1984 And Brave New World Compare and Contrast Essay

The Similarities and Differences of 1984 and Brave New World

Authors George Orwell and Aldous Huxley of 1984 and Brave New World respectively, showcase their visions of the future in a very distinct manner. Technically, a dystopia is a society that is the same as a utopia regarding design, but it functions in an opposite manner, that is, something that is terrifying than in a utopia. The novels have both similarities and differences which stem from the society the authors lived in during their time. This paper will be on the analysis of the similarities and differences of the two mentioned books.<\/p>

1984

1984 is a novel by George Orwell, written in 1948. The book describes life in Oceania, a society where vast party apparatus control everything and everyone by using manipulation, fear, and hate of information. Minitrue (or the Ministry of Truth) aimed at changing documents which had a historical value to control what was both in the present and the future. In the book, fear is an element that is visibly used by the Party, and citizens have been subjected to live in fearful obedience. A factor such as sex in the Oceanic society is portrayed with hatred, an activity that only has a biological function which is abstract. The novel introduces us to the main character, Winston, who is no longer at ease with living in the collective society that existed. As such, he performs a rebellious act of having an affair with a woman he works with. Whatever Winston does serves as an example of the struggle the people were dealing with, the longing to be an individual instead of living in a collective society.<\/p>

Brave New World

In the Brave New World, the author describes a society that is well-balanced, with everything being controlled, even reproduction. Huxley goes further in his imagination on scientific advancements. In his World State, people are brought into existence and formed in non-natural wombs. Also, there some things like ’the feelies,’ an inference of today’s cinema (Farag 55-61). However, the knowledge of mechanization seems to have not dawned on him, so that people are grown to toil in operating elevators or factories. Again, however, the author is not trying to show a clear picture of the far future and what life would be like then; he is giving details of the impacts of the elements on human nature (Keisman 10). The controllers of the world oversee the world state in the novel. The society here is in castes which came into existence through reproductive sciences and genetics. For stimulation, the citizens as illustrated by Huxley create entertainment that is mindless such as orgies (Durden 1). The sexual freedom in the novel resembles what we have today.<\/p>

The two novels have different dystopic futures, which were both made due to fear that dominated the people at that time. Both novels have abolished the values that we consider essential to us, such as family. Instead of individualism, most social institutions are controlled by the State (McGrath 1). The books are also similar in that both authors reduced the aspect of human feelings in their work, and showed a society where people treat each other more like objects than human beings. The two novels both interestingly address similar issues of language, production, control, and sex amongst others, but they treat them differently. The message from both novels presents warnings in the form of predictive elements (Smith 1). For instance, 1984, to a significant extent, resembles a more current Soviet Russia. An equally important similarity to note is that both the novels, propaganda is the primary tool through which the governments exercise power and control over the people. The people are made afraid of actually living and thinking individually because the State has strongly discouraged such ideas.<\/p>

The two books differ in that, Orwell showcases fear for those who deprive the society of information, whereas Huxley feared that in a world full of irrelevance, the truth might be drowned. The difference in the men\u2019s fear illustrates how different their societies were. Moreover, the novels differ in that Orwell does not project his future on matters of technology and its advancements, but only focuses on the society of Oceania. Huxley, however, gives an insight into the future and possible technologies that can be realized.<\/p>

In a nutshell, the authors of 1984 and Brave New World lived at slightly different times, and they had both experienced the effects of the wars that took place in history. With this in mind, they created a future that they thought the world would turn out to be if a similar trend in politics, especially, should go on. The predictive messages of the future that is presented by the authors were warnings about how the world could turn to be. The period of their writing contributes the dystopic features that set a difference between the two novels, and the futures were mainly made due to fear that had been instilled in them.<\/p>

Works Cited

Durden, Tyler. “Prisons of Pleasure or Pain: Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’” ZeroHedge. 3 Mar 2018. Web 1 June 2018. https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-01/prisons-pleasure-or-pain-huxleys-brave-new-world-vs-orwells-1984 

Farag, Ahmed. ”Enslavement and Freedom in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.” Academic journals. Vol. 7 (4), pp 57-61)

Keisman, Molly. ”Power and Control in Brave New World and 1984,“Prologue: A First-Year Writing Journal: Vol. 8, 2016; Article 4

McGrath, Charles. ”Which Dystopian Novel Got it Right: Orwell’s ‘1094’ or Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’?” New York Times, 23. Feb 2017, Web. 1. June 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/13/books/review/which-dystopian-novel-got-it-right-orwells-1984-or-huxleys-brave-new-world.html

Smith, Kyle. ”Brave New World (is here)” New York Times, 29, April 2012. Web. 1 June 2018. https://nypost.com/2012/04/29/brave-new-world-is-here/