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Huxley V. Orwell

Decent Essays

Brave New World v. 1984 June 8, 2011 It is no question that both Huxley and Orwell were displeased with our societal norms by their predictions in Brave New World and 1984. However, the two famous novels could not have differed more in their visions of tomorrow. Huxley portrays a nation of pleasure addicted, mindless beings merely existing. Orwell illustrated such a strict regime that the pursuit of knowledge would be banned and our voices would be silenced. Imagine living in a world without mothers and fathers, a soceity full of faceless human clones. This is the society illistarted in Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel Brave New World. Huxley describes a futuristic society that has an alarming effect of dehumanization. This occurs …show more content…

And, more importantly, Orwell warns that at the time, this outcome was within the realm of possibility as long as the world supported and embraced communism. In 1984 telescreens were in all public and private places, so the populace could be watched to prevent crime. In modern society surveillance cameras are in most buildings (operated by businesses), and in some public streets (operated by police) to prevent crime. Although most of these cameras are operated by private businesses instead of our intrusive government, the end result is the same. Although it may sound like a conspiracy theory, this is just one way or daily lives are monitored. It seems privacy has become nothing more than an idea. Both 1984 and Brave New World offered bleak predictions for the future of our society. In some aspects each prediction offers a bit of truth. I think that 1984 is the more effective work of literature; I think that in many ways Huxley's vision is more relevant to our current postmodern capitalist society. Our society doesn't operate as a top-down totalitarian regime, but rather as a permissive culture that operates under a pervasive injuction to pursue our endless wants. Although the present day is not exactly how Huxley had envisioned it, our society will soon reflect the one created in Brave New World if it continues to progress as it had in the past few decades. Orwell's prediction does

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