Video

After watching the RSA video I would like to make a couple comparisions with it to Brave New World. First off i noticed the parallel between the drugs Ritalin which are given to kids with ADHD and soma which the charatcers take in the novel. Ritalin is a drug that is given to children who have ADHD which does not allow them to focus very much in the classroom. In Brave New World soma is a pill that is provided to everyone in their society and is encouraged to be taken. It is a pill that allows you to escape from reality and take a "holiday" sort to say. When the kids can not focus the doctors proscribe drugs such as Ritalin whcih helps keep the kids attention focused on school and what they are suppose to be learning. When something is wrong they just give them a pill to fix it. This draws and exact parallel to Brave New World in which the people of the society are provided with soma. "And if anything should go wrong, there's soma." (16). In Bernard Marx's society and the world that he lives in, all the people are encouraged to take soma to always be happy. If there was an accident or something happend to you that ruined your day and you just cant quite get over it, you take a gramme or so of soma. They are encouraged to cover up all their emotions and real feelings with soma. I also really liked what Robinson was saying on teh education system and how the students are not allowed to study or take classes on the courses that they are interested strongly in. But intstead they are forced to take general classes that everyone else is forced to take and learn the same exact facts which they must spew back out for the test.