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Use and Abuse of Soma Brave New World

Use and Abuse of Soma Brave New World In Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, he describes his vision of the plight of mankind. His world is void of things such as war, disease, and even unhappiness; and is meant to be a utopia, but yet it satirizes issues of the world we live in today. The emphasis in this new world is placed on society as a whole and not on the individual. Community, identity, and stability are the mottos of this world. This “brave new world”, however, has a price. This “brave new world” of Huxley’s has developed the perfect drug, soma. Soma allows one to escape reality, and take a “holiday” without the side effects and consequences of other drugs. This property is discussed when Linda, John the Savage’s mother finally returns to civilization. The return to civilization was for her the return to soma, was the possibility of lying in bed and taking holiday after holiday, without ever having to come back to a headache or a fit of vomiting, without ever being made to feel as you always felt after peyotl, as though you’d done something so shamefully antisocial that you could never hold your head up again. Soma played none of these unpleasant tricks. (156) Throughout the novel soma has many uses, however, it is mainly used recreationally and politically. The following essay will examine both of these uses. Soma is used politically in many different contexts in the novel. It ranges from being used as a reward to being a punishment. For example, in the hospital for the dying, the Delta class workers line up at the end of each workday to receive their ration of soma. Each Delta is essentially rewarded for completing their work for the day and doing their part to contribute to society. On the other hand, soma is also used as a punishment. This is demonstrated in the riot. In order to prevent total chaos the police use soma vapors to subdue the crowd. So, although the individuals exposed to the gas may go on a “holiday”, the soma is being used as a punishment against insubordination. These examples of political soma use all come down to the same underlying fact, the total and absolute control of the government. Technology in this world is so finely tuned and available to the government, that it is constantly abused. The use of cloning, mass production, psychological conditioning, and especially soma are all examples of the abuse of technology by the government. Soma has become one of the government’s main weapons for control. They have conditioned the population to regularly use soma and most even come to depend on it. They gain control from this because the government has control over the supply and distribution of this drug. The government also uses soma as their safety net. As the world controller Mustapha Mond said, “…And if anything should go wrong, there’s soma”. (226) Not only was soma used to subdue the crowd during the riot, but it was also used to quiet down a threatening individual. The Savage, as an outsider, could see the absurdity of this world and questioned its teachings and methods in a meeting with Mond. His thinking was the beginning of individuality and creativity, two qualities looked down upon in this brave new world. This thinking was obviously seen as a threat to the stability of civilized society because the Savage was secretly given soma in order to stop the questioning. Along with the political use of soma there is also a large recreational use. Many people simply use soma to escape reality. When things start to get tough, just pop a tablet of soma and take a “holiday”. After all as the conditioning statement goes, “a gramme is better than a damn.” (117) A major example of this occurs when Lenina and Bernard Marx go to visit the savage reservation for a weekend. After seeing the savages’ rituals Lenina is disturbed and feels she needs a “holiday”. When she returns to her room she takes about six tablets of soma and takes off on her soma “holiday”. The recreational use of soma is directly related to the power of the government as well. They encourage the use of this drug. If you feel upset, take a soma. Stressed? Take a soma, and so on. Any little negative emotion is halted by soma. This is part of the utopian concept. In this perfect society everyone must be happy all the time. Soma enables the government to make this possible. It gives them the opportunity to right everyone’s wrongs. Everybody’s happiness is the key to the stability of the society. If everyone is happy, no one will begin to question his or her ways of life. The society described in Brave New World has come to depend upon the advances in technology. It emphasizes society as a whole and plays down the individual. The use and abuse of this new technology by the government, especially soma, has given them complete power. They have created a “utopia” but at the cost of human spirit. Bibliography:

Word Count: 850