In "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley uses various literary techniques, including symbolism and imagery, to critique the dangers of technological advancements and their impact on society. Through his portrayal of a dystopian society in which technology controls and manipulates individuals, Huxley warns of how technological advances can lead to a loss of freedom, happiness, and individuality. He also critiques how society prioritizes efficiency, pleasure, and conformity over a genuine human connection and emotional depth. Huxley presents themes of control, manipulation, and societal stability that arise from the misuse of technology to create a controlled and efficient future. By employing tropes of imagery and symbolism, the novelist expresses …show more content…
The citizens of the World State are encouraged to take Soma to avoid any unpleasant or difficult emotions. As a result, they cannot experience genuine human connection and emotional depth. The use of Soma also warns of the dangers of a society where people are not allowed to experience negative emotions, as it leads to a lack of empathy and understanding. It presents a society where people cannot experience the full range of human emotions. This lack of emotional depth further contributes to the idea of control and manipulation. "It is the perfect drug. All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects" (page 57). This quote, spoken by one of the characters in the novel, illustrates how Soma, a drug used to suppress negative emotions and create a sense of happiness and contentment, serves as a symbol of the dangers of prioritizing pleasure and conformity over a genuine human connection and emotional …show more content…
He illustrates how the use of Bokanovsky's Process, hypnopaedia, and Soma are potent symbols of the dangers of technology and societal pressure to conform and warn of the dangers of a society where individuals are not allowed to think and express themselves freely. He also critiques how society prioritizes efficiency, pleasure, and conformity over a genuine human connection and emotional depth. The novel serves as a cautionary tale, highlighting the importance of individuality and freedom in society and the need to be vigilant in the face of technological advancements that threaten these
In Huxley’s Brave New World as the one of the ten Controllers of the world Mustapha Mond explains, the drug soma is Christianity without tears, meaning in their society, instead of turning to God in a state of crisis, the citizens turn to soma, which makes them “happy” and high without any of the negative side effects that a religion may have. Essentially, soma is just a quick fix, a way of covering up the negative emotions that may occasionally lead to people questioning all that their world stands for. In this way, soma is similar to some antidepressant drugs, such as the class of antidepressant drugs tricyclics.
Aldous Huxley’s text, Brave New World, will leave you questioning your perspective on life and it’s choices. Within the novel, curious readers can see that government control over all in an attempt to create a utopia, can sometimes have a counter effect, creating a dystopia. Wielding it’s tool of conformity, The World State has forced its ideology into the minds of its people at a young age, in hopes of avoiding rebellion. In many ways this is how our society functions in the real world. The genre of Huxley's text may be fiction, but the society fabricated in Brave New World may not be so fictional after all.
The characters of Brave New World use soma to make themselves feel happy and they take “a gramme of Soma” to feel normal (60). People will just say relax and take some soma, which is similar to the exchange of drugs. People pull out drugs and pressure to take them. People might try to refuse the drug, like Bernard refused soma, but in the end people take the drug because they are pressure. People are told how amazing they will feel if they take drugs, their “ eyes shone, cheeks were flushed, the inner light of universal benevolence broke out on every face in happy, friendly smiles”(81).
The soma, most importantly, distracts the citizens from all the horrible actions of their society. The citizens, by having such a easy-access to it, become “enslaved” by this narcotic. They simply rely on this empty happiness to cure any feeling of sadness. All the perversions and immoral actions have become unnoticed and “cured” by the principal of soma. This relates to things today; pleasures can lead to immoral actions.
Throughout the first couple of chapters Huxley introduces Soma. Soma is the drug that allows people to forget about what happened to them. It helps them with their conditioning process. As Huxley states throughout chapter 3 "There was a thing called Heaven; but all the same they used to drink enormous quantities of alcohol… There was a thing called the soul and a thing called immortality...
In this novel Huxley warns of the dangers of letting technology interfere too greatly with the human mind. These new technology advancements are used as a kind of negative brainwashing. It plays a key part on how people grow treat each other and how they treat themselves because they are created with the alone mindset. The people in the society don’t value relationships between anyone or anything. Huxley emphasises on this with the use of negatively connotated words like “unhappy” and “horror” to discuss how people feel (or are conditioned to feel about monogamous love).
Soma is a drug that makes people feel happy and eliminates any feelings of sadness. One goal of the World State is for everyone to be joyous. Soma is highly advertised, and officials remind the people that "there is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon" (Huxley 55-56). Using soma takes the user on a "soma holiday" where they can escape anywhere and feel calm and collected. With no adverse side effects, the drug becomes highly addictive, and people build a reliance on it.
This is reflected in the novel by “Soma.” Soma is a drug that makes an individual feel good. In large doses this drug can produce hallucinations and a feeling of timelessness. This drug is taken when one feels any kind of unhappiness or discontentedness
The drug can also be seen as a symbol of the powerful influence science has on the society. Soma is highly encouraged when one is having feelings that aren’t suppose to exist in the world. The drug can also be used as a safe concoction for the people. Also the people take soma to help them deal with what they’re going through. Additionally, the drug can be a solution that a lot of the people go to avoid their problems.
“Christianity without tears, that’s what soma is” (Huxley 238). The society sees no harm in using soma, “all the advantages of alcohol and Christianity; none of their defects” (Huxley 54). Much like the addicts in today’s society, they only see the advantages of the drug they are abusing. Soma allows the characters to escape pain, embarrassment, sadness, or anger and enhance happiness, “you look glum! What you need a gramme of soma”(Huxley 60).
People living in the world today surrender themselves to the effects of drugs and alcohol. In Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, the drug soma is used to satirize people who allow stimulants to suppress their problems and create happiness, but true happiness can only be obtained through control over one’s own mind. With the drug soma, the citizens are able to provide their own superficial happiness and instability is prevented. It allows each part of society to work in perfect order. With the help of soma, all of the people are happy and satisfied with their manufactured lifestyles.
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,
Huxley’s creation of ‘Soma’ and the way it is used in the world state establishes the satirical values accentuated throughout the faulty utopian setting of the ‘Brave New World’. Many characters, in particular Linda and Lenina, are seen to be under the influence of ‘soma’, to replace the distress they experience with pleasure stimulated by the drug-like substance. Chapter seventeen illustrates the power of ‘soma’ on the society through Mustapha Mond’s statement about soma being “Christianity without the tears.” Due to its sedative and calming effects on the users, it is the most powerful tool for the political leaders to control the large population of individuals, by distracting them from the realization of the immoral nature of the society they reside in; hence they are enslaved in a trance of false happiness. The metaphoric use of Christianity replaced by ‘Soma’ indicates the author’s view of the religion offering the same effects of the drug; provide comfort at the expense of individuality.
In the novel Brave New Wolrd Aldus Huxley talks about many social and political issues in his time. Alsud Huxley uses many literary elements to talk about these political and social issues and masterfully crafts them to take part in the meaning of the book as a whole. The main literary devices the author uses are satire, repetition, and imagery. The main focus of the novel Brave New World is satire to the most extreme.
The utilize of technology in Brave New World highlights the theme of control because of the way Huxley presents the advanced technology. The residents of the World State are dependent upon artificially stimulated happiness or entertainment, and this “addicting mass culture” prompts the government’s desired impact for stability; as much as the World State agrees with science and advancement, the more they bastardize it because of its impacts of the soul and mind. Science can prompt humanity’s primordial need for individuality, and Mustapha Mond, the State Controller, believes individuality prompts instability. According to the World State, stability is the “primal and ultimate need” (Huxley 43). The World State utilizes what is useful from science but does not agree with science itself; it uses what it can to promote the stability it craves.