Manipulation In Brave New World

Along with technology, there are many examples of the government in Brave New World using manipulation in order to assert fear and control over its citizens. The government attempts to make the citizens so happy and fulfilled in order to control them and make sure that they do not care about their personal freedom. One way they do this is through the use of a drug called soma. This drug is taken every day by all the citizens in order to keep the citizens happy. “The people are so used to taking soma, that they find it impossible and frightening to face life without it. Soma is used to maintain social order and keep people from feeling any negative human emotions, such as jealousy, depression, sadness, or anxiety” (“In Brave New World, What

Is Soma? Can It Be Compared to Prozac?”). This constant reliance on this drug, issued by the government, allows the citizens to be manipulated without them even knowing. The government is now in control of all the emotions of the people, and by keeping them all happy and positive, they eliminate the possibility of revolt and the people care less about personal freedom. Another way that the citizens are manipulated is through the hierarchy that rules over the citizens, mainly the Resident Controller and Director. These people, through their positions of authority, are able to, "... condition the masses to hate the country" (Huxley 30). By doing this, they are successful in creating a society that bows down and listens to every word that the government says. The Resident Controller and Director are both important figures that are able to control the society (Horan). This manipulation of the citizens is why the government is so effective in controlling them. The citizens are subjected to soma and the elite rulers every day and it is the only thing they know. They have become so set in their ways, that they do not see that there is anything wrong with how the government is governing them.
Much like the government in Brave New World, the government in 1984 also uses manipulation in order to impose their will over the citizens of Oceania.

The government uses propaganda throughout Oceania in order to convince the citizens that they are constantly being watched. Although constant surveillance is not plausible, the citizens are made to believe it is. “The most obvious manipulation of citizens through language is the placement of posters stating "Big Brother is Watching You" throughout the state, convincing people that they are indeed being constantly watched for any behavior the government considers subversive” ("George Orwell's "1984"). This is just a way for the government to strike fear into the citizens in order for them to more easily control them. Another way that the government manipulates the citizens is through the rewriting of history. The Ministry of Truth is in charge of rewriting history so that it is impossible for the citizens to understand the past and therefore do not see anything wrong with it. “The concept of historical truth is irrelevant: truth, and history, becomes what the Party wants it to be. Winston Smith himself takes part in this, rewriting the news: he therefore knows that the details of the past have been tampered with, and is unable to discern or discover what the truth might be” (Whiting). Since the citizens are unaware of the past, they are unable to draw concrete conclusions and can not identify any problems. Just like the

citizens of Brave New World, the citizens of Oceania do not know any differently and consider the way that their government works normal and conventional.
The government's use of manipulation in Brave New World is much more likely to happen in the future than the use of technology in 1984.

In today's society, people are beginning to become complacent because of all the opportunities and needs that have become so easily obtainable. People no longer have to work as hard for their wants, because of the increase in technology. As a result, people are being “brainwashed” into believing that life can not get much better and there is no need to work any harder than they are now. “We are killing our own sense of industry and independence on both the right and the left—yes, across the American political spectrum—and thus are far more at risk of sliding into the affluent but illiberal Brave New World than the regimented and disciplined world of Oceania” (Books). Another example of people being lead astray in today's society is the use of social media in order to spread “fake news”. This has become such a big problem that people are unsure of what to actually believe. “Trump and his surrogates have launched a full assault on the English language and the notion of truth, deploying terms like “fake news” and “alternative facts” and other clunky mouthfuls that sound as much like the detritus of a college dorm argument or a psychotherapy session as they do messages to an actual political community” (Books). This uncertainty and lack of trust leads to people becoming ignorant because instead of trying to figure out what is actually true, they

tend not to trust and/or even listen to the media. This ignorance allows them to feel like the world is a better place then it actually is. This is exactly what Aldous Huxley wrote about; a world in which people believe is perfect and, in turn, lose important values such as freedom.

Works Cited
Nichols, Tom. “We Should Fear 'Brave New World' More Than We Do '1984'.”
The Federalist, 6 Feb. 2017, thefederalist.com/2017/02/02/fear-brave-new-world-1984/.
"George Orwell's ‘1984’." SIRS Renaissance, 2004, SIRS Renaissance, https://
sks.sirs.com/webapp/article?artno=0000187906&type=ART.
Horan, Thomas. "Revolutions from the Waist Downwards: Desire as Rebellion.."
Extrapolation (Vol.48, no.2), 2007, pp. 314-339, SIRS Renaissance, https://sks.sirs.com/webapp/article?artno=0000268288&type=ART.
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. Penguin, 2009.
“In Brave New World, What Is Soma? Can It Be Compared to Prozac?”
Enotes.com, Enotes.com, www.enotes.com/homework-help/brave-new-world-what-soma-can-compared-prozac-177079.
Orwell, George. 1984. Signet Classics, 2016.
Whiting, Jim. Issues in the Digital Age: Online Communication and Social Networking. Issues in
the Digital Age: Online Communication and Social Networking, 2012, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com/webapp/article?artno=0000393238& type=ART.