Siena Dougherty Mr. McCormick Honors English 2 11 March 2024 Pleasurable Peril The dangers of the yearning for power have prowled about the world since the beginning of time. Throughout history, notorious leaders from different countries all had one thing in common: the thirst for control. George Orwell and Aldous Huxley both wrote similar dystopian novels based on a totalitarian government with leaders whose only solicitude was themselves. The only difference between these two novels was the author’s execution of control; Orwell portrayed a violent method, while Huxley displayed one of pleasure. In modern civilization, advancements in technology and drugs have proven Aldous Huxley’s novel, A Brave New World, to be a more accurate depiction …show more content…
With big technology corporations such as Apple constantly producing new gadgets and devices, people of all generations are being sucked into a brain-rotting cycle. According to Alduous Huxley in A Brave New World, “...that the purpose of life was not the maintenance of well-being, but some intensification and refining of consciousness" (Huxley 118). In this quote, the character describes the environment of the totalitarian society he is living in. New, fresh technology can be appealing to all people, but it decreases awareness and mental reliability, and drugs, as addicting and enticing as they may be, can destroy a person’s mental and emotional stability, which makes them completely controllable. Destroying people’s intellectuality and creativity is necessary and lucrative for the government’s goal of control. Advancements in drugs and technology are essential for the control of others because they also lead to …show more content…
Communist countries such as China, North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, and Laos exert physical force against their people to control them. George Orwell’s 1984 is centered on this idea of a totalitarian government, stating, “For a moment he lay as though stunned, with dark blood oozing from his mouth and nose. A very faint whimpering or squeaking, which seemed unconscious, came out of him.” (Orwell 297) This quote is a clear example of violence being used intending to control. In the book, the rebels who went against the Party would be tortured in order to reform them. Although physical force can be effective, many communist countries have groups of rebels who protest against the government. With softer tyranny, fewer people oppose it because it is easy and beneficial for them. Softer tyranny is also more widely seen worldwide as opposed to harsh tyranny because there are only a handful of communist countries left in the