The Use of Soma to Shape and Control Society in Huxley's 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

It is a great cautionary tale for any religion-depraved, heavily medicated, and mechanized society. Many of the World State members are happy, although several characters including John “the Savage,” Bernard, and Helmholtz are not as satisfied with their lives; truth and happiness brought on by using the drug Soma are not all it is cracked up to be. With the utilization of the drug Soma and coveting happiness over truth, Huxley’s novel is a warning of what our society might become with technological advancements in the future if they are exploited.

In the book Brave New World, soma is described as “Swallowing half an hour before closing time, that second dose of soma had raised a quite impenetrable wall between the real universe and their minds” (Huxley 77). Soma is used to escaping pain, sadness, or anger, in other words, it’s an antidepressant, but there is more to soma that meets the eye. Without the mentioning made by the book, soma clearly is being used to distract the society from recognizing that they are enslaved. It is obstructing out the society from cognition, and making them stay unidentified about the what the government is doing to them. Later, Huxley advances his theme of the danger of all-powerful government, by using the allusion of hypnopaedia. Hypnopaedia is an allusion to hypnopedia, which is education delivered while asleep through auditory. In the book Brave New World, hypnopaedia is to control the society, by brainwashing them, and making them accept values and creed. One of the forced values is happiness. In Brave New World, Huxley states “A gramme is better than a damn” (Huxley 54). This hypnosis is made, to make the guild take soma, which keeps them happy, but actually just keeps them insensible of their enslavement.

Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World, expresses this theme through the concept of hypnopaedia. Hypnopaedia is a method of hypnosis control that induces the values surrounding the Fordian society. Through hypnopaedia, the citizens are forced to ritualistically state the benefits of the soma pill. For example, Lenina Crowne, the love interest of the protagonist, expresses the benefits of the soma pill consumption when she states, “A gramme is always better than a damn (54).” In short, this proverb expresses how the World State Controllers force the consumption of the soma pill to create a state of serenity. This idea is further expanded in Jim Morris’s film, Wall-E. Similar to Huxley, Morris introduces a mechanism of hypnopaedia in the film. This mechanism involves liquid meals and appears when a robot is teaching young infants how to maintain the vision of the Axiom society. The mechanical creature states, “A is for Axiom, your home sweet home. B is for Buy

It is important to note that the citizens in Huxley’s novel are always happy. While happiness in its purest form is greatly treasured in our modern society, happiness in World Society existed in the form of a drug by the name of ‘Soma.’ In their society, the commonly used, “euphoric narcotic pleasantly hallucinant” drug symbolizes a state of happiness that is rarely attainable in the contemporary era” (37). However, it is significant because it symbolizes the powerful impact that science and technology have on society. In situations of unease and apprehension, and also in individuals are not only encouraged to, but conditioned to take doses of Soma, which brings them back into a state of high which ensures absolutely little to no acts of rebellion. Furthermore, Soma is commonplace that it is “served with the coffee” (50). This come to illustrate the immense amount of influence that scientific innovation and government regulations have on individuals to the point where it becomes integrated into their everyday lives. While the usage of drugs is greatly ridiculed in the modern world, it is encouraged in World Society, and this comes to demonstrate how great emphasis on scientific innovations can be destructive, stripping away natural human

Our civilization has chosen machinery and medicine and happiness. That's why I have to keep these books locked up in the safe. They're smut." -Mustapha Mond (234). Instead of relying on fear to control the people and letting them choose from their own perspective, the government controls them through happiness; a fake happiness which is put into their heads as they grow up. In the novel, according to the World State, happiness is combined with stability. The basic goal of the brave new world is, supreme: the "happiness" of all, even if the consequences lead to the loss of freedom and free will. We can see how important it is for the state to improve happiness upon the people when Mustapha Mond says: "The world's stable now. 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 so conditioned that they practically can't help behaving as they ought to behave. And if anything should go wrong, there's soma." (220). The government's goal is to control people but it uses a very inhumane way. People aren't experiencing what life is really about because the state wants to keep people away form questioning. The essay Brave New World Society's Moral Decline found in www.123helpme.com, talks about Huxley's beliefs and predictions of the future when he was writing the novel. Some of these, he believed were

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.

In the novel Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley, the use of “soma”, a drug similar to an opiate, is used to help control peace and the world. Since soma has been used to configurate the world, there has been no war, mental disabilities, depression or sickness throughout the people. The people are given soma every day to function throughout society without having to deal with stress, anxiety, depression or any other negative feelings, the soma blocks out “feelings” in order to properly thrive without any implications. Soma is not just only used to hide feelings and keep the people feeling youthful, but also to keep the community become more societal and unified. Soma is depended on through the society to deal with any problems, whether

In Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, there is a drug used and mentioned throughout the story called Soma. The characters have been conditioned by birth that Soma is always the answer when you feel alone or sad. This drug is used so people can go on "holidays" from their reality and is used as payment for the lower caste groups. People want Soma because they go on these highs and live in their "Heaven" to escape reality. After all, they do call Soma "All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects"(Huxley 54). Soma becomes a tool to control the people in society.

It is weird that Aldous Huxley wrote this book in 1931 about the world he was living in during that time and how it is similar to the world we live in today. Nowadays, drugs are still being used and people are still engaging in sexual encounters with multiple partners. Things are no different than they use to be. People still to this day are using drugs and committing adultery as if there aren’t any diseases out there. In the story they introduced a drug named Soma. This particular drug was the narcotic they used to escape the world they lived in.

The drug, soma, in particular is emblematic in its pervasive influence into the World State, of the power of

Throughout the book, multiple characters indulge in soma, a drug that gives the user a pleasant sensation of relaxation, known as a "soma holiday". Soma holidays allow the user to escape the unpleasantness of reality. The consumption of soma is considered normal and a necessary part of daily life. Ironically, our society considers drug use to be both abnormal and immoral. Like promiscuity, soma usage is considered normal because it is regulated by the World Controllers. Soma’s properties turns into one of the World Controller’s most powerful means of management. After partaking in soma, the people no longer feel the need to ask questions or defy the structures of society. The soma rations are an insurance against any social unrest. It removes initiative and ultimately restricts

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.

The novel Brave New World uses soma as a symbol for power and control over citizen’s emotions. Aldous Huxley, the author of the novel uses symbolism to show soma helps user receive a quick fix for their problems and the consequences that comes with the drug. Everyone has their own obstacles to face, some may be harder than others. We cannot experience all the good things in life without some of the bad. Taking drugs and alcohol to escape from problems is not the solution. They might make you feel blissful for a while but sooner or later you will have to face those issue that you were once running away

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