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Consumerism In Brave New World Essay

748 Words3 Pages

Following this further, Brave New World is also more contemporary as it is a spitting image of the modern world’s hyper consumerism, while 1984 fails to fully address this part of society. The society Brave New World, like the modern world, relies heavily on the consumption of goods to keep their economy afloat. However, in the novel the emphasis on consumption is pushed almost to a hysterical effect, in the conditioning center the Director explains, “We condition the masses to hate the country…But simultaneously we condition them to love all country sports. At the same time we see to it that all country sports shall entail the use of elaborate apparatus. So they can consume manufactured articles”( Huxley 36). The consumerism displayed …show more content…

Later in the book it is divulged that the reason why Oceania keeps having wars is to keep it’s economy running, the book explains, “ In so far as the war has a direct economic purpose, it is a war for labor power”( Orwell 187). This statement from the book illustrates the small role consumerism plays in the world of 1984 in which one of the main reasons Oceania is always at war is for the economic gain that comes from spending and making money off of weapons and labor. However this is one of the only times when consumerism is noted in the book, it still holds some sort of relevance to the contemporary world in which war brought economic benefit, a prime example being the participation in WWII that pulled the U.S out of the Great Depression. This also illustrates the selfish behaviors of the modern man as it illustrates how the government of 1984 goes to war and kills others for the sake of lining their pockets. Nonetheless, Brave New World serves as a more appropriate book for the modern world in terms of consumerism as it warns one to not get carried away in buying things for the sake of buying and to question one’s self as to whether or not they truly need new things or if they were conditioned to think that way from shiny ads on the television in

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