Happiness or Pleasure

"To fashion, to give form, to feel his fingers gaining in skill and power- this gave him an extraordinary pleasure." (pg. 134)
The smooth connection of alliteration gives the above passage from Brave New World a feeling of rhythm, similiar to the rhythm and comfort that John feels when he works clay. As the reader takes in the words on the page, they can also feel the satisfaction that John describes in a way that wouldn't be possible in normal prose. I believe the pleasure of working with clay is Huxley's way of showing that soma isn't the only way to achieve happiness, even if the members of the civilized society don't understand those other ways. Civilized members of society have so much; pills to make them happy, endless entertainment and sexual pleasure, and a solid place in their world. However, they never experience love, committment, family, or independence. Although they are continually told "Everybody's happy now", they must often take pills to send them "on holiday", to remove them from the world they are forced to endure everyday. The members may believe they are happy, but only because they have not been given the chance to experience true happiness. Despite his hardships and sorrows, John has experienced happiness in a way that the society never does. If given the choice, I believe that most of us would pick John's life of heartache and happiness over a world of pretended pleasure.