Soma in the novel was meant to reflect the society Huxley was living in. By using certain elements from society, he was able to show people within his time era what people have or could become.
Science as a means of control/totalitarian state
Around Huxley's time much brain and thinking research was being conducted. In Brave New World, this brain and thinking research that was happening during Huxley’s era is used to control the citizens of the community in the book. It took away people’s identity, individuality, and stability. This is done through the process of conditioning. Conditioning is a process in which you modify a person's response or reaction to an object or event. They use conditioning to meet the needs of the society in Brave New World. Huxley got this idea of conditioning from a man known as B.F. Skinner and Ivan Pavlov. Around the early 1900’s they were a huge deal because they came out with the research that animals could be conditioned to do what people wanted through constant training. Skinner conditioned them by using rewards when they did what he wanted, and punished them when they did not. It also could be used to associate things together such as pain with certain objects. While Pavlov conditioned dogs to drool a certain sound by associating that sound to food. Every time they got food he rang the bell
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Hypnopaedia was also becoming popular around the time Huxley wrote Brave New World. Hypnopaedia is the idea that someone can learn through repetition while he or she is asleep. Even though phrases and even long passages can be learned, that person has no way to understand what they have learned. This idea is shown in Brave New World by teaching the little children from lower castes their roles in society so they do not question their roles when they get older, they will know exactly how they fit in society even if they don't understand the full meaning and