Oppression
as Exemplified in Brave New World and 1984
"Oppression that cannot be overcome does not
give rise to revolt but to submission." This concept can be clearly seen
in both Brave New World and 1984, even though the
structure of their societies are different. The goal
of their respective governments is the same, total control of society.
The governments us similar tactics of manipulation, with the purpose of
keeping the majority in ignorance and submission.
The governments in 1984 and Brave New World
weakened their citizens
with ignorance and silenced them with fear. In 1984
the proles were considered to be completely without thought, and regarding
the actions of the Party they in fact were. The ignorance of the proles
allowed them to continue on with their lives without the burden of knowledge
of the Party. Those in the Party who had somewhat of an idea of the motives
and deception of the higher members were silenced with the fear of
death and torture. This enabled the party to prevent
a revolt from ever
occurring.
The people who were caught and subjected to torture
were not killed or
injured to confess their crimes, instead they were
physically,
intellectually and emotionally reborn. They loved
the Party and
more importantly they loved Big Brother.
In Brave New World this triumph over the individual
and destruction of
the sprit of man does not happen in the same
way. The citizens in Brave
New World have almost no need to be reborn
to love the Party, or the
State in their case. This is so because they
truly had no human spirit
in the beginning, for without true love and
nurturing from parents and
real interaction with others at young ages,
and without even a real
birth, those in Brave New World do not need
to be changed by the state
because all that they have learned is that
which the state as imbued
them with. There is, however, precautionary
measures of fear, used in
case the preconditioning of an individual was
reversed at some point in
time. The citizens grow up with the fear of
being shipped to a far off
island for a life of intense manual labor if
they do not succumb to
standards of their society. The control of
the people was to assure the
power of the main leaders, such as Big Brother
and the World Controller.
For the societies of 1984 and Brave New World
to exist, the manipulation
of the citizens must occur. In 1984, the Party
has control over
everything, including the minds of its people.
Double think is a kind of
manipulation of the mind, used by the rulers
of Oceania. This makes
people accept contradictions, and believe that
the party is the only
institution that distinguishes between right
and wrong. It denies the
citizens any possibility of questioning rapid
and hypocritical changes
in the policies of the Party. Doublethink ensures
orthodoxy and loyalty
in spite of anything that may occur. The Party
also created newspeak as
a tool to promote and enforce doublethink.
Newspeak manipulates its
citizens into thinking a certain way. The reduction
of words to a bare
minimum, or newspeak, disables the citizens
from producing true thoughts
of their own that may stray from the path of
Big Brother.
In Brave New World the citizens are not only
manipulated into conformed
thoughts, but their behavioral patterns are
preconditioned. They are
sleep taught the laws and rules of their society,
so as to prevent them
from ever producing thoughts that differed
from those of the government.
The children are taught to love the social
status in which they are
granted. This creates stability for the society
as the citizens have no
motives to move up the social scale. The inhabitants
of Brave New World
are indoctrinated, and brainwashed in their
sleep.
Another form of manipulation, yet much less
subtle in both novels, was
the formation and distribution of propaganda.
In 1984 propaganda was
distributed through the use of telescreens
in each room and political
pamphlets. All members of the Party were required
to attend the "Two
Minutes Hate," a propaganda film that repeated
each day. Every year
there was "Hate Week," which was an enormous
propaganda event. In Brave
New World there were propaganda houses which
had vast studies for
emotional engineering. These displays of propaganda
induced the citizens
of Oceania and the State to follow the standards
of each ruler.
In both novels the traditional family is abolished.
Although the reasons
for eliminating parenthood are similar, the
methods in which it is done
are quite distinct. Wanting the citizens to
feel as if the state is
their family is the main reason for abolishing
the family in Brave New
World. If the citizens have family-like ties
to the state then they can
more easily surrender their power to the control
of the government. The
same is true for 1984, although the ties are
implemented between the
citizens and Big Brother. Love for Big Brother
is the key idea in the
Society of 1984, for that keeps the key people
of the Party in control
at all times. In 1984 though, family is not
looked upon as obscene and
unnatural. Conception is still allowed between
specific people. The
difference to normality is the relationships
between children and
parents. It is one of illusion, for the children
are taught to report
the thought crimes of their parents, and they
do so even more willing
then others. In Brave New World there are no
parents at all, for every
man, woman and child are laboratory-grown clones,
bottled and
standardized from the hatchery. This is a significant
difference between
1984 and Brave New World in the lives of their
citizens.
In 1984 sexual conception is permitted and is
regarded as a "duty to the
Party." Whether it be low, middle or high class,
or some form of the
previous, almost all societies have classes
in which each person exits.
In 1984, the classes were that of the inner
Party, the outer Party and
the proles, the majority being with the proles.
The higher the class a
person found themselves in, the more knowledge
they would have of
Oceania and how it worked. With that knowledge
came more responsibility.
