Consumerism in 1984 and Brave New World

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The novels 1984 and Brave New World serve the purpose of both satirizing their respective time periods as well as warning us of the dangers of consumer behavior. Both George Orwell and Aldous Huxley depict unique societies in which everything has gone wrong. Oceania in 1984 and The World State in Brave New World both depict distinct worlds in which the citizens are oppressed by their respective governments. People are given limited freedom and limited choices, while the government spews out lies and fabricated stories to control their behavior.

The World State in Brave New World strived to create “Community, Identity, [and] Stability” (Huxley 1). Immediately, one can see that Huxley is comparing The World State to a utopia, in which everything is perfect. Brave New World pokes fun at the society that Huxley lived in, with its concept of Henry Ford being the center of everything. Years are counted by the number of years After Ford. People greet each other with a “T” sign, which refers to the Model T. “Cleanliness is next to fordliness” (Huxley 110), says Lenina, as she looks at the people in the Malpais Savage Reservation. This seems jocular to anyone reading in modern times, but the citizens of The World State are just as serious about it as contemporary people are toward religion, culture, and nationalism.

Consumerism plays a huge role in Brave New World because it not only makes the citizens happier, but it also makes them easier to control. People are conditioned into liking new things and disliking older things. "I do love having new clothes” (Huxley 48). That quote shows how people are constantly valuing newer items over older ones. Even if the item is capable of being fixed, people wi...

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...e. In Brave New World, consumers can get whatever they want, but they are conditioned to want only what is available to them. “Our world is not the same as Othello's world. You can't make flivvers without steel-and you can't make tragedies without social instability. The world's stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can't get" (Huxley 220). In contrast to this, Oceania’s citizens can only get the cheap, low quality goods that are sold to them by the government.

However, despite the differences between them, both nations rely on and force their consumers to exclusively purchase their goods. The governments specifically control what the citizens have access to. Although consumerism is essential in cementing a good base for a strong economy, it also has the ability to hide the qualities that make us human.

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