Rationalists will say that without sadness one wouldn't know happiness, therefore by abolishing sadness the only thing left is contentment, which some people would interpret as being happiness. This is exactly what Brave New World does. "abolish all bad things" (240) as The World controller says. But that's not entirely true, people who are depressed or in constant pain don't need episodes of happiness or numbing to know that they are suffering. It's natural. Despite Huxley's …showed first 75 words of 736 total…

…showed last 75 words of 736 total…didn't really eliminate the bad feelings. The Brave New World never got rid of the bad things of life; they merely covered them up for periods of time with soma. They denied themselves of all the things that could truly make them happy for cheap imitations, and their conditioning left them without the capacity to feel joy. Every generation after them would dwindle in the monotony of their society until human existence became utterly meaningless.