Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

In the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, the novel begins in the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre where the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning (the D.H.C) is giving a tour of the Centre to a group of boys. The D.H.C explains to the boys the Bokanovsky’s Process and Podsnap’s Technique. Within the Hatchery, Lenina is talking to Fanny about how she is attracted to an Alpha named Bernard Marx. After work, Lenina accepts Bernards request to go to the Savage Reservations. Bernard then asks the Director if he was allowed to go to the Reservation. Eventually, the Director gives Bernard permission and he sets off to the Reservation with Lenina. When they reach the Reservation, Bernard and Lenina are sickened by the sight of

Bernard then invites John and Linda to go back to London with him and they accept. When they arrive, John becomes a star because he is a savage. Soon after, Linda dies. John quickly becomes disturbed by the society and tries to start a revolt by throwing the soma out the window, but it ends up being a riot. Bernard and Helmholtz quickly jump in to help John, but they are soon brought in to see Mustapha Mond. Soon after their encounter, John finds refuge in a lighthouse where he tries to cleanse himself of the World State but they find him. He wakes up the next morning realising what happened and hangs himself. The society described in the novel is similar to society today because, in Brave New World, the citizens take soma to make them calm and in the society that exists today, antidepressants are used in the same way. The society described in the novel is also different to today's society because, in Brave New World, the concept of family is frowned upon and is considered humiliating but in the society that exists today, a family is considered

In the novel, civilians take a drug called soma to create a calm mindset and to stay happy. In today's society, antidepressants are taken in the same context as soma. An example of this is, “Lenina felt herself entitled, after this day of queerness and horror, to a complete and absolute holiday. As soon as they got back to the rest-house, she swallowed six half-gramme tablets of soma, lay down on her bed, and within ten minutes had embarked for lunar eternity. It would be eighteen hours at the least before she was in time again.” (140). This quote shows that Lenina took soma to rid herself of the days horror in order to remain happy. This is similar to the society that exists today because antidepressants are usually used when one feels they are depressed or sad. Another example of this is, “Helmholtz and the Savage took to one another at once. So cordially indeed that Bernard felt a sharp pang of jealousy. In all these weeks he had never come to so close an intimacy with the Savage and Helmholtz immediately achieved. Watching them, listening to their talk, he found himself sometimes resentfully wishing that he had never brought them together. He was ashamed of his jealousy and alternately made efforts of will and took soma to keep himself from feeling it.” (182). This shows that Bernard took soma in order to not feel anything and to stay calm instead of feeling jealousy.