Those found in the proles were regarded as
little more than beasts, but
at the same time were allowed more freedom
than any others. They were
not watched over twenty four hours a day, or
even at all. The proles
were allowed to have the freedom of thought
because they were thought to
be incapable of it. Anyone in the party must
have direct and orthodox
thought patterns. All educated citizens were
constantly monitored on
telescreens, in order to prevent "ungood" words
or actions. In Brave New
World the classes were just as distinct. The
Alphas, Betas, Gamma's,
Deltas, and Epsilons were the different levels
of intelligence, the were
also the social order of castes. Each caste
had its own duties that were
to be fulfilled. No one in any class wished
to change over, a result of
hypnopædia. The classes in 1984 kept
most knowledge in the hands of the
inner Party and assured that all jobs, that
could result in destruction
of the party, were confined to elite members.
The castes in Brave New
World created relative stability for the citizens
and allowed the state
to stay in control. Submission and control
of a society can be easily
achieved through the manipulation of its inhabitants.
By using a variety of manipulation tactics,
the governments in both 1984
and Brave New World were able to obtain and
keep control. Both ruling
powers played on the ignorance of its people
while making sure those
with any amount of information were silenced
with fear. Both the Party
and the State used many means of propaganda
to instill lies into the
minds of their public. The governments of 1984
and Brave New World also
changed the family unit, as it was once known,
so that the traditional
love for the family would be replaced with
new love for the Party, Big
Brother, or the State. This was the ultimate
goal. The loss of the
peoples control as well as the peoples blind
devotion for their rulers.
Copyright (c) 2000 123HelpMe.com
Webmaster: Dimitri
Lozovoy
A Comparison of Animal Farm and 1984 of George
Orwell
George Orwell's Animal Farm and
Nineteen
Eighty-four share several
commonalities and dissimilarities. Although
the primary characters of
both Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty- Four
possess similar traits, their
behavioral patterns distinguish them from one
another. The characters of
both novels act in correspondence to their
totalitarian surrounding and
yet, the manner in which they confront their
predicaments varies.
Characters in Animal Farm, such as Napoleon,
Squealer, and Boxer, are
effective compared and contrasted with Big
Brother, Winston, and Parson
of Nineteen Eighty-Four. Nonetheless, George
Orwell utilizes his
similar, yet distinct, characters to unravel
the shared theme of the two
novels, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Napoleon, the leader of all the animals of the
Rebellion, can be
compared and contrasted with Big Brother, the
leader of all the people
of Oceania. After their power is absolute,
both Big Brother and Napoleon
unveil the qualities of a despotic ruler. Similar
to Big Brother,
Napoleon is a furtive plotter who works behind
the scenes rather than
overtly. However, unlike Napoleon, who rests
within the Manor house, Big
Brother periodically appears on the telescreen.
Napoleon and Big Brother
both work continually to undermine and jeopardize
their rivals, whether
it be by removing Snowball or abolishing Rutherford.
Both place emphasis
on elaborate ceremonies and parades to prevent
their prisoners from
thinking about their schemes. Napoleon's control
over animal farm is not
as as intense as Big Brother's control over
Oceania. Although rebels
were hounded by the dogs in Animal Farm, doublethinkers
were not
vaporized.
In the service of their ruler, Squealer and
Winston both revise history.
Winston's task at the Ministry of Truth is
to alter the past to suit the
present. Squealer's duty is to amend the Seven
Commandments also to suit
the present. However, Squealer supports the
views and beliefs of
Napoleon wheras Winston does not support the
rules of Big Brother. Also,
unlike Squealer, Winston was a rebel.
Parson and Boxer are both characterized by their
willingness to work,
constantly volunteering for work whenever something
needed to be done.
Boxer worked vigorously to build the windmill
and Parson labored
endlessly organizing marches and parades. Preparation
for Hate Week was
described a "Processions, meetings, military
parades, lectures, waxwork
displays, film shows, telescreen programs all
had to be organized..."
The most striking between Boxer and Parson
is their blind, unquestioning
faithfulness to their master. At the end, one
is presumably vaporized
and the other is assigned to "Alfred Simmond's,
Horse
Slaughter and Glue Boiler",
to "Willington, Dealer in Hides and Bone-Meal.
Kennels Supplied." They were
both victims of absolute power.
The common theme of the two novels, absolute
power corrupts absolutely,
is developed by characterization. It is stated
in Nineteen Eighty-four
that "The two aims of the Party are to conquer
the whole surface of the
earth and to extinguish once and for all the
possibility of independent
thought." The purpose of Napoleon and Big Brother
was to establish a
tyrannical government. They were despotic rulers,
determined to maintain
their civilization within their grasp. They
psychologically brainwashed
each of their subjects and compelled them to
labor ceaselessly. At the
end, devotees such as Boxer and Parson are
destroyed simply because they
are expendable. The traits of Parson and Boxer
represented the humble
portion of society overcome by absolute power.
Winston Smith's
"...struggle was finished. He had won the victory
over himself. He loved
Big Brother."
The characters in Animal Farm and Nineteen
Eighty-Four possess similar
and distinct characteristics which contributes
in the development of
theme. Big Brother and Napoleon, unrelenting
and sly, established a
totalitarian government. Winston, Boxer, and
Parson are subdued by the
absolute power.
Copyright (c) 2000 123HelpMe.com
Webmaster: Dimitri
Lozovoy