I've been thinking about the importance of soma in the book Brave New World and how it seems to relate to our own ideas of fun and entertainment. Soma is basically the World State's idea of manipulating a person's desire of fun. Most people in Brave New World seem to suffer in depression which is always relieved by the constant dosage of soma. Soma itself in Latin means "sleep." Calming the depressed citizens by putting them in a calm distracted state that they believe is entertainment. It sort of relates to our own real life drugs.
Now I've never taken drugs before in my life but the effects of what soma seem to be correlates to "marijuana."It allows the person to forget their own life and put into a deep distracted space. Drugs are often used by people to forget about their own troubles but in our world it's discouraged to take it to forget your own problems instead of facing it. However in Brave New World, people are encouraged to take it. In fact, soma is the number one product in consumption. This shows many people are unhappy with their own lives. The World State tries to hide their unhappiness by making them feel like they are happy but in reality they are not.
Everyone in the book Brave New World can't see what's really wrong with their society because they are trapped by their happiness. Their willingness to take soma whenever they are unhappy creates a trap that the citizens can never escape until they get rid of their own addictions. By reading about this I've thought about how we ourselves are sometimes trapped by our own happiness.
What's your happiness? A Squad Assemble!
Don't think about marijuana. I mean, yes, THC is a compound that pacifies people, but although it is widely used, it certainly is not UNIVERSALLY used. MOST people do not smoke weed.
ReplyDeleteThink instead of what Postman says on page 111: "Although Huxley did not specify that television would be our main line to the drug [of technological diversion], he would have no difficulty accepting Robert MacNeil's observaton that 'Television is the soma of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.' Big Brother turns out to be Howdy Doody."
For your generation, it is something else. Probably social media. But television prepared our culture for the onslaught of internet diversion.
I find enjoyment in plenty of activities and things; additionally, my top three are technology, nature, and company. I can't seem to find a medium between the three, and I usually prefer to have one of them at a time.
ReplyDeleteFor technology, I seem to use it on a daily basis and seem to rely on it to be entertained. It holds interests and entertainment for anyone. Everyone in the world can definitely find something that interests or entertains them on the internet; additionally, phones are close to basically being considered a need if you notice how often we actually use the phone. People are basically on their phones the whole day and checking on it every five minute.
Company includes friends and family. My relatives are very close to one another. If you count everyone, there would be more than thirty people alive (some are in Vietnam). As I grew in this family, my cousins and I seem to treat each other more like friends and we use each other for entertainment.
Friends, on the other hand, are definitely more fun to be around for me. I love messing with them and their reactions are always entertaining. They're fun to be around and this is definitely my preferable choice of entertainment.
Nature is definitely the best entertainment of all for me. It may not be my most preferable, but the moments in nature are definitely the best. As I went camping once with my cousin's family, I seem to not be able to sleep. I exited my tent and just laid on the hillside and just stared at the stars. That was definitely the most relaxing kind of entertainment I have ever done. It cleared my mind and I felt like I was on top of the world. Nature sounds would ring in my head and I was in complete peace. I have never had a better moment in my life.
Although these are my top three choices to obtain happiness, I hate putting them together. I can't seem to blend them to be any happier in a certain situation. It seems they're distinctively different. I prefer technology when I'm alone and bored, and I seem to rely on it the most daily. However, it definitely brings less happiness than the other two. Company is more entertaining and exciting to be around. You can easily have a good time by talking to people close to you. You don't need technology to have a good time with friends and family. Lastly, you don't need anything at all for nature. Once you feel relaxed and at peace, it really doesn't matter what is happening around you. It's a totally different place, a better place. To conclude, there are many forms of happiness and they could be found anywhere. There should never be a reason for you to give up your life and mess it up for the future just to be happy for a small moment.
I find that I too run away from my problems to a place where I feel happy. For example, if I have a lot of work I have to do, I soothe myself with the ivory keys. I can go into a sort of trance and spend an easy hour wasting my time, and when I stop, I stress even more because I have work to do. The cognitive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (wonderful name, by the way) suggests that when we do activities we love, we sort of lose consciousness. We have such a feeling of focus, peace, and clarity inside that we lose track of the time and space around us, and I am totally guilty of this, as I am sure everyone is.
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