Noah Todd

Ms. Okeefe
English IV
3 April 2017

A Imperfect Utopia

A utopia: a perfect world where everything is right. No crime, no injustice, and only
happiness. Every societys goal is to reach a utopia; however, the status has never been achieved
in reality. In Huxleys novel, Brave New World, he describes a utopia in the form of the World
State. This utopia uses conditioning and soma to obtain their perception of happiness. However,
the World State isnt a perfect world. Many problems arise as a result of conditioning and soma.
The World State conditions its people to create a perfect society. The citizens must
abide by the World States ideology. No it really wont do. And you know how strongly the
D.H.C. objects to anything intense or long-drawn (Huxley 41). This quote shows how people in
the World State are forced to conform into what the government wants. Bernard Marx also
echoes how citizens feel the need to conform to the government ideology. Bernard started and
looked horrified. What would the Controller think? (Huxley 218). This surfaces how Bernard
cares about what the Controllers perception of him. The World Controllers create a society,
through conditioning, where the people must abide to their norms.
Soma is a major tool used by the World State to keeps its people happy. Throughout the
novel when citizens are confronted with a conflict they takes Soma to suppress their problems.
Why dont you take soma when you have these dreadful ideas of yours (Huxley 92). This
shows how citizens of the World State take Soma to avoid any emotion other than happiness. The
World State controls its people through the dependency they have on soma. The pill plays such
an important role in society that it is compared to religion. Christianity without tears-thats
what soma is (Huxley 238). The lives of the World State are sustained through soma, which the
World State uses to become self-sustaining.
The World State, in Huxleys novel, successfully made a complacent society; however,
failed to make a perfect society. In the World State the citizens are unaccustomed to books and
science. This makes the people unfamiliar with anything outside their own realm. So, when John
arrives at the World State he brings a new perspective of life. A perfect world to John is one with
books, science, and true love. However, the people of the World State are too blind to see
anything more than what they have, due to soma and conditioning.
A perfect society is very hard to obtain. Their is many different perspectives on a utopia
based on values and virtues. The World State tried to obtain a perfect society by using
conditioning and soma. However, they only bred conformity not happiness.