Soma In Brave New World

Aldous Huxley wrote the novel, Brave New World, without a slight notion of what the future would hold. However, throughout the plot of the story, there are many concepts and themes that are prevalent in today’s society. In the World State, the leaders allowed abounding activities and administered forms of drugs in order to keep their civilians naive. The use of soma and the scientific process, conditioning, preserved the ignorant bliss of the World State. The citizens of the World State live in complete peace because of their insanely accessible access to the drug, soma. Soma is a type of narcotic, that when ingested, is able to calm any male or female. When taken in a large amount, it is even possible to slip into “soma holiday”. This

It is written, “She felt in her pocket for her soma- only to discover that, by some unprecedented oversight, she had left the bottle down at the rest- house. Bernard’s pockets were also empty. Lenina was left to face the horrors of Malpais unaided” (Huxley 111). Other than the outcast, Bernard, the citizens relied upon the use of soma to get through their day. Without the powerful stimulant, possibly any overwhelming or uncomfortable task was viewed as unbearable. To the civilized public, soma was used as an escape from the troubles of their everyday lives. This allows the government to control their people, while keeping them happy and occupied. How can someone question their government and their processes while high on drugs? The same could be said for the intake of drugs in America. Even though the American people do not have access to soma, since it is a fictional drug, there are certain drugs that have the same effects as soma. For instance, the most popular drugs include cocaine, hallucinogens, and weed (NIH). Out of the three, weed has the most in common with the drug soma. It has a number of the same effects as its counterpart,

At a young age, kids go through many stages of conditioning that range anywhere from keeping their space tidy, to not believing in a family setting. The controller believed and pushed the idea that everybody belonged to everybody else and commitment was rather disgusting. Also, they are trained during their sleep about how their social class worked and what the different statuses wore. They called this the Elementary Class Consciousness. For example the author wrote, “And Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don’t want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They’re too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides they were black, which is such a beastly colour. I’m so glad I’m a Beta” (Huxley 27). The use of conditioning made it possible to control their adults, as well as the future generations. This process continuously fed their beliefs without any parental restraint. Even if Americans do not want to believe it, we do the same things with our children. It is less likely that parents would play a recording to their child, but they do teach them the things that they were taught, whether it be good or bad. One case that is sadly familiar in today’s society is the constant fueling to hate groups, for instance the KKK. These adults pass their views on to their children, which will be passed down until the pattern is broken. The