Happiness or Freedom? Which is More Important?

One of the underlying themes in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, is whether it is more important to be free or to be happy. In this dystopian society, people are mass produced to do a specific task, and at a young age scientists condition them into wanting to do these tasks. In doing so, they lose their freedom to think for themselves. The few characters that do think for themselves, don't appear to be happy. This raises the question of "Is it better to be free or to be happy?"

Throughout the book the citizens take soma, a drug that gives them a sense of happiness, whenever they are feeling any type of negative emotions. The drug gives the user a high that allows user to take a short break from reality. People take this pill so often, it becomes a part of their routine, and find it frightening to live without it. The government gives the citizens these pills as a way of keeping social order and keeping the citizens from feeling any negative human emotions. This makes it so that everybody is happy, but don't realize what is going on. John throws a bunch of soma out the window after his mom dies but he is clearly upset. This example shows that those who don't constantly take soma, have the freedom to think for themselves, however they feel these negative human emotions like sadness, anger, and regret. So, would rather be under the constant affects of soma, or live with the freedom to think for yourself?

Kaleb Stephenson