1984 vs. Brave New World - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Although similarities exist between Huxley's "Brave New World" and Orwell's "1984",they are more dissimilar than alike in their basic idea.The structures of the societies depicted in the novels are different,however the goal of both governments is the same-total control of society, to keep the majority in ignorance and submission. The governments use different tactics of manipulation, the Party from "1984" uses torture to subdue those who might oppose it, Utopia of "Brave New World" controls people by showering them with pleasure, which is ultimately more effective because pleasure-based control makes the victim want to feel good by submitting to it. "1984" is the story of Winston who finds forbidden love within the hypocrisy of his society. "Brave New World" is a novel about the struggle of Bernard Marx, who rejects the tenants of his society when he discovers that he is not truly happy. In both cases, the main character is in quiet rebellion against his government which is eventually found to be in vain. "Brave New World" is more scientific and uses more religion. "1984" is more political and uses force, power, fear, and anger to keep people in line.The governments in "1984" and "Brave New World" weakened their citizens with ignorance and silenced them with fear. In "1984" the proles were considered to be completely without thought, and regarding the actions of the Party they in fact were. The ignorance of the proles allowed them to continue on with their lives without the burden of knowledge of the Party. Those in the Party who had somewhat of an idea of the motives and deception of the higher members were silenced with the fear of death and torture. This enabled the Party to prevent a revolt from ever occurring. However, the people who were caught and subjected to torture were not killed or injured to confess their crimes, instead they were physically, intellectually and emotionally reborn. They loved the Party and more importantly they loved Big Brother.
In "Brave New World" this triumph over the individual and destruction of the sprit of man does not happen in the same way. The citizens in "Brave New World" have almost no need to be reborn to love the Party, or the State in their case. This is so because they truly had no human spirit in the beginning, for without true love from parents and real interaction with others at young ages, and without even a real birth, those in "Brave New World" do not need to be changed by the State because all that they have learned has been taught by the State itself. However, there is a precaution: the citizens grow up with the fear of being shipped to a far off island for a life of intense manual labor if they do not succumb to the standards of their society. The control of the people in both novels is to assure the power of the main leaders, such as Big Brother and the World Controller.
For the societies of "1984" and "Brave New World" to exist, the manipulation of the citizens must occur. In "1984", the Party has control over everything, including the minds of its people. Doublethink is a kind of manipulation of the mind, used by the rulers of Oceania. This makes people accept contradictions, and believe that the party is the only institution that distinguishes between right and wrong. Doublethink ensures orthodoxy and loyalty in spite of anything that may occur. The Party also created newspeak as a tool to promote and enforce doublethink. Newspeak manipulates its citizens into thinking a certain way. The reduction of words to a bare minimum, or newspeak, disables the citizens from producing true thoughts of their own that may stray from the path of Big Brother.
In "Brave New World" the citizens are not only manipulated into conformed thoughts, but their behavioral patterns are preconditioned. They are taught the laws and rules of their society, so as to prevent them from ever producing thoughts that differed from those of the government. The children are taught to love the social status in which they are ...Download file to see next pagesRead More