Jordan Burnett, Rebekah Christian, Ummey Karim, Khadija Samuel, Anne Torres #2 AP Essay Brave New World by Aldous

Huxley 1970. Choose a work of recognized literary merit in which a specific inanimate object (e.g., a seashell, a handkerchief, a painting) is important, and write an essay in which you show how two or three of the purposes the object serves are related to one another. There is a fine line between order and chaos, and setting a society in a homeostasis state can often seem impossible. Aldous Huxley creates soma in his novel Brave New World in a successful attempt at forming a bliss dystopia. Soma is used to exemplify the powerful influence of science and technology, and the incompatibility of reason and emotion. The use of soma in a civilization on the other hand, illustrates how bureaucracy can control society in order to create a perfect world. Science and technology are the most important aspects of an advance society. However, when taken advantage of, science can be used as a mechanism for control instead of a progressive tool. Science is usually talked about in context with making new discoveries, finding new ways to make life easier, and most importantly finding truth, but in Brave New World its the complete opposite. The government believes science is the ultimate path to truth but manipulates it so that science becomes a way to eliminate the quest for truth. Mustapha Mond a presidential figure in the novel says Science is dangerous; we have to keep it most carefully muzzled. (pg 225) The truth sets people apart because, if someone wants answers, they must have questions. Questions and answers are the minds nourishment; and, when the mind is nourished it can be very difficult to control. Man cannot physically survive without two things: his heart and his brain. In life, the brain symbolizes the mind, which controls a persons ability to reason and make logical

decisions, and the heart symbolizes the keeper of all things emotional and sentimental. Soma was used to amplify the belief that truth and happiness cannot co-exist in a healthy society because the brain is the ruler of order while the heart is the ruler of chaos. When you combine a negative with a positive, the negative becomes dominate, forming negative matter. In order to form a healthy positive society, soma was created to control both the mind and emotions. In the novel when a person wasnt at ease and felt worried they were told to take a gramme of soma. They would then go on holiday which really meant they were so high off of soma they couldnt think or feel anything. 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; returning whence they find themselves on the other side of the crevice, safe on the solid ground of daily labour and distraction. (pg 56) The people in the novel believed that soma would make them happy but in actuality the drug only clouded their mind and put them in a trance so that it would seem like they were happy. If a person cant feel or think freely they are susceptible to control. Manipulating science, technology, the mind, and ones emotions by the means of soma created a perfect world, one where people dont think on their own, feel true love and happiness, or learn about all the wonders of the world.