In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, the motto of the World State is ‘Community, Identity and Stability’. This utopia desires to be a world where pain and suffering are eliminated for all citizens, but pleasure is perpetual. Consequently, this unknowingly ceases the freedom of the citizens of the World State. Ultimately, citizens of Brave New World’s society are in a constant state of imprisonment due to their inability to feel unhappy. Brave New World focuses on how happiness and truth cannot coexist through the use of soma, the use of science, and the theme of isolation. Soma fits into the utopian picture of absolute happiness. It is what completely erases the pain and misery creating a world where the only feeling is contentment; “soma stands for alienation, de-humanization and superficial mind-numbing pleasure” (Schermer). Soma causes the inhabitants of the World State to feel so
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Those of the World State seem to believe that happiness means the absence of worry and sorrow, and that they could eradicate that feeling by using soma. For example, “And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there’s always soma to give you a holiday from the facts” (Huxley 217). This quote demonstrates how soma is there for someone who needs to escape the reality, but at the same token, is there to hide someone from the truth as told by Mustapha Mond, “It hasn’t been very good for the truth, of course. But, it’s been very good for the happiness” (Huxley 228). In fact, the soma-filled happiness may just be an illusion of happiness, and no real feelings of fulfillment, while they are guarded from their true freedom. Science in Brave New World is just another part of the recipe for perfect happiness constructed by the World State in order to hold complete control. What one does, who they are and where they belong are all predetermined before even entering the
Those of the World State seem to believe that happiness means the absence of worry and sorrow, and that they could eradicate that feeling by using soma. For example, “And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there’s always soma to give you a holiday from the facts” (Huxley 217). This quote demonstrates how soma is there for someone who needs to escape the reality, but at the same token, is there to hide someone from the truth as told by Mustapha Mond, “It hasn’t been very good for the truth, of course. But, it’s been very good for the happiness” (Huxley 228). In fact, the soma-filled happiness may just be an illusion of happiness, and no real feelings of fulfillment, while they are guarded from their true freedom. Science in Brave New World is just another part of the recipe for perfect happiness constructed by the World State in order to hold complete control. What one does, who they are and where they belong are all predetermined before even entering the