1984 And Brave New World: A Comparative Analysis

Authors of dystopian literature give the reader their own vision of the future. It is often a view of a repressive society that is controlled by a totalitarian government (Tor.com). 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley are no exceptions to this. These works of literature depict societies that are strictly monitored and controlled by an omnipresent and dogmatic regime. The governments of these societies keep a watchful eye over their citizens, and carefully survey every aspect of their daily lives. The methods that are used to sedate and monitor the populations of these nations are extremely similar. Both focus on distracting their populations from the general trials and tribulations that humans in a more natural setting

Technology is used to more effectively monitor and govern the people of these cities. In 1984, the primary technological device that is used for surveillance is the telescreen. Anyone who is considered worth monitoring has a telescreen placed into their home. It does everything a standard television would do in the modern world: however, the fundamental use of the telescreen in 1984 is to have constant surveillance over everyone who is under its view. The population of Oceania is in a state of constant paranoia over doing anything that might be deemed wrong by the government. It is said by Winston Smith (the protagonist of 1984) that “The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself – anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide” (Orwell 55). Anyone who is caught doing anything suspicious is then heavily monitored by the government. If the government decides that he or she is too much of a nuisance to keep, then the person is immediately sent to a correctional facility, where they will be subject to extreme torture and humiliation. After this process, the prisoner is executed and erased from existence. In Brave New World, technology has advanced far beyond what humanity has now. Children are no longer born naturally; they are instead born through genetic splicing by the Bokanovsky Process. Through the Bokanovsky process, human embryos are cloned in laboratories. After they are cloned, their social caste is determined by the means of hormone injection and then enforced by hypnopaedic conditioning. Through hormone injection, the embryos will be classified into one of five social classes: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon. After they are placed into a caste, the children are then placed into a schooling