Soma In Brave New World

Soma is a means of mind control in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Soma is a drug given to the citizens of the World State to make them more euphoric and to better accept their fate as citizens in this dystopian society. The scientific basis of soma is that it is an opiate that makes the user feel happy; the user feels happy and is therefore easily manipulated. It could be argued that soma is basically alcohol; people take it to escape from reality and to feel better about themselves. Soma is significant to the novel because the government uses soma to control the World State citizens and take away their individuality, which makes them easier

However unlike soma, in the reservation (and in modern society), Linda used a different stimulant to make herself “happy.” She used mescal, “. . .but Linda said it ought to be called soma; only it made you feel ill afterwards” (125). This parallels to the modern stimulants of today: alcohol, smoking, drug abuse, they all are fine at the time to distract you but in some way they cause dangerous to the body that are not worth the holiday.

In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World the use of soma clouds peoples ability to experience natural human emotions. It deprives people from understanding who they are as a human being and what they value. The drug is used as a hallucinogen and an antidepressant. Soma was designed for people to consume it when they got into tough situations or just needed a quick “holiday” away from reality. Even Bernard, who was once against the use of soma, began taking it and acting just like everyone else.

The futuristic dystopian novel “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley is about a government and how they control the citizens using conditioning, class structure, and the use of the drug soma. Conditioning plays a big role because it helps teach children what their role in society is. It constantly teaches the children what is right and wrong whether they are awake or sleeping. Class structure also plays a role in how they control the citizens and how they live their life. Some classes are more oppressed than others, like the Epsilons and Deltas who are used for manual labor because they have little to no intelligence. To add, the governments use soma to control the citizens because it increases serotonin in the brain and it helps escape from reality.

John explains how soma isn’t the truth in attaining happiness as, ‘I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin’ (Huxley

Sure a “soma” may keep people happy, but it will also turn humans into machines, without feelings to guide them. Feelings are the driving force behind humans. Why had many scientific advances been made in the past? Why had many new lands been discovered? Emotions- love for science, love for other humans, hate for crime, hate for disease and even greed guide people.

The main use for people to use drugs is to escape reality, they do this all the time. You can say users of drugs use them to escape and have them help them find their pursuit of happiness. There are countless number of drugs that people take that helps them escape reality and makes them forget about their humanity. In the book Brave New World there is a drug that goes by the name of soma. Soma, is a hallucinogen described as "the perfect drug” in the book. Soma comes with all the benefits such as the ability of calming people, letting the user see the world in surrealistic, and ten-hour long highs with none of those pesky drawbacks such as brain damage and long term damages to the user’s body unless the user over abuses it. In real life there

Brave New World is about a dystopian society in which people live after one thing: satisfaction. The pain of childbearing and family upbringing is replaced with the mass manufacturing of babies, along with intense conditioning that has citizens trained to not worry, be upset, be dramatic, or be “queer”. The people are focused on working, appeasing their sexual desires, playing games, and other entertaining pastimes. The pursuance of constant, instant gratification is what makes this dystopia go round, where no problems arise where all needs are appeased with no complications. In case of one falling out of happiness, one will always have access to a euphoria-inducing drug to restart. Neil Postman said that Aldous

The World State forbids the citizens from experiencing any negative emotion, for fear of losing control. Soma, Latin for sleep, renders its users to a coma-like blissful state, which Congdon describes, borrowing the statement from Huxley himself, that soma allows the citizens to,“periodically escape from the pressure of routine and worldly cares”(Congdon). Citizens are conditioned to use the drug at the slightest challenge to the cultural norms, preventing any thoughts of rebellion or contempt against the government.

Brave New World is greatly dependant upon soma, as in our world where prescribed drugs and drug abuse are prominent. This is evident when Bernard and Lenina return from the Savage Reservation. Lenina is devastated from her experiences, so decides to take soma. It illustrates how like our world when something upsets

In the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley characters in the novel live in a world where everyone is always without a doubt happy.Mustapa Mond says to John while he’s trying to prove that civilation doesn’t need nobility and heroism because there’s no need for it and that divided allegiances don’t exist because “Now you swallow tow or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are.Anybody can be virtuous now.You can carry at least your morality about in a bottle”[237-238].Soma is a drug that helps you take a “holiday” from all your troubles and escape the real world

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

Aldous Huxley’s compelling futuristic novel, Brave New World, takes place in an elaborately constructed society whose citizens have their intellect highly conditioned from birth to be entirely “jolly” [as stated in the text] throughout life merely through superficial fulfillment that the government is able to provide. However, the perpetually gleeful yet blind citizens are stripped of their dignity, compassion, values and morals-ultimately losing their human emotions without the realization that they’ve lost such an important aspect in life. When problems arise, the drug soma is a quick ‘solution’ to the distress it brings. An outcast to the new society, Bernard Marx struggles through his life, seeking to understand why his peer’s, such

Also, Soma can be compared to Prozac. He feels that the society in Brave New World is one that compares closely to the feudal system is England where the leaders were born into their positions and servants were born into their positions and thus Brave New World is a satire warning America to be careful of where society is headed. (Epinions.com)

In the novel Brave New World and The Island of Dr. Moreau, one can see the contribution of themes that expand on science and technology. Huxley and Wells created this world where science is the ruler of one’s destiny. One advancement of science and technology is presented in Brave New World. Soma was a drug used to relax and rely on senses in the body instead of outside