In the book Brave New World, Aldous Huxley uses a scene that describes Lenina and Henrys experience at a club party to comment on their society, and (more subtly) the readers as well. This scene takes place in the second half of chapter five and depicts the club scene, the two characters use of soma, and the drugged activities they resort to for happiness and entertainment. This drug use, which may seem a bit extreme to the reader, provides insight to the characters acceptance of the drugged, controlling society, and at the same time causes the reader to reflect on the level of drug acceptance in his or her own society.
In our society we are taught that, morally, it is not a good thing to be reliant on drugs and use them regularly. Henry and Lenina have not had the same conditioning however, made clear by their relaxed acceptance of the drug soma, and little (or no) concern at their heavy use and reliance they demonstrate in this scene. This reveals how they have been so easily conditioned by their society to have morals that any logical reader would say are bad.
This characterization of Henry and Lenina serves a more important purpose at the same time, however, that is often not obvious to the reader at the time. After serious contemplation (or even sometime not until a long while after reading the book) the reader may realize this scene makes a powerful point about our need for drugs in the current world. This point that it makes is far more meaningful this way because it is the reader who comes to the conclusion. Had Huxley come right out and say how it related to the real world, the reader would not feel as much ownership in the connection, and therefore not have the same interest.
Aldous Huxleys imaginary drug soma proves to be the perfect example to make his point on current society because it is similar enough to current drugs that it is relatable, but it is also just extreme enough to push the readers comfort level and induce a questioning of the characters morals. Huxley does an excellent job at making these characters dependency on soma seem unacceptable by our standards, without making it seem unrealistic. This capability to make the reader relate, and then question the very thing to which they could relate, is what draws out further thought and questioning of ones personal actions and morals.
The scene begins when Henry and Lenina have a meal at the dining hall before heading to the club. Here they each take a few grammes of soma with their meal. Later, at the club, they take even more soma, and join in the festivities once the soma has kicked in. In these ways, soma is very similar to alcohol. They use soma in the same way a couple may have a few glasses of wine with dinner or a few beers before going out for the night. Later, at the club, their use of soma again mirrors the way people in our current society would drink this time as a form of entertainment and/or a way to loosen up and party at a bar or a night out on the town.
As the scene progresses Huxley goes into a long description of the music in the club through Henry and Leninas altered state of mind. Rich with a wealth of harmonics, their tremulous chorus mounted towards a climax, louder and ever louderuntil at last, with a wave of his hand, the conductor let loose the final shattering note of ether-music a faintly whispered dominant chord lingered on (while the five-four rhythms still pulsed below) charging the darkened seconds with an intense expectancy there was a sudden explosive sunrise and so on. Though Huxley does not out-rightly state it, the reader can infer that the soma has caused considerable hallucination through how absorbed the two characters are in the music and visual representation of the music.
This description of somas effects is considerably similar to the effects of other drugs in our society such as marijuana, shrooms, acid, or salvia that cause a mental high and (sometimes) hallucination. The numb and warm feelings associated with soma, described later, make it seem almost comparable to cocaine or heroine as well. Lenina and Henry were yet dancing in another world the warm, the richly coloured, the infinitely friendly world of soma - holiday. How kind, how good-looking, how delightfully amusing every one was!
Because soma begins to take on the characteristics of more serious drugs, and yet the characters in the book are remain as unconcerned with its use as before, the reader then realizes that these people lack the ability to judge what is ok drug use and what is not. This questioning, though, is where the deeper connection can be made about Huxleys commentary on our own society. What reader may realize is that Huxley is trying to get the reader to ask him or herself: if something as bad as soma could be so easily accepted by people simply because their society has conditioned them to accept it, is it possible that our acceptance of drugs like alcohol as a normal part of life is really just as ridiculous but we dont see that because we have been conditioned by our society in the same way?
Further thought on this may lead the reader to contemplate the effects and consequences of socially accepted drugs (like alcohol) and socially condemned drugs (like marijuana) and the differenced between them. The beautifully crafted example of soma shows that a drug can fit the description of a socially accepted drug like alcohol, yet can have serious consequences, which are usually only associated with hard-core and bad drugs. This blurring of the line between good and bad drugs can, again, be eye opening to the reader in regards to what our society conditions us to believe. Once the reader comes to the conclusion that there is no clear distinction (other than societys view), he or she may realize that just because a drug is socially acceptable it does not mean it cant be as destructive (or even more destructive) than some socially condemned drugs.
On the surface, this scene characterizes Henry and Lenina as two people who are accepting and unwary of their over controlling society. It sets the atmosphere for how the people of the World State choose to have fun and socially interact. It simply demonstrates one of the main topics of the book: how a futuristic society could be so controlling and brainwashing that the people lose the ability to make their own judgments on moral topics (such as drug use). Yet on a more serious level this scene is part of the foundation for the less obvious theme of the book: that this futuristic society is less of a fairy tale and rather more of a warning about problems (such as not having the ability to make ones own decisions on moral topics due to societys conditioning) that already exist.
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