Soma In Brave New World

In the novel, Brave New World, soma is a drug meant to escape emotions like pain, sadness, and depression. The drug represents the overall well-being of people, so they are always happy and content. In modern society, alcohol functions as soma-like, distorting your reality and making you forget your problems. Another parallel to soma is the societal pressure to drink from advertisements to social pressure. Similarly, the government of Brave New World pushes the usage of soma intensely and the people feel this pressure to consume this drug. In the article, “Why the drinking age should be lowered: An opinion based upon research” by Ruth C. Engs, Professor of Applied Health Sciences at Indiana University, states the legal drinking age should

The main argument of Laura Dean-Mooney is that the 21 law saves lives because the number of people killed in crashes since the law was enacted has been cut in half. The number of crashes “ has been cut in half, from more than 5,000 individuals in the early 1980s to around 2,000 in 2005”(Dean Mooney 5). Another argument made was that the effects of alcohol are magnified when a teenager’s brain is still developing, “alcohol negatively affects all parts of the brain, include cognitive and decision-making abilities as well as coordination and memory”(Dean-Mooney 9). Dean-Mooney implies that since the legal drinking age has been 21, this law is the most studied in history. She highlights that scientific studies found the 21-year-old law saves lives on and off the road. Dean-Mooney emphasizes the public agrees that “72 percent of adults think that lowering the drinking age would make alcohol more accessible to kids”(Dean-Mooney 3). Another claim of the author it that lowering the drinking age would put more responsibility on the parents and educators. Additionally, she claims that lowering the drinking age would have dangerous long- term effects. Early adolescent drinkers are, “more susceptible to alcoholism”(Dean-Mooney 10). Overall the main argument of this essay is that the drinking age should stay the same because drunk driving crashes have lowered since the 21 law was enacted and young adults brains are still developing during this