Theme Of Substance Abuse In Brave New World

1067 Words3 Pages

Think of a world where substance abuse controls every aspect of a person’s humanity. This type of society is displayed in Aldous Huxley 's Brave New World. It is hard to imagine a world completely different from the only one that we know. One that is inhumane. Every person in this new society is conditioned so that their lives revolve around the wonder drug "soma". Lenina Crowne is a main character who shows substance abuse in this novel. Bernard Marx is the protagonist of the novel and is romantically involved with Lenina throughout the story until the two take a trip to Malpais, the savage land, where Lenina meets John. John is the son of a Linda who got left behind on her trip to the savage land many years before this. She got pregnant and then the father abandoned her and she was left in Malpais. Lenina is infatuated with John because he is very good looking, and she begins to pursue him but soon finds out that he is not able to handle the things of the new world such as the use of soma. Using soma to cope with all of the upsetting
He says it is like “Christianity without tears” (238). Whenever something unpleasant happens, the controller says, “there’s always soma to give you a holiday from the facts” (237-8). In our society, anyone can tell you that life is hard and bad things are going to happen. The reason people turn to drugs, alcohol, and in this case, the abuse of soma is because many people want to take the easy way out instead of dealing with their problems. This contributes to the loss of humanity because it eliminates one’s capacity to have bad feelings. Part of being human is having emotions and this wonder drug takes away the problems that many people learn from throughout their life. Humans make mistakes but then use the situation and the memory to learn, think for themselves, and change their actions the next time there is a

Show More
Related

  • World State In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    Soma is the gateway to pure happiness. "you do look glum! What you need is a gramme of soma." (Huxley). In a way Soma is like nicotine or marijuana. It puts you into a trance or high like state of mind. It gives the user an exit from reality, a way to escape everyday life. Because of this the citizens have become codependent on soma; without it they feel in complete. “Again twelve stanzas. By this time the soma had begun to work. Eyes shone, cheeks were flushed, the inner light of universal benevolence broke out on every face in happy, friendly smiles. Even Bernard felt himself a little melted” (Huxley). By having entire nation dependent on a single drug it becomes simple to control the people. Codependency affects people both mentally and physically. Going through withdrawals is one of the worst experiences out there; especially if you have been on the drug for long periods of time. The World State made its natation dependent on soma and sense it’s the only disruptor, it made its citizens dependent on the World

    Read More

  • The Concept Of Individual Resilience In The Parable Of The Sower

    1929 Words  | 4 Pages

    The theoretical concept of individual resilience has been long explored. Charles Darwin a famous theorist proclaimed “It is not the biggest, brightest or the best that will survive, but those who adapt the quickest.” Essentially, individuals are able to survive, if they adapt to the world around them. Octavia E. Butler creates this notion in her dystopian novel. In the year of 1993, Octavia E. Butler wrote the novel Parable of the Sower. The story is told through the eyes of the main character, Lauren Olamina. Lauren describes the horrendous and corrupt world around her and notes of the populations response to the violent acts. The year is 2025, when the world is overrun by corruption, greed, criminals, violence, famine, thirst, slavery and division. Through all this, Lauren is able to hold optimism in the world largely due to her background, hyperempathy condition and values. Lauren creates a set of fundamental values, that she wishes she can use to shape the world and create a symbolic home.

    Read More

  • Life And Death In Brave New World Essay

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    In a society where the life is easy and no hardships exist it is inconceivable to the public to think that anyone would want anything else. No one is poor, no one is lonely. When times get rough, or doubt settles it, citizens just medicate with soma and feel no strong emotions. In their drug induced state they drift back into a sense that everything is perfect, without soma, citizens have no way to handle inconveniences of life. For instance, when Lenina visits the reservations with Bernard she desperately feels “in her pocket for her soma—only to discover that, by some unprecedented oversight, she had left the bottle down the rest house” (Huxley 111). She needs her soma, she cannot cope with regular events without it. The people in the society, whether Epsilon or Alpha, have every comfort they could dream of, never getting ill, never aging, never having to deal with any heartache. In order to not experience strong emotion people cannot get too attached to each other, tying into the idea that everyone belongs to everyone. When citizens have this mentality the concept of death is simply a passing event, it holds no true importance. When Lenina and Henry are flying above the crematorium, a puff of air, once a life, makes the helicopter shoot up for a moment. Instead of seeing this as a sentimental ending of a life, Lenina simply claps her hands and remarks on how enjoyable flying up was. Her ignorance displays how the way people live their lives in the World State affects how they perceive death. The World State is filled with essentially clones; no one is truly a free thinker, which is why Huxley writes in John. John is the purest form of individual that is present in Brave New World. John Savage is viewed by the society as this sort of animal, untamed and different.

