George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World both show that it is up to the individual to either conform or rebel against an oppressive society and stand up for their beliefs. This can be seen through the setting and specifically the culture created by these oppressive governments. The rebellious protagonists of either novel show the role of deviance from societal norms as they share their thoughts on the effects of their government and give first hand accounts of how the citizens around them are treated. The conflict in these protagonists shows the struggle of standing up for an idea through immense resistance. The differing resolutions of each novel offer a view of the fate of free-thinking individuals in controlling environments. …show more content…
It is clearly evident that it takes a massive toll on the minds of the citizens living in this society. “He had taken a vow of celibacy, believing marriage and the care of a family to be incompatible with a twenty-four-houra-day devotion to duty” (Orwell, 60). The government is forcing all members of the Party to go against their human nature and suppress their sexual urges. It even goes as far as to limit contact with those that one might find attractive. “If he could get her at a table by herself, somewhere in the middle of the room, not too near the telescreens, and with a sufficient buzz of conversation all round—if these conditions endured for, say, thirty seconds, it might be possible to exchange a few words” (Orwell, 139). This control over the citizens of Oceania through constant surveillance alters them psychologically. It dehumanizes them as they are forced, under the implied threat of torture and death, into the mold of the ideal Party member. However, the harm caused by this level of government is not contained within the government itself; it permeates into the lives of the entire world. “A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but MORE merciless as it refines itself. Progress in our world will be progress towards more pain” (Orwell, 336). The constant war causes countless deaths, infinite pollution, rampant poverty and unalterable mental damage to those experiencing it. This level of government is destructive both to itself and to the world around