Government Control In Brave New World

When government control is the force that surrounds society, there is no chance for one to be happy and free in life; forced to be oblivious to the truth. During the conception of the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, the Industrial Revolution led to the invention of the assembly line by Henry Ford. Minimizing worker skills and subjecting employees to unsafe labor conditions and long work hours. The First World War had just ended, and tensions were once again at a boiling point. The world was on the brink of World War II. Huxley satirizes the rise of authoritarian governments such as Nazi Germany and Italy to show elements of an authoritarian government, eugenics, and a New World order taking the front stage. The perception of a Brave

Caitrin Nicol in her academic journal (2007) recounts critiques of novels over the past years where one reviewer states:“But we are shocked - more, I think, than we ought to be - by the idea of molding people scientifically instead of allowing them to grow. We have a notion that we can choose what we will be, and that we should not wish to be robbed of this choice by scientific manipulators drugging us before we are born, giving us electric shocks in infancy, and whispering platitudes to us throughout our childhood(2007)”.The review of the novel is outraged by Huxley's depiction of a society where the government, a force installed to protect its people, roams behind the shadows depriving its people of freedom. In countries like the United States, freedom is highly valued as Americans search for a government that protects them yet allows them to have the freedom to make their own choices. With the reviews of Brave New World, it is fair to say that its critics in the 20th century would not be able to wrap their minds around the reality of 2024. Huxley's depiction of the future was not too far off from the imagined World State as in the 21st century government control is all around us with social media and the advancement in technology. Soma is no longer a drug, but

With a social order where everyone belongs to everyone, these feelings that John harbors of the Old World, he is a martyr for his cause, dying at the end of suicide, ridding himself of the sin that society has cast on him, being boxed in by his morals. Somas drive society; it is the force that makes the Brave New World go round; without the drugs, society would crumble; pharmaceuticals are the way of life. By analyzing soma through a psychoanalytical lens Brave New World portrays soma users as unable to handle their emotions; they use soma as a crutch whenever their veil of society starts to fall. Schemer (2007) writes, “People have superficial friendships, but love relationships, let alone family relationships, are absent. Soma is an escape from unpleasant situations in reality; it produces only shallow feelings of well-being and no real happiness or fulfillment.” Soma is a shield from the reality of the world. People in society are hooked on this drug because a withdrawal from soma shows its users what life truly is; they have to feel all their emotions at once, something they have never experienced. Yet with Soma creating this artificial happiness, there is truly no way for a person to experience life. The main idea