point of the Controllers. They’ve managed to create a world government more successful than any ever conceived,

    Read More

More about Soma Brave New World Analysis

Open Document