1984 and brave new world

Both Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s 1984 share the standard dystopian format of an individual versus an oppressive, or suppressive society, but they equally share their differences. While both societies are oppressive in their own rights, the societies uphold their communal beliefs in different fashions. The World State in Brave New World use non-violent means to control the population and to avoid uprisings. The use of hypnopedia, or sleep learning, along with vigorous conditioning throughout one’s life, the state can install rational propaganda against the population. This use of rational propaganda, or convincing a population that something is in the best interest for themselves and the distributor, ensures that obeying the societal expectations becomes a way of life and is something that can be upheld by the population alone with minimal government interjection. However, the state uses exiling away from civilization as punishment to those who go against the ideals of the society.

While the society in Brave New World refrains from lethal methods of repression, the government in George Orwell’s 1984 build their power off of fear. Throughout the novel, the government holds daily gatherings in which citizens are shown the enemies of state and is always ended with the phrase “Big Brother is watching you” (Orwell et al). This alone demonstrates the government’s implementation of fear on its own people. The notion that the government is monitoring your every move creates an atmosphere of anxiety and oppression. Not only by displaying their ability to monitor their citizens, the government uses aggressive and almost always lethal methods to rid society of nonconformists. For “criminals”, or enemies of the state, ...

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... of actions and fear. The government arrests, “vaporizes”, and bans on certain things that are seen as detrimental to society. This is done to ensure that loyalty is to the government, while ensuring that unwarranted activities are happening and revolution isn’t stirring. Contrary to this, The World State in Brave New World doesn’t rely on action, as they do on having the population inheriting believe that everything they do is for the state. In essence they have no interest in things that are looked down on by the government. The population doesn’t do something solely because they fear repercussions, but simply because they hold no interest or see no need for it. The functionality of the society relies on the population’s voluntary conformity with minimal governmental interference, whereas in 1984, the society survives from the close monitoring from the government.