Alpha+Wiki+(Brave+New+World)


 * Comparison of 1984 and Brave New World**

//1984// and //Brave New World// both contain dystopias in which individual freedom has been taken away by the state, but the two texts are very different thematically. The principal differences between the dystopia of //1984// and that of //Brave New World// can be found in the methods of control that each government uses and in larger questions that each hypothetical society raises. The Party’s primary methods of control are fear and pain: it keeps people under constant surveillance, creates the illusion that the state is infallible and omnipotent, and encourages people to channel their anguish and hate at external enemies. Though the Party uses some technological advancements, such as “telescreens,” most of their methods are brutally familiar, and the majority of citizens (the proles and the Outer Party) are forced to live in squalor. In //Brave New World//, however, the government’s main weapon is not the power to induce fear but the ability to bombard people with happiness. The government, called the World State, uses drugs, conditioning, and technological diversions to keep people in a state of ignorant complacency. //Brave New World// is also more of a science fiction novel than //1984//, and the World State utilizes numerous futuristic technologies to impose a blissful haze upon the society it controls. //1984// and //Brave New World// also raise different ethical questions, and their respective authors have dissimilar views of human nature. However, the philosophical issues of truth, morality, relativism, and freedom are especially important in both texts. Both authors also comment on language and how it relates to thought. Hopefully the comparison below will provoke questions about the two texts and about the ideas they discuss. This first section of the comparison details the methods of control that both governments use and discusses. The second section explores the deeper philosophical and political issues that are concealed in the two novels and how they relate to each other.

Part 1: Methods of control Part 2: Larger philosophical questions

Questions to think about
 * How are //Brave New World// and //1984// relevant to society today? In what ways have their respective authors predicted the future?
 * How do //Brave New World// and //1984// comment on human nature? What do these have in common, and how are they different? Do you believe that either of these views are correct, or are they outdated?
 * How do the two books handle technology differently?
 * How do both books handle the idea of relativism? For example, compare Orwell’s emphasis on subjective reality to Huxley’s emphasis on subjective standards of morality and happiness.
 * What function does sexuality serve in both novels? How does this relate to each dystopia?
 * Compare Fordism to the hero-worship of Big Brother. What purpose do these two religions serve in each society? How are they similar, and how do they differ?
 * Has society become more or less like //Brave New World// since the time of its writing? What about //1984// ?
 * Both books can be interpreted as a social criticism of events that were going on while they were being written—whom does each text speak out against?