FREE ESSAY ON BRAVE NEW WORLD \ 1984

BRAVE NEW WORLD \ 1984

Undoubtedly, the thought of living in, or forming a utopian society has flashed through
every person's mind, a few people have even tried to make this ideal dream society a
reality. Unfortunately, within the pursuit of these societies the leaders become corrupt
and begin to become paranoid with the fear of rebellion. Hundreds were murdered under the
reigns of Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin in what they considered measures to maintain
peace and stability, one must also consider the hardships that the citizens were forced
to endure while living under these oppressive governments. This dream of forming and
maintaining a utopian society was immortalized in two novels dealing with the same basic
ideas, 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Both of these novels
deal with the lives of main characters who inadvertently become subversives in a
totalitarian government, however these two books greatly differ with the manner in which
the government controls the population and the strictness of the measures taken to
maintain these stability. This essay with compare or contrast the message and tone of
each novel as well as whether the utopia is a positive or negative one. 
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 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, and then learn fear, their government while believing all of the propaganda that is
constantly instilled into their minds as 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") and make it seem 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 Americans take for granted, such as freedom of speech and the inalienable
rights of individuals are withheld from the common citizen, the proles. George Orwell
obviously meant to portray a negative utopia in the novel 1984.
Although the novel Brave New World is comparable to 1984 as both are views of a
totalitarian government which attempts to provide its citizens with a utopian society,
the differ drastically as Brave New World could be perceived as a positive utopia (in
contrast to negative one in 1984). Although there are many drawbacks of this future
society such as its lack of individuality and loving relationships, which include not
only the love expressed within the confines of a family but also the loved shared between
partners in a married couple. Humans were treated as laboratory experiments, created
using the Bokanovsky process...embryos are like photograph film, they can only stand red
light. On the other hand, though, the citizens had a much greater deal of freedom than
what is allowed to those living in the 1984- society. The society is maintained not by
force, but through a much simpler and more ingenious solution, the caste system. Every
member of the caste system is truly happy with their lives; from the lower three castes
whose lives consist of meaningless jobs like elevator operators to assembly line workers
to the intellectual alpha's who were the thinkers and consumers of the society. This is a
much more peaceful way of maintaining the stability of the populace. Since every member
of the society is truly content with their lives this is a positive utopia.
Fear, paranoia, loneliness, sexual desire and other emotions experienced by Winston
Smith, the main character in 1984, are conveyed from the author to the reader through the
tone in which the novel is written. Winston Smith is constantly afraid of the government
which controls every aspect of his life and is always paranoid that he might accidentally
say something in his sleep (in which case he would be detected by the screen which is in
his apartment) or to another person (in which case he might be reported). The society in
which Winston Smith lives is strictly against loving relationships, thus Mr. Smith is
constantly lonely. Mr. Smith's wife disappeared many years ago and though the society is
against sexual relations (other than for procreation) Mr. Smith still desires to spend
time with a woman. 
Much like in 1984 the author of Brave New World uses tone to convey the emotions of the
main characters, however they are (for the most part) much more pleasant than those of
1984. In Brave New World the reader experiences mindless happiness and fulfillment. In
the beginning of the novel most of the characters are satisfied with their lives and are
happy with their society, thus the tone is light-hearted and pleasant. Towards the end of
the book, however the tone suddenly shifts. Confusion is expressed as John is transferred
from his small, confined world on the reservation to what he perceives as an immoral
society in the brave new world. Also, the reader experiences the excitement and fear
created during the encounter between - among others - John, Bernard and Mustapha Mond. 
Finally, in 1984 George Orwell urged the reader to not sit back quietly and allow a
government of such qualities to form. Orwell shared with the reader a view of the future
and the horrors that may be yet to come. Orwell used Winston Smith not only as a
prediction of what life may be like in the future but also as a means in which to explore
how the government would use propaganda and fear of the missile attacks to control the
proles. Since Winston Smith ironically was, himself, a member of the very Big Brother
government he gave his life to fight against. 
In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley delivers unto the reader what appears to be a message
of appreciation. Although the society Huxley created was not entirely bad, Huxley urges
the reader to be appreciative of their families, loves, and individuality. In Brave New
World everyone but the alpha's and beta's travel through a meaningless life filled only
with work and rest. When one reads this novel they see the society as acceptable, myself
included, but when one considers it one only contemplates living as an alpha or beta
because the reader can not contemplate living without being able to formulate ideas and
basically think. No one considers living as one of the lower castes and only working
throughout life until death. Thus, the conclusion can be drawn that Huxley intended to
portray an acceptable society on the surface with undesirable traits hidden deeper.
In conclusion, both of these novels portray and attractive life in a utopian society - in
one can conform to the rules. However, when people cannot conform to the societies in
which they dwell (as the main characters of both novels cannot) they are branded as
subversives and punished as traitors. A life in 1984 would be almost too unbearable to
live and in Brave New World unless one is willing to accept the caste system and live a
life meant only to produce (as a lower caste) or consume (as a higher caste). Thus far
this essay has compared, but mainly contrasted the great differences between the
societies in these two novels, there is one great similarity however: be thankful for
having been born into a freethinking society where a person can be truly free. Our
present society may not be truly perfect, but as these two novels show, it does not get
much better than this.