Strong and Obvious Medium of Authority

              The life of any Alpha in the future is not an easy one. Even with the society being concentrated on making the lives of every person nice, organized, stable and civilized. The need for a change in lives creates a need and demand for drugs and as the world has developed different drugs were tested as I mentioned during the war. In order to maintain the balance a new drug was created called soma, “if ever by some unlucky chance such a crevice of time should yawn in the solid substance of their distractions, 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” (41). This drug seems to the supreme creation in society and a great stabilizers and the solution to all of the problems in society. I think that it is interesting to analyze and explore the values and the symbolism behind the soma and what is its true purpose besides drugging everyone?

               Soma is a very regularly used drug in society by all Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons. Bernard is the only character known that is never said to use soma and there are many legends about him, “People said of him that he could have got through life without ever touching soma” (61). The amount of ways in which this drug can be taken is almost infinite, the amount of ways that soma can be taken is a result of the amount of technologies that have been created over time, “He put away the soma bottle, and taking out a packet of sex-hormone chewing-gum, stuffed a plug into his cheek and walked slowly away towards the hangars, ruminating” (62). All of these subjects contain soma and are the basis of society working. The amount of ways in which soma can be taken allow any group in society to take it and maintain their stability and the stability of society. The drug seems to show the imperfection of society and how actually the society is imperfect and is only held together by the fact that all the people living in it are under the influence of soma.

               Soma appears multiple times throughout the novel and has a different usage every time. When soma is used the person under the influence as in the case of any drug goes to happy place and becomes more stable in their mind. When Lenina comes back from her visit to the reservation, she needs to take soma to overcome the stress and the cruelty that she has seen, showing the true weakness of the Alpha members in society, “As soon as they got back to the resthouse, she swallowed six half-gramme tablets of soma, lay down on her bed, and within ten minutes had embarked for lunar eternity. It would be eighteen hours at the least before she was in time again” (167). Soma also becomes the difference between the civilized world and the savages living in the reservation. The difference between these two cultures is shown when Linda thinks about her return to the civilized part of the world. “And Linda, for her part, had no desire to see them. The return to civilization was for her the return to soma, was the possibility of lying in bed and taking holiday after holiday” (178). The soma seems to be the difference between the cultures and for the civilized people every time a feeling becomes strong they take soma to lose it, while in the savages the feelings stay strong and dominant, which reduces the need for soma to kill the feelings and maintain peace in society.

               Soma is also used to calm down the lower classes in society, when the conflict with the savage in the city arises soma is used to calm down people. “Two minutes later the Voice and the soma vapor had produced their effect. In tears, the Deltas were kissing and hugging one another-half a dozen twins at a time in a comprehensive embrace” (184). The multiple uses of soma create a question of the actual stability of society and how the society only maintains peace through drugging members of the society. Soma seems to increase in the importance of meaning with every part of the novel. I think that soma will prove to be a changing factor in society and actually be the base for the survival and expansion of the society.