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Jonathan Lee Melinda Splitek ELA 3-4 H November 6, 2013 Dying Young Applying a medical/scientific lens to Chapter 11 of Aldous Huxleys Brave New World, the drug soma given to Linda can be seen has a hallucinogen that puts her in a state of high and unawareness while decreasing her life span. Citizens of the World State are all prescribed these allowances of a hallucinogen called soma. This type of hallucinogen is specifically a dissociative, which according to a medical journal by John W. Pender, M.D. makes users [seem] disassociated from his [/her] environment, (Pender 46) causing them to not feel pain. When Linda is given this drug, its not necessarily to treat an y physical pain but to remedy the pain of emotions. Although Dr. Shaw claims that Lindas lifespan will be both shortened in one sense, he also says that in in another we're actually lengthening it, (Huxley NP) and by that he is wrong. According to the Nation Criminal Justice Reference Service, nearly 40 percent of deaths, which involve these types of drugs have people dying as early as ages between thirty and thirty-nine (NCJRS 2). It is sad that the people of the World State are subjects to such deception. They are dying young, thinking that they are actually living longer and they dont even know it; now Linda, Johns only family, is dying because of this deadly hallucinogen. While soma may increase the amount of productive hours that citizens of the World State, and people like Linda, have in life by putting them in an apathetic state of high, the true effects of them actually shorten their lives dramatically. The soma prescribed to Linda in Chapter 11 of Aldous Huxleys Brave New World, when viewed with a medical/scientific lens, is clearly seen as a deadly hallucinogen that not only drugs her up but decreases her lifespan.

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Works Cited Pender, John W. "Dissociative Anesthesia." Western Journal of Medicine (1972): 46-47. Print. "II. Americas Drug Abuse Profile." II. Americas Drug Abuse Profile. Nation Criminal Justice Reference Service, n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2013.