Consumerism In Brave New World

‘Brave New World’ by Aldous Huxley is a science-fiction book in which people live in a futuristic society and a place called the World State. In ‘Brave New World’, Aldous Huxley used the idea of consumerism to describe the behaviors and lives of the citizens of the World State. The practice of consumerism by the people of the World State fulfilled their satisfactory and happiness. However, it also blinded purity and truth among its people. Different classes and different genders of people practiced different acts of consumerism such as consuming soma, technology and bodies. They sought happiness from them and eventually these acts became a social norm. However, these practices of consumerism also had side effects. It blinded truth such as history, …show more content…
Soma was a type of drug which people of the World State applied to themselves whenever they wanted to be happy. People of the World State were conditioned to consume soma regularly. Mustapha Mond, one of the controllers of the World State stated, “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. And there’s always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering.”(CH 17, page 237-238). From this statement, Mustapha Mond asserted that applying soma gave the citizens of the World State calmness and happiness. However, applying soma was a method to avoid from the truth and to flee from the reality. The act of taking soma was just one way of avoiding the truth and by making people think that everybody is happy, it blinded the truth that everyone is avoiding the ordeals and cannot get out of conservative habit which is to face the reality and challenging them. John, the citizen of the Reservation said, “The Young men who wanted to marry her had to do a morning’s hoeing in her garden. It seemed easy; but there were flies and mosquitoes, magic ones. Most of the young men simply couldn’t stand the biting and stinging. But the one that could-he got the girl.”(CH 17, page 238). John wanted to criticize that people …show more content…
Also, the controllers educated its people that by consuming new technology and goods and that by throwing away old things, people can seek satisfactory and happiness. By increasing their desire for consumption for technology and goods, the controllers achieved full control and happiness from its people. People were conditioned for several different classes such as alpha, beta, delta, gamma and epsilon and were conditioned to consume their money on buying new things. When Fanny and Lenina were talking about their dates on different men, Fanny stated, “We always throw away old clothes. Ending is better than mending, ending is better than mending, ending is better…” (CH 3, page 49). Fanny stated this because she thought that consuming new things than fixing old thing was more fashionable and more appealing. Fanny was conditioned by the controllers of the World State that she should always seek for new things and throw away old things to be happy. However, the act of conditioning people was a part of controllers consuming the citizens of the World State in order to achieve full control of the people and to generate their own happiness. In order to do so, the controllers-when conditioning people-erased the truth like the basic knowledge of the world such as science and history and injected a