DRUGS IN BRAVE NEW WORLD
“You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.”(Harlan Elison) When it comes to drugs, society has made it clear that it is an unworthy life threatening danger. Aldous Huxley´s Brave New World uses satire in order to portray the use of drugs. In the World State soma is the main drug. It is a necessity, a pleasure and a non-threatening substance. Sometimes, we do not realize why things are a certain way. As Human beings we are always unsatisfied with what we have. Aldous Huxley opens our eyes and makes us dig deeper. He gives us reasons to admire or criticize the life and system we live with today. He inspires the readers to imagine a world without morally logical rules and unthinking and unfeeling human beings.
Every aspect of life in the World State is superficial. People are deprived from anything that will distract them from their three main values, which are; Community, Identity and Stability. Art and nature is portrayed as dangerous and people spend their lives working in companies based on ford-like productions. Love relationships, family relationships and any aspect of life that would normally relate to emotions is non-existent. Within the book Mustapha Mond describes the society by saying; “People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can’t get. They’re well off; they’re safe; they’re never ill; they’re not afraid of death; they’re blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they’re plagued with no mothers or fathers; they’ve got no wives, or children, or lovers they feel strongly about; they’re so conditioned that they practically can’t help behaving as they ought to behave.” (Ch. 16, p. 200). Nevertheless that kind of happiness is “superficial”. The main reason Soma is essential. In such a society it is very likely for something unpleasant to happen and when it does, it results with citizens taking large Soma doses as a kind of holiday. It is a break from everyday life and supposedly leads to happiness and a world equivalent to paradise.
If we were to analyze or be more critical about the drug, we would come to the conclusion that soma is just concealment. It only serves to keep people happy with their current lives and fate. It doesn’t exactly create happiness. It only creates shallow feelings of well-being. There is no “feeling” of fulfillment and effort, instead it is a distraction from true morality. World state citizen’s morals are extremely contradictory to what we are familiar with. In reality Soma only creates superficial enjoyment and rejection from the “human life” that we know. Soma is equivalent to God or religious practices. Nowadays people greatly rely on religion to make themselves happy. Whereas in Brave New World people praise Soma, it is literally their God. After a hard day of continuous work the Delta’s are given free soma. Sadly, it is their only satisfaction and pleasure after a long day of hard dissatisfying work. They would obey orders or do anything for the drug. Such as when the Deputy threatens the Deltas and says; “No shoving there now!’ shouted the Deputy Sub-Bursar in a fury. He slammed down the lid of his cash-box. ‘I shall stop the distribution unless I have good behavior. The Deltas muttered, jostled one another a little, and then were still. The threat had been effective. Deprivation of soma — appalling thought!”
‘That’s better’, said the young man, and reopened his cash-box.” (Ch. 15, p. 192)
Soma is clearly a psychotropic drug, which stands for alienation, de-humanization and mind-numbing pleasure.
It has been proven that the World State population are clearly victims of Soma. The World State is a Totalitarian regime. The people have no control over society. If anyone goes against the rules, they are bound to be thrown out of the society. In other words, there is no choice. Taking the drug is an obligation. The readers of Brave New World are being told that society influence, can greatly affect a persons choice to take drugs. For example, during the 20th century many drugs were “popular”, such as opium. Ironically Aldous Huxley also tries to encourage us not to take drugs, by showing how dehumanizing a society can turn out to be as a result of the continuous use of drugs.
Aldous Huxley´s message is quite open for debate. Many questions may arise. Should we aim to show that only one view of the good life is correct and that the use of such drugs should be banned? Or, should we discuss and debate about the various ways of good lives and allow people to make their own decisions? It is up to us human beings to make the right decisions and provide the right society for future generations.
Every aspect of life in the World State is superficial. People are deprived from anything that will distract them from their three main values, which are; Community, Identity and Stability. Art and nature is portrayed as dangerous and people spend their lives working in companies based on ford-like productions. Love relationships, family relationships and any aspect of life that would normally relate to emotions is non-existent. Within the book Mustapha Mond describes the society by saying; “People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can’t get. They’re well off; they’re safe; they’re never ill; they’re not afraid of death; they’re blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they’re plagued with no mothers or fathers; they’ve got no wives, or children, or lovers they feel strongly about; they’re so conditioned that they practically can’t help behaving as they ought to behave.” (Ch. 16, p. 200). Nevertheless that kind of happiness is “superficial”. The main reason Soma is essential. In such a society it is very likely for something unpleasant to happen and when it does, it results with citizens taking large Soma doses as a kind of holiday. It is a break from everyday life and supposedly leads to happiness and a world equivalent to paradise.
If we were to analyze or be more critical about the drug, we would come to the conclusion that soma is just concealment. It only serves to keep people happy with their current lives and fate. It doesn’t exactly create happiness. It only creates shallow feelings of well-being. There is no “feeling” of fulfillment and effort, instead it is a distraction from true morality. World state citizen’s morals are extremely contradictory to what we are familiar with. In reality Soma only creates superficial enjoyment and rejection from the “human life” that we know. Soma is equivalent to God or religious practices. Nowadays people greatly rely on religion to make themselves happy. Whereas in Brave New World people praise Soma, it is literally their God. After a hard day of continuous work the Delta’s are given free soma. Sadly, it is their only satisfaction and pleasure after a long day of hard dissatisfying work. They would obey orders or do anything for the drug. Such as when the Deputy threatens the Deltas and says; “No shoving there now!’ shouted the Deputy Sub-Bursar in a fury. He slammed down the lid of his cash-box. ‘I shall stop the distribution unless I have good behavior. The Deltas muttered, jostled one another a little, and then were still. The threat had been effective. Deprivation of soma — appalling thought!”
‘That’s better’, said the young man, and reopened his cash-box.” (Ch. 15, p. 192)
Soma is clearly a psychotropic drug, which stands for alienation, de-humanization and mind-numbing pleasure.
It has been proven that the World State population are clearly victims of Soma. The World State is a Totalitarian regime. The people have no control over society. If anyone goes against the rules, they are bound to be thrown out of the society. In other words, there is no choice. Taking the drug is an obligation. The readers of Brave New World are being told that society influence, can greatly affect a persons choice to take drugs. For example, during the 20th century many drugs were “popular”, such as opium. Ironically Aldous Huxley also tries to encourage us not to take drugs, by showing how dehumanizing a society can turn out to be as a result of the continuous use of drugs.
Aldous Huxley´s message is quite open for debate. Many questions may arise. Should we aim to show that only one view of the good life is correct and that the use of such drugs should be banned? Or, should we discuss and debate about the various ways of good lives and allow people to make their own decisions? It is up to us human beings to make the right decisions and provide the right society for future generations.