Brave New World Individualism Essay

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The dystopian novel Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, explores a totalitarian future in which individualism is sacrificed for the community of the World State. Set in A.F. 632, the human race is being controlled by global capitalism through scientific advancements, resulting in both happy, mindless citizens, and a society unknown to war and hunger. The government strives for a utopian society, focusing on three important values, “Community, Identity, Stability” (1). The state of stability, specifically, is a value constantly sought by the government. To achieve this, individualistic traits that define a human being including religion, age, and monogamy were eradicated. It also marked the beginning of the caste system, social conditioning, and particularly, the use of soma. Despite the fetal conditioning and …show more content…
Instead, they teach their citizens to rely on soma as a supplement to alleviate unpleasant feelings. Soma is a "Euphoric, narcotic, pleasantly hallucinant" distributed by the government, attempting to provide citizens an escape from momentary stress, mental pain, or dissatisfactions (46). In reality though, it is only capable of producing a temporary, false cloud of happiness that covers the negative, yet genuine, emotions. It is simply another method to control the population, eliminating individualism and distracting them from questioning what is wrong within the “perfect” world.
A major theme in Brave New World is community over individualism. In the government’s eyes, social stability is only achieved if happiness is maintained, even if it means transforming human beings into mindless drones. In our modern society, alcohol and marijuana serve similar purposes, despite the fact that soma has zero side effects and is far more controlling of one’s mind. While alcohol in our culture is commonly consumed for
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