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Comparison essays on george orwell 1984 and things we did not see coming
Comparison essays on george orwell 1984 and things we did not see coming
Comparison essays on george orwell 1984 and things we did not see coming
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They Can’t Do Anything About It
In the dystopian worlds from, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and 1984 by George Orwell, both governments have supreme control over their citizens. The authors use hypnopedia, doublethink, and the restriction of language to portray that governments have the ability to strip their citizens of their free will without their consent or realization. Both governments rely on the sacrifice of individuality and a state of mindlessness to reach an ultimate goal of stability and everlasting peace. They still have extreme regulations and punishments for those who do not conform, because it seems like the citizens have the ability to break out of the mold that was created for them. However, these additional techniques
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to make the rebellious citizens accept the reality of their oppression is unnecessary, because nurture is more powerful than nature, so no rebellion or deviation from ideal behavior is possible.
The Party and The World State strip free will from their citizens by using doublethink through Newspeak and hypnopedia since they believe that mindlessness is the path to reach stability. While trying to trick Winston, A high- ranking official in the Big Brother Regime, O’Brien, impersonates an opponent to the party and explains through the alias of Emmanuel Goldstein that “It was not difficult [through] DOUBLETHINK to avoid [having thoughts], but within a couple of generations even the possibility … would have vanished … There would be [no] crimes and errors … simply because they were nameless and therefore unimaginable” (Orwell 390). Likewise in Brave New World, while giving a tour of the Hatchery, Mustapha Mond states that the conditioning of the children is complete when “at last the child’s mind is these suggestions, and the sum of the suggestions is the child’s mind… all [their] life long. The mind that judges and desires, decides- made up of these suggestions. But all these suggestions are our suggestions!”... “Suggestions from the State.” (Huxley 21). In both worlds, the government’s goal is to eradicate the possibility of the “crimes and errors” by making them …show more content…
“unimaginable” which would bring about a stable world, but also eliminate choice since the only options become the “suggestions from the state” and confine them “all [their] life long”. To have free will, one must have the ability to choose their own path. This could mean upsetting the government or committing a crime at the cost of a constant state of peace, however, through the methods of removing words from the dictionary to create doublethink, and the hypnopedia, the people no longer have the ability to make their own decisions since all of their possible judgments are what the states have predispositioned them to be. These methods are not meant to satisfy the people or empower them to become better, but to create the ideal person to avoid any uprising or instability within the people. The World Controller insisted, “‘Stability. Hence all this.’ With a wave of his hand he indicated … the huge building of the Conditioning Centre” (Huxley 31). The conditioning is to reach stability, but the price is one too high to pay. This state of mindlessness is not conscious, but a purposeful deceit from the government in order to minimize what it believes to be the greatest danger to mankind, instability. Unlike current day punishment, the people are not simply reprimanded from making choices contrary to what the government believes to be good, but the people no longer have the free will to even arouse any instability. Despite the conditioning measures taken by both governments to reach stability, they have severe consequences and correction methods for those who they predict will dare to think outside of the realm prescribed to them by the state. In 1984 the punishment is far more violent and physically abusive, however, both 1984 and Brave New World’s government’s punishments have the same purpose, to rid society of the undesirable traits that could cause rebellion. In 1984, after arresting Julia and Winston, O'Brien tells Winston that he brought him to the Ministry of Love "To cure [him]! To make [him] sane! Winston … no one whom we bring to this place ever leaves our hands uncured? We do not merely destroy our enemies, we change them" (Orwell 319). A more figurative punishment in Brave New World is exile. The news of Bernard's banishment “galvanized [him] into violent and unseemly activity … “Oh, please don’t send me to Iceland … Give me another chance … Still shouting and sobbing. Bernard was carried out. “One would think he was going to have his throat cut,” said the Controller" (Huxley 154-155). Both parties “destroy” those who might cause change. The punishments they are given equal the pain of having one’s “throat cut” or reconditioning them until they have no part of themselves left, until they’ve “change[d]”. Bernard and Winston have the ability to think outside the box so were disciplined in an especially harsh manner. They underwent the same conditioning methods of doublethink and hours of hypnopedia as the rest of their comrades but the government has a backup plan. Once Bernard returns with John to the civilized world, the director of the DHC states “I propose to dismiss him to a Sub Centre of the lowest order [for the] best interest of Society, as far as possible removed from any important Centre of population” (Huxley 101). All of the crimes the government commits against its unorthodox have the justification of increasing well being of the rest citizenry. Bernard and Winston had not yet caused a revolt, but the government took cautionary steps in order to “cure” them. Contrary to the governments’ beliefs, In the end, these techniques are unnecessary because despite the knowledge and the dissatisfaction with the suppression of the ‘rebel’s’ life, they do not have the ability to follow through their plans to disrupt the stability.
The extensive conditioning leaves its subjects irreversibly influenced by the government manipulation. Even the most obviously high risk citizens like Winston and Julia can not cause a revolt. They “Sometimes… talked of engaging in active rebellion against the Party, but with no notion of how to take the first step” (Orwell 191). While Helmholtz in Brave New World did not want to overthrow the World Controllers, the conditioning still ran deep in his veins. When John was reading Romeo and Juliet to Helmholtz, Helmholtz couldn’t seem to wrap his head around the abstract topics raised. Instead “he laughed and laughed till the tears streamed down his face… ‘You can’t expect me to keep a straight face about fathers and mothers. And who’s going to get excited about a boy having a girl or not having her?’ (The Savage winced; but Helmholtz, who was staring pensively at the floor, saw nothing.)” (Huxley 123). They figurative see “nothing” when those who have seen the current world would “wince”, they are blind to the extent of their brainwashing. Helmholtz is a writer who values solitude and is one of the minds in the World State that is advanced, and yet the words “father and mother” strike him as strange and hilarious
because throughout his childhood, the society guided him to believe so.“Rebellion” and change is a something some people in both fictional worlds view as necessary but they have no “notion” on what “steps” are required to attain their goal. Winston has a moment after his curing when he realizes that although Julia had told him “‘They can’t get inside you,’... they could get inside you” (367). They had always been inside of him. The additional methods to eliminate potential risks of instability are redundant since years of hypnopedia and the imposed societal norms though doublethink make the minority with bright minds who understand the reality of their oppression, incapable of fostering the change they desire. In conclusion, the dystopian societies in 1984 and Brave New World have removed all free will from their citizens without their knowledge or their best interests in mid. They only goal they see as important, and they have made this the utmost priority without weighing the sacrifice. The governments are so centered on peace that they would even implement horrid torture techniques and harsh punishments to keep their slightly curious population in alignment with their ideals. However, these are unessential to their cause because powerless to disrupt the status quo since they have are entrenched in the state's propaganda. These novels show us that we must stay vigilant and resist the temptation of a stable and peaceful society at the cost of beauty and free will in order to remain true to our nature as human beings.
Between the poem, ¨ No one died in Tiananmen Square¨ by William Lutz and the novel, 1984 by George Orwell there are multiple similarities. Subjects such as their government, their denial of history, and the use of doublethink and re-education are all parallel between the novel and the poem. For instance, both the governments have a highly strict government. Their governments are so controlling of their people that they use brute force in order to help re-educate them. For example, in 1984 the main character, Winston Smith was trying to go against their government, The Party, and because he tries to do so, he is placed in The Ministry of Love and brutally beaten by the man whom he assumed was a part of the Brotherhood, O'Brien. O'Brien claimed
Imagine the world we are living in today, now imagine a world where we are told who to marry, where to work, who to hate and not to love. It is hard to imagine right, some people even today are living in the world actually have governments that are controlling their everyday life. In literature many writers have given us a view of how life may be like if our rights as citizen and our rights simply as human beings. One day the government may actually find a way to control and brainwash people into beings with no emotions like they have in the book 1984 where they express only hate, because that’s what they have been taught by the party.
Technology in a Totalitarian Society. In Brave New World written by Aldous Huxley and 1984 written by George Orwell the dystopian societies depend on technology to create a totalitarian society. Brave New World is a sequel to 1984, because Brave New World is an established dystopian society which uses technology in a much more pleasureable way, whereas in 1984 the technology is used in a much more aggressive manner. The technology used in both novels aids both governments in creating a totalitarian society, technology helps the government take control over all citizens, influence all of the peoples actions, and determine the people’s emotions.
“In every age it has been the tyrant, the oppressor and the exploiter who has wrapped himself in the cloak of patriotism, or religion, or both to deceive and overawe the People.” A quote by Eugene V Debs in his speech in Canton, Ohio, on June 16, 1918. Enter dystopia. In a universe already tarnished by future time and changing, pessimistic ideals or unconventional social standards, tyrants have the tendency to act as the main antagonist who enforce the moral laws of their worlds upon the innocent. And in George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, the authors explore the ideas of dystopic tyrants though antagonists O’Brien and Mustapha Mond, who portray their ability to control through their individual societies’ extreme ideals
According to Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World both predicted that society would eventually be governed by a global totalitarian system; however, the key difference between both their predictions is the method by which society’s cognizance would be undermined. Orwell claimed that contemporary society would be controlled by overt modes of policing and supervising the social hierarchy, whereas Huxley stated that society’s infatuation with entertainment and superficial pleasure alone would be enough for the government to have absolute control over the public. Unfortunately, today’s society is not an Animal Farm. All jokes aside, Postman’s assertion of Huxley’s theory, “what
In George Orwell’s dystopian novel, the government blocks almost all forms of self-expression in order to assert its authority over the people. Those within the society who show signs of defiance against the set rules, even those who act unwillingly, are seen as a threat to the success of the regime are wiped from existence. In Orwell’s 1984, the government uses different forms of propaganda and brainwashing to achieve complete control of society for their own personal benefit.
Imagine a society in which its citizens have forfeited all personal liberties for government protection and stability; Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, explores a civilization in which this hypothetical has become reality. The inevitable trade-off of citizens’ freedoms for government protection traditionally follows periods of war and terror. The voluntary degradation of the citizens’ rights begins with small, benign steps to full, totalitarian control. Major methods for government control and censorship are political, religious, economic, and moral avenues. Huxley’s Brave New World provides a prophetic glimpse of government censorship and control through technology; the citizens of the World State mimic those of the real world by trading their personal liberties for safety and stability, suggesting that a society similar to Huxley’s could exist outside the realm of dystopian science fiction.
In Huxley’s, Brave New World, there is a society, known as the World State, where people are divided into different castes, and depending on the caste they are set in determines their place in the community and purpose in the world. If one is an Alpha, he/she will be highly intelligent and be a leader of the free world, while one who is an Epsilon has lowered intelligence and is conditioned to do physical labor. From the process of the human beings being created in test tubes, to their birth and development, they are trained to believe in certain truths. Brave New World is a Utopian novel that uses a form of brainwashing to conform people to the ideal society placed in the plot. Other literature works, and real life occurrences, make it evident that brainwashing is used to condition to believe and behave I certain ways, which become their morals and truths.
In 1984, George Orwell explores the many facets of a negative utopia. Orwell seems to focus on the measures that the government takes to maintain a public of plebeians who have no personality or identity and believe that they are not unique individuals, but instead are part of a greater senseless mob of people who constantly work for a hostile and oppressive government which is involved in incessant wars. These people are taught to love. They then learn to fear their government because they believe all of the propaganda that is constantly instilled into their minds. They willing follow their government without contest for the duration of their meaningless lives. The government controls all forms of the media (thus denying the people the basic right of free speech) and use it to personify the government (known as “big brother”) .The government therefore seems omnipotent, or all knowing and always correct. Forecasts are changed from one week to the next always proving the government was correct. As was mentioned before, many of the rights that present day Westerners take for gran...
The totalitarian government in the novel “1984” is well-known for going to extreme measures to control its citizens. The party is capable of doing so by controlling how citizens communicate, employing technology and even dictating how their time is spent. One of the novel’s many themes is: the party believes a human being can be broken down psychologically until one is easily fooled or robot-like. However, regardless of how harsh a government treats its citizens the novel also suggests that it is significantly hard to brainwash someone. The government has to go to incredible lengths to get into one’s mind to that extent. This creates a difficult task because the Party’s methods are subtle and take time. Winston, throughout the entirety of 1984,
This Perfect Day belongs to the genre of "dystopian" or anti-utopian novels, like Huxley's Brave New World and Orwell's 1984. Yet it is more satisfying than either. This Perfect Day is probably Ira Levin's greatest work of his career. Levin's work, despite being written in 1970, is very plausible having realistic technology, such as scanners and computers which watch over the entire family, the entire population of the world. This novel could be used to show the dangers of a Utopian society as well as being full of anti-Communist and anti-racist sentiment. This Perfect Day also displays the feeling that communist and segregated institutions can be defeated, as the protagonist Chip over powers the "family" and their vile Uni Comp as well as rising above the segregated community he reaches after fleeing the family. This work could best be placed in an area of the curriculum where it is the students job to learn that although everyone might not be equal, nor should they be, they are still human and deserve to be treated with the respect and kindness we would expect to be treated with. This work could be used in conjunction with other works of literature that display the same ideals against communism and discrimination as well as a lack of compassion for others. Other works that could be used in cohorts with Levin's This Perfect Day, are Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut and even the Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Both of these novels show the dangers of trying to create a Utopian society and the chaos it causes. In Harrison Bergeron, handicapping has become an American institution and it is the governments responsibility to make sure that everyone is equal in every way which ends up causing chaos and rebellion. The Handmaid's Tale shows the dangers of when an extreme group takes over the United States after a nuclear holocaust, with women being placed in a submissive role to men, only being used to reproduce. This Perfect Day could also be used in a section with novels such as Uncle Tom's Cabin which portray the evils of racism and discrimination, just as the land where Chip ends up after escaping the family, is very racist and segregated. He is forced to endure the taunts and tortures of the folks who had fought Uni from the beginning, yet he rises above these bounds to return and destroy Uni Comp, thereby destroying the family.
They both warn us of the dangers of a totalitarian society. Both books express a utopian ideal, examine characters that are forced into this state and are compelled to deal with this society and all the rules involved. The impracticality of the utopian ideal is explored in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Huxley’s Brave New World. Both authors suggest that a lack of familial bonds, the repression of human individuality, and the repression of artistic and creative endeavors in order to attain a stable environment renders the achievement of a perfect state unrealistic. The lack of familial bonds, in both novels, contributes to the development of a dystopian society.
According to Sigmund Freud, the human mind is made up of the id, ego and super ego which work together in order create human behaviour. Consequently, the mind of an individual is very complex and difficult to manipulate when they are fully developed. However, if this development of these three parts are hindered or influenced by certain factors, it becomes easier to control that individual. In the novel Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, the World State stunts the psychological development of its citizens through soma, erotic play, and hypnopaedia in order to create a false utopian society.
... In short, the novel Brave New World, shows that the World State eliminates individuality through social restrictions, government controlled groupings and the abuse of drugs to maintain control of the population. Social restriction through hypnopaedia and shock therapy robs individuals of their creative personalities by preventing freedom of thought, behavior, and expression. Government controlled groupings such as Solidarity Service Days and the feelies to eliminate individuality stemming from individual thought due to discontent; therefore maintaining control by eliminating the chance of people revolting and going astray from their conditioning. Works Cited Huxley, Aldous. A. & Co.
There are lots of ways to compare 1984 by George Orwell to Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. They both have to do with very futuristic ideas.