Brave New World- First Reading

Equality or conformity is created through the use of SOCIAL equality. Even before birth, some children are created to look identical and each one is conditioned to have one specific role in society that he or she will grow up to fulfill. Huxley writes, "'And that,' put in the Director sententiously, 'that is the secret of happiness and virtue-liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their inescapable social destiny'" (16). This explains that the goal of conditioning is to make people perfect for a certain job, and no other job, thus controlling the equality and social destiny of each child.
Individual rights, religion, and relationships have been controlled extensively through the use of the caste system. The Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon are the five castes, and everyone must stay with their own caste. Relationships are confined to your caste, thus defining who you talk to and who you can be with. Conflict has been severely reduced as the World State has eliminated religion, and it has also taken away many individual rights, such as independent thought. Fanny says, "'And then he spends most of his time by himself-alone’” (24), showing that independent thought is frowned upon and even punishable.
The society in Brave New World is clearly a dystopia because of the use of Soma. Although the people are happy and have many leisure activities, the quality of life isn't valued very highly. People take a drug called Soma, which produces a sense of relaxation and contentment within the brain. The use of this drug ultimately highlights the fact that the World State is a dystopia. Everyone takes this to feel relaxed, the fact that they have to take it shows that there are flaws in the World State. The society created seems unpleasant and possibly even problematic. In chapter 3 the controller says this about soma: "All of the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects"  (54). This talk of soma as a substitute for religion makes it seem as if problems could occur later, and while a utopian society seems apparent now, a dystopia is sure to form as the plot unfolds.