![]() The use of soma essentially offers comfort but in the expensive of individuality and freedom and if you had to pick, would you choose constant happiness and essentially ignorance or would you choose individuality knowing that you won’t be happy all the time? In our society, nobody is constantly happy however if those of BNW stopped taking soma and had a sense of freedom I don’t think they’d be able to cope. ![]() Perhaps, we have just misjudged the use of Soma and judged it too harshly when in fact, it is like the use of alcohol. However, after that we are back to reality, whereas the use of soma is different because the happiness they feel is essentially their reality. Does the NZ government taxing alcohol play a part in the control they have over us as a society in a way that the use of Soma does? People use alcohol because it is potentially a means to make them happy, or a way for them to forget their personal issues for a while and the government knows this and knows they can benefit from it so that’s why they have chosen to legalise and continue legalising alcohol purchase and usage.Īlthough use of alcohol as a drug is not forced in the way that Soma is, it is still used in a similar way because it creates happiness and in the moment of use, discards problems for a night or a few hours. Thinking about Soma in contrast with alcohol and other prescribed drugs creates questions of whether our society is completely free from government control or not? As a society majority of us consume alcohol because we enjoy the effects it has on the body and brain such as feelings of increased self-confidence, happiness, euphoria and even relaxation, however although both we as a consumer and the government knows alcohol has serious negative implications, including death, the government is more than happy benefiting from taxing the purchase of alcohol. Contrastingly, the disgrace we have for the usage of Soma when reading BNW could almost be hypocritical because majority of us young hooligans readily consume alcohol through our binge drinking culture which despite what we want to think, is one of the most harmful drugs there is. Soma’s success is not in its consumption, but through the hope, pleasure and “vision of another, better world” (32) it offers to those who use it and the government of Brave New World has intertwined control and pleasure into one therefore showing the success Soma has. Realistically, if we had the option to have no bad thoughts and constant, although fake happiness through using a drug, I wonder how many people would use it? ![]() It is almost impossible that anyone in our society would agree with a system of government that uses chemical intoxication as a means of control however those in Brave New World such as Lenina, Foster and the others seem very content with using Soma and discarding their issues and problems. In Huxley’s words, the use of Soma is “The systematic drugging of individuals for the benefit of the state” (34) and is used to make people in BNW happy. The government of Brave New World makes control synonymous with pleasure through the use of the drug Soma and it is quite horrifying to read when you think about what would happen if our government in NZ tried to control us through drug use.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |