What Are The Similarities Between 1984 And Brave New World

Today there are many different types of governments that rule the world. Each of the governments have their ways of leading and their ways of using technology. But the regimes that get attention are the regimes that do things differently than the norm because they stand out. Examples of this are through the stories “1984” by George Orwell and “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley. Even though both George Orwell in “1984” and Aldous Huxley in “Brave New World” both have their main settings in a totalitarian societies with technology advancements, the government in “Brave New World” takes more advantage of the technology through brainwashing, keeping control, and avoiding crimes or potential uprisings to overthrow the government. Because World State,

the government of “Brave New World” does this, they typically have fewer impositions.
Both of the governments in Oceania and World State used brainwash by the uses of technology. An example of when Oceania used brainwash is when the protagonist Winston would try to defy the government. The government wanted their people to believe two plus two was five. In “1984” Orwell states what would happen if they disagreed with the lesson: “The needle of the dial had shot up to fifty-five” (Orwell 315). This quote means that Oceania uses a machine of different levels of pain to brainwash the citizens that don't agree with them. They want everyone to be in unison. They increase the pain to make the mind weaker so it's easier to brainwash. Orwell’s intent of putting this quote was to show a tone of dominance to show how Oceania will brainwash their citizens. This quote connects to World State because they both use brainwash. They both want to brainwash everyone so there is no contrary opinions between their people and so that way everyone agrees of what the government says. When everyone believes anything it can eliminate problems because they have weak minds, so they never think of the problems. An example of how World State uses brainwash is through hypnopaedia. That means that they brainwash people in their sleep with a speaker replaying as they sleep so that it sticks with them more efficiently and longer. In “Brave New World” Huxley directly shows how hypnopaedia works when he says, “What a hideous colour khaki is” (Huxley 67). This quote means that World State used hypnopaedia to brainwash this person to disliking the colour khaki. This has been her opinion on this color her whole life. Huxley’s intent in putting this quote in there is to show the effectiveness and the power of brainwashing. Because they are able to do this World State has the power to make people believe in what they want. This connects to the claim that World State takes better advantage because the way they use technology is more effective. They make the brainwashing last longer and there is no way to beat hypnopaedia. Also because it is done mentally and not physically. In Oceania brainwash is beatable just by faking it. They are going to assume that they have taught what is right, but they don't know if it will stick forever. That is what Winston did and it is going to stick with him always that two plus two is four. That is unlike Lenina from World State were she will always believe Khaki is a horrible colour. Therefore, World State has a better usage of technology even though Oceania uses the technology to brainwash as well.
Now that both of these countries both brainwash, they are able to keep good control of their countries.

Oceania likes to keep many cameras and microphones in many places to catch those who retaliates. In “1984,” Orwell directly states what happens to Winston and Julia when they got caught when he says that “You are the dead, said the iron voice” (Orwell 278). This quote means that both Julia and Winston were caught going against the government's rules. Since they don’t want these ideas spreading they were captured by police and thrown into a place of torture and purged. The intent that Orwell had in this quote was to show the dominance that the government of Oceania had to have complete control and not have these crazy ideas spreading. This connects to World State because when negative thoughts are attempted to be spreaded, they were sent away to an island because they were not contributing in a positive way. So they wouldn’t want a person to kill the mood of happiness. Now the way that World State keeps control is through regulating the populations. According the section “Brave New World Revisited” by Huxley, “The United States is not at present an overpopulated country” (Huxley 246). This quote means that the United States is not an overpopulated country at the moment. Huxley had an intent to setup a connection with the World State on how they avoid overpopulation. This connects to World State because they avoid overpopulation by regulating birth rates. They create babies

and do so at a certain rate. So that also shows how they are more effective than Oceania. Since they have fewer people to look after it is easier to keep control. That is why Oceania has so many police and cameras because there is a bigger population. Therefore World State takes better control of their country by creating babies through a lab at a certain rate.
The final thing that Oceania and World State both used through advancements of technology are avoiding crimes and attempts to overthrow the government.

The Oceania government were able to tell who did crimes due to many little hidden cameras and mics all over the place. In “1984” Orwell directly states the consequences for disobeying the government when he says that “You were abolished, annihilated: VAPORIZED was the usual word” (Orwell 24). This quote means that if the government and the police know if someone commited a crime, then they were taken and never heard of again. The intent that Orwell had in this was to show how serious Oceania is to abolish bad stuff. They do not want the negativity to spread throughout the country. This connects to the World State. Both countries want to keep happiness throughout their country so it is easier to remain in control. If there is a spread of negativity then that could cause a division in the country with a bunch of negativity. So with that it would become harder to have complete control because there is going to be a part of the country that wants a new leader to satisfy their demands. Now what the World State does to avoid problems is use drugs. In the book the drug is called soma. This drug does not have any bad side effects as it was created to only brings joy to the people. In “Brave New World” Huxley states that soma is the best for interest as it is a “holiday from reality” and someone can return “without so much as a

headache” (Huxley 60). This quote means that soma can bring true happiness without having a side effect of coming back to true reality and little side effects. The intent that Huxley has in this quote is to show and explain how World State avoids their problems. Since this drug brings only joy, the citizens are going to use this an unlimited amount of times which makes the emotions of fear and sadness irrelevant. But it also gets rid of the sense of true reality. This connects to Oceania because they limit the emotions of fear and the realization of true reality. But there are major differences as well. World State does a better job of completely avoiding crimes. This drug is a limit of emotions and it makes people think they live in the perfect world. It essentially keeps the citizens happy all the time. If the citizens are happy then there cannot be any problems because there isn't a true purpose. But in Oceania there is a possibility of crimes. Those who make a mistake can only be tortured and brainwash into correcting their mistakes. At the end of the day as well, their life is taken from them so people no that they should not make the same mistake. Therefore, World State has a more efficient way of avoiding crimes in their country than Oceania.
Both “Brave New World” and “1984” used totalitarian societies as their governments and they both had developed a technology advancements. With those advancements they were able to have complete control, brainwash, and do special techniques to avoid crimes. But “Brave New World” did a better job through the advancements because they were more effective and had more control. Compared to “1984” they were also able to eliminate more problems. But this is also very important to the readers because these advancements are already happening or they have a possibility to happen in the future. Because of technology these are all realistic events. This is also important because it can change the way we live. We can lose certain freedoms and thoughts we have. This is finally important because if this does happen in countries, the citizens cannot be blind to the situation. People must be able to decide what is appropriate and what should be inconsequential.