1984 And Brave New World: A Comparative Analysis

Humans, curious by nature, often wonder what society will be like in the future. In the novels 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Leonard Huxley, the authors portray a glimpse of what they believe society will emulate in the future. In George Orwell’s society, people live under a tyrant who watch their every move, despises the act of love, and tortures and erases those who violate the law. In Aldous Leonard Huxley’s society, people live without love, consume drugs for happiness and produce and implement newborns into a specific caste. The dystopian societies in the two novels ultimately lead to the downfall of the two protagonists who attempt to go against society. In 1984, Winston Smith, the protagonist, attempts to rebel

Whenever an individual feels sadness or discomfort, they can take soma in order to attain happiness. When John the Savage speaks to Mustapha Mond, the Controller, they argue back and forth about the advantages and disadvantages of living in their society. The Controller states, “And there’s always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering. In the past you could only accomplish these things by making a great effort and after years of hard moral training. Now, you swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are.” (Huxley 162) This quote shows the effects of soma, what it can do, and how strong the drug is. This is mind-control by the government because soma creates the hallucination of a utopia when they are actually living in a dystopia where the government demands you take drugs. When John the Savage escapes the corrupt society, the media continues to follow him. The public films him and he loses his mind. He becomes miserable and disgusted by society. His disgust towards society and obstruction of the government's proposals results in his suicide by

Children are born without mothers and fathers, since they produce them in a lab, and are unable to love which results in the absence of a significant other. When two women chat about pregnancy substitute which are injections for women at the age of twenty-one to stimulate the effects of pregnancy and balance hormones because there is no pregnancy in Brave New World, the narrator mentions why the creator of the Brave New World, Our Ford, decides to overthrow family and love. “The world was full of fathers-was therefore full of misery; full of mothers-therefore of every kind of perversion from sadism to chastity; full of brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts-full of madness and suicide.”(Huxley 28) This quote shows the dangers of being in a family according to their creator. So, the World State abolishes love. There is no one to love and no one to love them. John the Savage believes this was inhumane resulting in his leave from the society. He believes life is about being loved and having love for others. In the end of the novel, the lack of love ends up fueling him to kill