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography: Annotated Bibliography Of Drug And Substance Abuse

    808 Words  | 2 Pages

    It was the late 19th century when a lot of conflict for families from the Industrial Revolution and illegal drugs had easy access to anyone in the United Sates. These illegal drugs like morphine, cocaine, and alcohol were available through manufacture, delivery, and selling. It was proved that the over use of alcohol and violence in families’ homes were linked together around the 1850’s and that women and children were being abused by the father and husband from the letters and journals that were wrote. These were times when women were stay at home mothers and it was the man’s responsibility to be the provider for the wife and children. Because of the abuse in the household it led up to the temperance movement. The purpose

    Read More

  • Theme Of Happiness In A Brave New World

    937 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Brave New World is a thrilling combination of both malicious and brilliant morals and symbols. This “Brave New World” is a dystopian society set in 2540 A.D. or 632 A.F. (After Ford). It is a novel about how happiness cannot be artificially grown or taught, it is one’s own and is different for everyone. Bernard and Helmholtz are the only people in their dystopian society to really think for their selves. The most significant characters in the book are Bernard Marx, John the Savage, Lenina Crowne, Mustafa Mond, and Helmholtz Watson. The setting of this novel is primarily in London, England, but changes to New Mexico as well. Huxley’s Brave New World incorporates characteristics of his childhood, critical

    Read More

  • Stuff

    988 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Brave New World, as drug called soma affects every day life as a citizen. The drug makes you happy instantly. But Bernard does not take any soma “and in spite of his misery absolutely refused to take the half-gramme raspberry sundae which she pressed upon him ‘I’d rather be myself,’ he said. ‘ Myself and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly. ’A gramme in time saves nine,’ said Lenina, producing a bright treasure of sleep-taught wisdom.”(89). By refusing to take soma, Bernard stays true to himself. He is miserable because he does not fit in because of his stature and refusal to be medicated and happy. The society in Brave New World revolves around the fact that everyone is happy. The sleep teachings make it so that they feel it is right to always be happy and take soma, not for personal benefit but for the benefit of society. Without soma, some people in the society fell abandoned and depressed. When Bernard and Lenina visit the reservation Lenina forgot her soma “She felt in her pocket for her soma-only to discover that, by some unprece...

    Read More

  • Substance Abuse: A Nationwide Epidemic

    2210 Words  | 5 Pages

    The consequences that follow the use of any drug are unfavorable. Although many individuals may see drug addiction as a mere lifestyle choice, it is a problem that many individuals suffer from and inevitably a growing issue that leaves major social and economic impacts.

    Read More

  • Brave New World

    937 Words  | 2 Pages

    Huxley effectively uses distortion in Brave New World in his depiction of Soma as a replacement for religion. Soma is a rationed narcotic that is emphasized by the government to help the people escape from their problems. The people of Utopia have become dependent on the drug to keep them in a constant state of pleasure. In their "perfect" society there is no escape from happiness. The primary example of the degrading effects of Soma is Linda. Brought back from the Savage Reservation after being left behind pregnant, Linda faced many moral and ethical dilemmas she chose to avoid. Her addiction to Soma, which is looked upon as a good thing by everyone except John, brings about the terrible end to her life in which she was in a state of constant delusion. Soma, as Mustapha Mond puts it, is "Christianity without tears" (244). Soma, in effect, is the key to social stability in Utopia. Soma prevents uprisings, saves revolutions and suppresses emotions. Although Huxley's distortion of religion is powerful, there are other strong arguments in the book.

    Read More

  • Essay On Social Psychology Of Substance Abuse

    1649 Words  | 4 Pages

    Substance abuse impacts people in society every day, from teenagers to adults. Specifically, abuse happens among a large number of students across college campuses in the United States. While advancing in college, numerous students obtain habits that have negative effects on his or her health, emotions, and relationships. While the main drug of abuse across college campuses remains alcohol, the problem of drug abuse today goes far beyond that to illicit substances.

