"Bernard swallowed four tablets of soma..." (92). While I was reading this book, the term soma kept showing up, and I had no clue what it was. I later found that it is an allusion to a hallucinogen mainly used in Persian cultures. I think that this is another way that the Government is using to control the people, but they also seem to take it willingly. This shows, in a way, that the people in this world realize that they are living in a corrupt world, so they "escape" it per say. But maybe people take it so often that they don't realize the corruption going on around them. I think both theories apply. For example, Lenina takes it so often that she is the "perfect" citizen. On the other hand, Bernard rarely takes it, and for that reason he seems to be against the world that he is living in.