There are two most famous dystopian novels known. One is “Brave New World’, which we read in class, and the other is “1984” by George Orwell. Both books have main characters who disagree with the idea and policy of the dystopian government. They both are in society from the far future, where everything is different from now. However, how each writer thinks about what a dystopian society will look like and how people will react to it is different.
In “1984”, society suppresses people with fear and violence. The ones who tried to raise their voices against Big Brother-the leader of the society, ‘double-plus-good person’-are tortured and restricted. Citizens there are more likely to be aware of what is wrong with the current government. Also, through the context that’s about how the main character gets tortured and his complaints removed, Orwell directly shows the book is about dystopia. Readers can easily see the citizens suffering and they will be happier if they are free from Big Brother.
“Brave New World” by Huxley has a different approach to telling the audience this is about dystopia. It almost seems that Huxley is promoting the idea that Brave New World is good. In the class, many students were concerned that Huxley was trying to do that. Citizens in the New World are so happy. They are absolutely satisfied with their jobs. The economy is perfect. They are never concerned or depressed. Sentences they are taught during sleep teaching solve every problem. Furthermore, one gram of soma, a pill that magically works in your brain to make you feel absolute euphoria is there for everyone. Everyone belongs to everyone, so no one cries over lover problems, and children are guaranteed to be raised in trained nurses’ hands. This is somehow eutopia, and overall, this book is very confusing. The readers are not sure if they should criticize or defend the New World from Mr. Savage who is bullying poor gammas by taking their soma away.
The idea of Huxley about the future of society was very different from Orwell’s. Orwell thought violence and restriction were needed to control citizens. He believed that people will raise their voices and they will notice easily if something is taking their freedom away. Huxley thought lesser than that was needed to control citizens. That they will not even realize they lost their freedom as long as they are amused. That they are easily deceived if they get what they want and stay in the position where they seem superior to others.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.
(A Quote from Amusing Ourselves to Death, n.d.)
The caste system, soma, and all the other entertainments block people to notice something is wrong with their lives. They are taught to be satisfied and feel superior to the lower castes. Soma and feelies, electronic golf, and promiscuous relationship replace Shakespeare. People don’t need “Othello.”
So what did Huxley try to say through this book? Should we follow the Controller and give up our freedom to take soma and be happy forever? For this question, Huxley clarifies that this book is criticizing the New World in the later chapters.
…Those human maggots swarming round Linda’s bed of death, the endlessly repeated face of his assailants.
…’But how useful!’
(l.195 of Brave New World)
The Controller, in fact, doesn’t care about the wellness of the citizens. He only cares about how “effectively” everything will go. The wellness of the citizens is only taken care of if it’s related to the entire economy. Babies are tortured to hate nature and books. They are happy with countryside sports, but this is not for their own kind, it is to force them to consume transportation. In fact, even this effectiveness is not perfect. Human beings naturally have something that doesn’t work with the Controller’s policy. There are a lot of “errors.” Bernard and Henry Foster are dissatisfied with their jobs. Lenina falls for John and gets obsessed with him, it almost seems like a committed relationship.
At the end of “1984,” the main character gives up the social movement as soon as he gets tortured and is brainwashed. Orwell seemed like he believes in human kinds and the fact they will raise their voices. But in the end, he makes sure that even those cannot survive the violence and will eventually surrender. On the other hand, Huxley’s belief even defends human beings.
John the Savage hangs himself at the very end. He disappears, yet doesn’t get brainwashed and follows the Controller. Some outcasts will be motivated and quote his voice. There still will be “errors,” and they will have an example of how the New World is not for everyone and forced someone to death. It will take a long time for the citizens in the New World to realize something, but John has left something for Lenina and Henry Foster. The movement in “1984” has ended, but the change in “Brave New World” has just started.
He confuses the readers the whole time throughout the book. But the message he is trying to tell us is that despite of how it looks like a eutopia, it can be a trick to deceive you. Just like what he did in the book. Huxley argues that even though we are easily deceived by amusement, there must be errors with the system and it will leave us with something that’s strange. Something strange enough to let us step out of the dystopia.