Comparing Power In Oceania, Eurasia And Eastasia

Leaders in power in both novels issued many restrictions and censored the knowledge of information to its members in various manners to preserve dominance. In 1984, Citizens of Orwell’s predictive vision were taught to hate and fear the outside world; their versions of history were altered but not eradicated which verifies Langs proposition that the success of a supreme power in 1984 relies on “the ability of a central authority to know at every moment, accurately in detail, what the citizens of the society are doing and saying (and so, what they are thinking)…. since people are to know or think only what they are supposed to” (Lang, 167). Evidently, the three powers in this novel, Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia are constantly at war, thus information

is continuously misrepresented which greatly influences the populace, “He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past” (Orwell, #). This quotation proves that Big Brother and sub powers are able to control the credulous population and their views on outside powers solely by manipulating their perception of the truth because if no one is able to recall the mistakes of the past they will see no imperfections or failure in the government of the present. Similarly, in Brave New World things such as Shakespeare and history are eradicated and ignored altogether. Shakespeare represents culture and the arts and what mankind is capable of when it comes to creativity and beauty, all that is squelched out in Huxley's futuristic world. This restriction provides a powerful irony because the name of the book The Brave New World is a direct Shakespeare quote but such works have been banned from the hands of the conformed citizens as Mustapha Mond which further proves that powerful literature can affect the power of a state thus it is stripped away man's ability arts at alters one’s mindset; in questioning of its prohibition Mustapha mond responded “Beauty’s attractive and he don’t want people to be attracted by old things[Shakespeare].” (Huxley, 198). For emphasis, this particular issue of literary valuation, like the broader ones of spiritual and social values, is symbolized in the novel by the appearance in civilized London of John, the "Savage," who in growing up on an Indian reservation has happened to possess a one-volume Shakespeare, has been influenced by it in his ideas about sex, and quotes from it”