Addiction In Brave New World

Addiction is a large problem in today’s world much like it is in Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World. Though both societies have addiction in them, it is encouraged and accepted in the novel whereas in today’s world it is strongly discouraged and not accepted. Soma, the narcotic in Brave New World, is consumed by all characters when times in their lives get tough. Soma is also a death conditioning device, provided by the leaders of the “utopian” town, the drug causes everyone to die before they become old. In the novel, the characters see old as being weird and not normal, this concept could in a way connect to the real world in the sense that young people see elderly people as odd and see only that they have wrinkles and are going to die soon rather than realizing how much life they have lived. In Brave New World, the people view old as being not normal, “They're well off; they're safe; they're never ill; they're not afraid of death; they're blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they're plagued with no mothers or fathers; they've got no wives, or children, or lovers to feel strongly

“Christianity without tears, that’s what soma is” (Huxley 238). The society sees no harm in using soma, “all the advantages of alcohol and Christianity; none of their defects” (Huxley 54). Much like the addicts in today’s society, they only see the advantages of the drug they are abusing. Soma allows the characters to escape pain, embarrassment, sadness, or anger and enhance happiness, “you look glum! What you need a gramme of soma”(Huxley 60). Lenina the protagonist of the novel depends highly on soma to blur her sadness and hard times, “Her tears began to flow again. ‘I suppose John told you. What I had to suffer - and not a gramme of soma to be had. Only a drink of mescal every now and then, when Pope used to bring it’”(Huxley