The Delusion of Happiness in Brave New World and Canada

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Abraham Lincoln once said, “Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” Thus, implying happiness can be determined by ones mindset. However, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World creates a vision of a utopian society that achieves happiness by altering the mindset of its populace to believe they are happy. In a society depicting such a strange ideology of the future, people are no longer as happy as they make their minds up to be, but as happy as the government allows them to be. Canadians are repugnant to Huxley’s world despite the many similar issues between Canada and the New World State. The excessive use of chemicals, obsession with consumerism and illusion of happiness prove that the Canadian society is becoming increasingly similar to the Brave New World.
Chemicals are excessively used to achieve youth and happiness in both Brave New World and in Canadian Society. The prime example being the use of drugs to achieve a euphoric feeling and to escape something versus dealing with it in both societies. In Brave New World, Soma, a hallucinogenic drug, is a pertinent part of life that is a necessity to keep their world in order. When a member of society is unhappy, it is a natural instinct to consume soma. When Lenina is upset John does not join her after their date, Lenina thinks, “One gramme, she decided, would not be enough; hers had been more than a one-gramme affliction” (Huxley 171). Lenina uses soma to prevent unacceptable unhappiness in the Brave New World, as many Canadians use antidepressants as a simple fix to their unhappiness. The utilization and prescription of pharmacotherapy for depression has increased from 3.2 to 14.5 million between 1981 and 2000 in Canada (University of Toronto Magazine). ...

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...ciate Deputy Minister, Office of Consumer Affairs. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. .

"Jesse Kline: The Reason Stimulus Spending Sucks - It Never stops." National Post Full Comment Jesse Kline The Reason Stimulus Spending Sucks It Neverstops Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. .

"AXE Susan Glenn Commercial." YouTube. YouTube, 12 July 2012. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. .

"Is Depression on the Rise? Increasing Use of Antidepressants in Canada | University of Toronto Magazine." University of Toronto Magazine Is Depression on the Rise Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013. .

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