2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

zip! She stepped out of her shorts. He now has an unexpected engagement” (p.143). Furthermore, Huxley’s use of repetitive couplets of the word zip is onomatopoeic and imitates the rhythmic, almost melodic sound of zippers, reflecting the rhythm experienced in sexual intimacy and further heightens the idea of consumption. Soma, the perfect feel-good hallucinant is the most prominent example of consumerism-based happiness promoted with sayings of “a gramme is better than a damn,” and “one cubic centimetre cures ten gloomy sentiments”. To avoid negative emotions, or to “take a holiday from reality like” (p.46), citizens are encouraged to take a “soma holiday”. Such mass-produced products give citizens a perceived fake happiness providing a distraction from the unpleasant truths of life. This is recognised when the World State Controller, Mustapha Mond, states “one cant’s have something for nothing. Happiness has got to be paid for” (p.201), and as portrayed in the novel, the cost of this perpetual happiness is great. By denying citizens unpleasant emotions, they also deny deeply joyous emotions too. Huxley uses John the savage to demonstrate his disapproval of baseless human happiness. After observing citizens of the World State and their soma-taking habits, he concluded that this drug is a tool used by the government for social control and further traps citizens into their way of life as it sedates, calms and most importantly, distracts them from realising the flaws within their society. Eventually, John breaks down and proclaims to the Controller that he would rather have all of the unpleasantries of life and feel true emotions, than the fake happiness the citizens of the World State have: “‘But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.’ ‘In fact,” said Mustapha Mond, ‘you’re claiming the right to be unhappy.’ ‘All right, then,’ said the Savage defiantly, ‘I’m claiming the right to be unhappy’” (p.212). Thus, it is evident that the character of John and his defiance to take soma is used to highlight the dangers of finding baseless ‘happiness’ in consumeristic products.

This concept of perceived false happiness versus the realities is further perpetuated through the use of pathetic fallacy in which the weather represents the dichotomy between the false happiness of the citizens of the World State and the reality of their situation. The World State uses screens to project

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