Name
Assignment
Class
Date
Brainwashing During the Cold War as Shown in The Last Night of the World
Brainwashing is a terrible and powerful thing. In Ray Bradbury’s short story, The Last Night of the World, the usage of brainwashing allowed the Soviet Union to alert Americans that it was the last night of the world. There is a wide array of evidence of this, including all of the characters having the same dream and acting calm and at peace with the idea of the world ending- despite losing their loved ones.
The Last Night of The World was published and takes place in the 1950s. During this time, The United States and the Soviet Union were locked in diplomatic tensions. This tension was called the Cold War. As PHD Candidate in political science at the University of Antwerp in Belgium Maarten van Alstein stated, the actual origins of the war is controversial, as there is no one reason as to why the war began. The Allies from World War Two were concerned with the harsh dictatorship of Joseph Stalin as well as the spread of communism. Soon, the two nations were in a nuclear arms race, filled with spies and brainwashing. There was a global fear the a nuclear war would erupt at any moment. These tensions were highlighted in 1959 when the Soviets stored nuclear missiles in Cuba, which had recently become a communist country. As the JFK Library stated, the
…show more content…
A seemingly normal couple is chatting about their day while their children play. It is a picturesque look at what appears to be America. The wife does not work, the kids are happy, they have a home- they are living the American Dream. Then, her husband discusses an odd dream he had, and how it meant it was the end of the world as we know it. He states, in an alarmingly calm voice, that the people in his office all had the same dream. The wife seems unsurprised, and confesses that she to had the same dream. It is made clear that every