Brave New Essay

Essay Prompt:  It seems undeniable that most World State members are happy, though people like John, Bernard, and Helmholtz might criticize the quality of their lives. What, then, is wrong with World State society? Discuss the relationship between truth and happiness, and the use of soma?

       In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley everyone in the World State is pretty much brainwashed. At a young age everyone is brought up the same way and are taught to think the same way. There are also classes to segregate each person in the World State. There are Alphas which are the highest class or the better people, Betas who are second best, Deltas, Gammas, and Epsilons. Now the Epsilons are the lowest class and of course no one really knows which is better or worse. Everyone is "happy" or so it seems, if they had a choice they wouldn't want to be ranked under that class. A few people of the World State that know more than they should and aren't happy with the life they have been told to lead would be Bernard, John, and Helmholtz.

      The World State society is a gloomy place, its a place where people are put in ranks and do not know which ranking is better than the other because they are all drugged up on pills they have to take that cancel out any emotion they would ever know. That drug is called soma. This is something that the people in the World State don't know that they are able to think for themselves if they didn't take soma and left the World State. Although if they try to find it the little bit of truth they know will be ripped away from them. By taking soma they know nothing more and it is just how they are programmed.

      Bernard is a complainer and never feels like he fits in. He always has to let people know it too. Bernard is short, chubby, and doesn't fit in with his friends. John and Helmholtz fit in perfectly with Bernard because they also feel like they do not belong in the World State. They feel like they know so much more than they should and every time they try to grasp it, it seems to fade away.

      Happiness is never actually there. It's a figment of their imagination and drugs. Everyone is told to believe the same thing and one of those things would be to believe they're happy. The World State is a gloomy place that a normal person would go crazy in. Everyone in the World State is actually really sad if they had the slightest ability to think for themselves.