    Read More

  • Societal Drug Use in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World

    665 Words  | 2 Pages

    “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, returning whence they find themselves on the other side of the crevice, safe on the solid ground of daily labour and distraction, scampering from feely to feely, from girl to pneumatic girl, from Electromagnetic Golf course to …"

    Read More

  • Totalitarian Government In Brave New World By Aldous Huxley

    1063 Words  | 3 Pages

    Everyone in the new world takes soma when they experience something displeasing. The government uses it to gain total control over its citizens because they become mindless tools under the influence of the drug. Furthermore, the citizens form an addiction to this pill because it is free and provides them happiness. In his critique of the book, Richard Beckham asserts “Individuals are to protect themselves from normal pain frequent through doses of this widely available and socially acceptable narcotic.” Their behavior can be called atypical or abnormal, at least from John the Savage’s view, because they never directly control their own lives. John, however, realizes the harmfulness of these pills and proceeds to throw them out the window after they accelerate his mother’s death. However, his actions start a riot in the room because he is essentially throwing out “happiness.” Unlike the deltas, John realizes that true happiness is not possible without the experience of sadness. John never loses his name as The Savage throughout the book because of such actions. Everything he does is beastly to the citizens, even though Huxley makes it clear that it is the other way around; it is John who thinks they are beastly. Their actions, though, are primarily the result of an authoritative government’s need for

    Read More

  • Irony in "Brave New World"

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the first couple of chapters, Lenina, a young woman, is introduced. When we first meet her, we learn that she has been seeing a guy, Henry, for the past 4 months. The reader can assume that this is normal, since the same happens in our everyday lives, but we soon discover that this is abnormal. In the new world, a regulation is set that men and woman cannot be in committed relationships, but are supposed to have sex with as many men or woman possible. The fact that she is not promiscuous enough can get her into trouble. “And you know how strongly the D. H. C. objects to anything intense or long-drawn… why, he’d be furious if he knew…” (Huxley, 41) As the story progresses, however, she becomes an example of new world regulations, admitting that she had sex with many men. “She was a popular girl and, at one time or another, had spent a night with almost all of them.” (Huxley, 57) Old world r...

    Read More

  • The Use of Soma to Shape and Control Society in Huxley's Brave New World

    1711 Words  | 4 Pages

    The future of the world is a place of thriving commerce and stability. Safety and happiness are at an all-time high, and no one suffers from depression or any other mental disorders. There are no more wars, as peace and harmony spread to almost every corner of the world. There is no sickness, and people are predestined to be happy and content in their social class. But if anything wrong accidentally occurs, there is a simple solution to the problem, which is soma. The use of soma totally shapes and controls the utopian society described in Huxley's novel Brave New World as well as symbolize Huxley's society as a whole. This pleasure drug is the answer to all of life's little mishaps and also serves as an escape as well as entertainment. The people of this futuristic society use it in every aspect of their lives and depend on it for very many reasons. Although this drug appears to be an escape on the surface, soma is truly a control device used by the government to keep everyone enslaved in set positions.

    Read More

  • True Happiness In Brave New World, By Aldous Huxley

    1524 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the Brave New World, almost all of the individuals are conditioned to take soma to alleviate any stress or unorthodox thoughts, like love or individuality, they may have. Soma is highly advertised and the officials always 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). The use of soma allows the individuals to take a “soma holiday” to anywhere they wish and feel cool, calm, and collected. The soma never produces any negative side effects, so people continue to want to utilize the drug over and over. Bernard, a character searching for individuality, is the first to question the use of soma. He explains his disuse of soma by saying he would rather not use soma and feel himself “[himself] and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly” (Huxley 89). Although many people in society today take on Bernard’s point of view and feel that happiness is a result of both the good and bad times, there are also many people who use drugs and depressants to create

    Read More

  • Consequences: The Cause and Effect of Drug Use

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    The use of drugs is a controversial topic in society today. In general, addicts show a direct link between taking drugs and suffering from their effects. People abuse drugs for a wide variety of reasons. In most cases, the use of drugs will serve a type of purpose or will give some kind of reward. These reasons for use will differ with different kinds of drugs. Various reasons for using the substance can be pain relief, depression, anxiety and weariness, acceptance into a peer group, religion, and much more. Although reasons for using may vary for each individual, it is known by all that consequences of the abuse do exist. It is only further down the line when the effects of using can be seen.

    Read More

More about Theme Of Substance Abuse In Brave New World

Open Document