Linda Taking Soma and her Appearance (chap.11)

In this chapter the first thing that caught my attention was the description of Linda appearance. They spoke about her as being ugly and no one wanted to see her. To me it look like no one wanted to be around Linda/see her because she was fat and old. The text says “Finally-and this was by far the strongest reason for people’s not wanting to see poor Linda – there was her appearance.” The text over exaggerate that Linda made people sick when seeing her. They explain as if she was really bad looking. In the text it says this about Linda, “you simply couldn’t look at her without feeling sick, yes, positively sick. I guess the people at the World State did not want to see her no where in sight because Linda appearance changed since she was living in the Savage reservation for a few weeks, months or years. Linda used to live in the World State but got left behind there when visiting and ended up living at the Savage Reservation. Linda is now returning to the World State society and that description of her is basically telling us that she is dirty, old looking and fat compare to the usual World State citizens who are clean, not fat, and don’t smell as bad as Linda. As discuss in class, Linda once used to be the Director lover the woman he loved so much. A sentence quote that shows proof that Linda was returning to the World State, a place where she once used to live says “The return to civilization was for her the return to soma.” The quote means that Linda is returning to a place where they use the drug call soma that help make you happy and take away your bad emotions/thoughts and since now she is back, she can also take the soma if she wants because unlike the Savage Reservation where she used to live did not have the soma to help benefit her emotions and make her not feel pain.

 

In the Savage Reservation there was pain to be felt because they did not have any drug or advance technology to help you take that pain away. The World State had the drug soma for you to get rid of pain. Linda returning to the World State from the Reservation meant there was no more pain and suffering to be felt because of the powerful drug called soma. Here is a quote from the text stating that this is true, “The return to civilization was for her to  return to soma, was the possibility of lying in bed and taking holiday after holiday, without ever having to come back to a headache or a fit of vomiting.” This quote is saying that Linda would not have to worry another day about getting headaches or vomiting again because she is back.

 

This chapter talks about Linda taking a lot of soma but it is bad for her and also good for her at the same time. It is good for because you don’t get to see her upset and screaming mad all the time as told from the doctor name Dr. Shaw. He said these words from the book to John who was objecting for her to not take so much soma, “Well, of course, if you prefer to have her screaming mad all the time.” The soma helps her from not yelling but also is damaging her internally. It is bad because it can kill you in a overdose form. I am not sure exactly what it does to your body but I do know it will lead to death if too much is used.

 

I am sure that Linda was very happy to return back to the World State because there was no pain and suffering. She probably didn’t want to feel pain in the Reservation anymore but she could not find her way out so she had to stay there. Linda finally got the chance to leave with Lenina when Lenina was visiting the Savage Reservation with Bernard. There was a part in the book where Linda was happy to see a civilized face meaning someone from outside the Savage that was from the World State who are considered to be civilized. The civilized face was Lenina.

 

 

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