Drugs are Reality
The book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a twisted fantasy of the future created by Huxely himself. In the book, Huxley uses many different themes to help describe and show the different meanings of technology, individualism, and happiness of the society in Brave New World. One theme used was the dependency of drugs. The State sets to provide all the drugs the citizens can possibly need. Through out the book, a character named Lenina Crowne shows how much she depends on drugs to get rid of any emotions she feels due to a conflict.
Lenina faced many conflicts with a character in the book named Bernard Marx. On one of their dates, Bernard stops the helicopter to look at the water over the Channel. She continued in another tone, why you dont take soma when you have these dreadful ideas of yours (Huxley 92). She also describes soma as being jolly. This scenario is the beginning of showing Leninas dependency on drugs and her expectations of others needing the same dependencies as her. So because Bernard does not depend on soma he is considered an individual in his eyes but an outsider to society. Soma can be considered almost like a religion that is being used to keep the citizens in their place.
On another date with Bernard, Lenina and him both go on a trip to New Mexico. This new and different discovery was weird for them to see because in their community they do not age. Lenina and Bernard also watched a community celebration that involved a man whipping himself. Lenina, so horrified from what she saw, reached into her pocket to use some soma but realized that she left it at the rest-house. She is so confused and terrified that Lenina starts to panic. Lenina was left to face the horrors of Malpais unaided (111). For Lenina to see woman breast feeding their babies and families gathered around to watch, it just made her more disgusted. In the State Lenina lives in, families and emotions like love and relationships are prohibited and prevented. In order for Lenina to be happy she depends on her soma to help her get her through the day without any emotions that will give her pain and sorrow. However, because she forgot her soma, she had to suffer through the ceremony and all the horrible thoughts that came to her mind.
When Lenina and Bernard returned from the community celebration at the Reservation, Lenina feels that she deserves a soma-holiday that will force her body to sleep for about eighteen hours so that she can gain all her energy back. As soon as they got back to the rest-house, she swallowed six half-gramme tablets of soma (140). From all the blood, whipping, and torture she saw at the celebration, Lenina started to endured some sad emotions. In order to rejuvenate herself, she went on a soma-holiday. Lenina was so confused with this different celebration because she never thought that there was a place so different from the conditioning and rules that she obeys back in London. The State purposely sets up society to where everyone is always busy with something and so that the citizens are never alone or sidetracked from what they were occupied with. The use of drugs shows that the citizens and Lenina take soma for the immediate satisfaction that they desire.
Even though Lenina depends on soma just like everyone else in the State, she still is considered to be an odd woman because of the fact that she normally dates only one person at a time. After being obsessed with Bernard, she turned her focus to the newcomer named John. On her way down to the twenty-seventh floor she pulled out her soma bottle. One gramme, she decided, would not be enough; hers had been more than a one-gramme affliction (171). This event took place at the end of John and Leninas first date. Lenina is in total shock and dumbfounded that John refuses to have sex with her.
Lenina is truly crushed by Johns actions because she was conditioned the only way she knew how to show her love for someone and this is through sex. She compromised and , into her cupped left palm, shook out three half-gramme tablets (171). So because Lenina felt so crushed by Johns refusal she, without any thought, used her soma to get over the heart break she had just endured.
As the story continues, John keeps on rejecting Lenina to having sex with her because he wants to love her in a different way than Lenina is conditioned to do. Lenina has reached her boiling point and now can not stop thinking about him. She is determined to show John her love whether he likes it or not, so she pays a visit to Johns place. One thing holding her back is her fear of what John will think and how he will react to her actions. Half a gramme had been enough to make Lenina forget her fears and embarrassments (189). Once again, Lenina depends on her soma to calm her down and to accomplish what she intended to complete when going to Johns place.
When Lenina feels any kind of an emotion due to a conflict, she depends on her soma to take away these feelings. Lenina is the prime example of the struggles the citizens of the State go through on a daily basis and how they depend on drugs to help them make it through the day. For the people in the State, drugs is an escape and the main solution to any problem. Though, who is someone to say that what these citizens are doing is wrong when from birth they are conditioned to not know any other way? This question constantly asked by Huxley is trying to make others think about their own society and the rules that they have to obey by on a daily basis.
Already have an account? Log In Now
4897