Chapter V - Overall Analysis

In this chapter, we endeavor further into the lives of Henry Foster, Lenina Crowne, and Bernard Marx and how different their lives are compared to one another.

Henry and Lenina live the perfect life in society. They enjoy the Obstacle Golf and other activities supported by 'the Ford' and enjoy consumption of soma to make their time together that more enjoyable.
Bernard, however, has to go to a Solidarity Service in order to meet and greet other people whom are having trouble connecting with 'the Ford' and finding company for each night.

Who is more happy though?

Henry and Lenina live in a soma-holiday like trance whenever they spend nights together, so are their happiness a delusion or do they take such drugs in order to obtain a higher level of pleasure?
Bernard is unable to spend nights with women but has Helmholtz as a friend. He refuses to take soma and is, for some reason, unable to connect with 'the Ford' as he is distracted by a woman's unibrow. He is living in reality - although it is a grim picture he paints, is it better to live in reality even if it isn't all that it is hyped up to be ? Or is it better to live night to night with consumption of soma, which we find out slowly kills with higher doses?
Which is true happiness - living in 'denial' or living in reality?

One of my favourite parts in this chapter is the fact that Henry does not seem as an emotionless, statistic-loving bore, even if it's for a split second. He discusses with Lenina that the conditioning has made them love themselves and not be jealous of others which Lenina finds a tad hard to understand. It's interesting that everyone knows they are being conditioned, and yet they do not fear it (except when Lenina wakes up during 'sleep-teaching' and finds herself terrified of the whispering that 'haunted all her dreams').
What I loved though is the fact that Henry became melancholy when he pondered about death as they past the Crematorium, "It would have been curious to know who it was - a man or woman, an Alpha or an Epsilon..." (V, 65) which makes me think that not all of the society is emotionless and can completely conditioned to be so. Henry had a simple thought about life and death, which many of us ponder in life, and it is so amazing because in their society it is rare to find someone conditioned thoroughly like himself to think about emotionally stimulating ideas.

Even if it were for a second, I found it most intriguing.