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Addiction In Brave New World

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Drug and alcohol addictions are severe, yes, but other addictions including shopping, exercise, gambling, internet, abusive relationships, and many others often do not take the spotlight and are also unhealthy. With the increased awareness about addictions in our world today, its effects are a growing concern for future generations. The word ‘addiction’ does not only apply to substance and alcohol abuse. Recently the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (D.S.M.), the standard reference work for psychiatric illnesses, announced [in the last decade] updated definitions of substance abuse and addiction, including a new category of behavioral addictions (Markel).'' Although substance addictions are accompanied by a variety of …show more content…
This idea is exemplified and explored in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World where the characters in the World State are deeply addicted to a substance, similarly to people in today’s society. The addicts of soma often remind others how “a gramme is better than a damn (Huxley).” This reveals that the drug replaces all human emotions, and are a better alternative than exploring an individual's feelings. Behaviors people were addicted to in Brave New World include: sex, working, and power; this is similar to the modern world’s addictions to shopping, gambling, and technology. As seen today and in Brave New World, people develop addictions to numb their emotions, feeling in control. Drugs and compulsive behaviors are reliable because they will never let one down. Unlike people, who and uncontrollable and often unreliable, substances and compulsions will always be there to …show more content…
Heroin, Marijuana, Methamphetamine, to name a few, are all highly addictive, different drugs. An addict in today’s market has many options because the drug scene is much more vast and diverse than one single substance. Not only is the ‘menu’ bigger, but a person is not limited to just one option, adding another complex layer into the equation. If there was only one single “soma” in the modern world, treatment could possibly have greater success, and be easier to diagnose. As majority of the behavioral addictions in Brave New World were brought on from governmental conditioning, behavioral addictions seen in individuals today are brought upon individually, with no external conditioning. The conditioning and conformity comforts people the same way drugs and alcohol would. The individuals in the World State fail to view one another holistically, focusing on only one’s caste and ____. They are so addicted to their own personal way of life, unable to feel empathy for others of differing castes. Early on in the novel, Lenina states, “I'm really awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard (Huxley).” Then she begins to judge the other classes, believing that “Gammas are stupid,” and how she could never “want to play with Delta children (Huxley).” Lenina was raised with the mindset that there is a “right” and a “wrong” way to

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