Consumerism In Brave New World

"Money doesn't buy happiness." The famous saying has been thrown around time and time again to reiterate that purchasing and obtaining objects does not equate to real joy and fulfillment. In the Pixar movie, The Lorax, the Onceler is obsessed with producing his product, the thneed. Producing thneeds causes harm to his relationship with the Lorax and changes his emotions. The once-poor Onceler becomes addicted to profiting and beams joyfully at his newfound richness. However, he soon realizes his fulfillment isn't real and doesn't last. Despite having "everything", the Onceler is not truly happy. Similar ideas are portrayed in Brave New World as the dystopian society worships the concept of consumerism and production. Like the Onceler's feelings

Soma is a drug that makes people feel happy and eliminates any feelings of sadness. One goal of the World State is for everyone to be joyous. Soma is highly advertised, and officials remind the people that "there is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon" (Huxley 55-56). Using soma takes the user on a "soma holiday" where they can escape anywhere and feel calm and collected. With no adverse side effects, the drug becomes highly addictive, and people build a reliance on it. This reliance is what the World State strives to achieve to keep consumption at an all-time high. The more people consume, the more they must produce, which supplies jobs to the ever-growing population. Lenina demonstrates her love for the drug when she and Bernard attend a wrestling match. Bernard is in a gloomy mood all afternoon. In order to get him out of this state, Lenina says to Bernard, "why don't you take soma when you have these dreadful ideas of yours. You'd forget all about them. And instead of feeling miserable, you'd be jolly. So jolly" (Huxley 92). Soma removes any negative emotions and replaces them with artificial happiness. Having soma regularly available at any given moment and constantly pressured upon oneself by officials encourages the citizens to abandon free thinking and negative emotion altogether. The push of this drug in support of consumerism causes the people of the World State to lose control of their authentic emotions and feelings because they ditch them for the artificial feeling of bliss soma brings them. Brad Congdon agrees with these ideas. Congdon believes that consumerism distracts from genuine emotions and religion. He argues that "consumerism arguably has taken priority and we pursue a kind of instant