INTRODUCTION
Research Question
How have comparisons of modern America to the dystopian societies of 1984 and Brave New World affected people’s perception of the US government?
Significance
After reading Brave New World in AP Language and Composition last year, we wrote an argumentative paper about whether today’s society was more similar to the World State in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World or Oceania in George Orwell’s 1984. As I wrote the paper, I realized that the majority of the comparisons that I could draw between our society and either of the aforementioned dystopian societies were related to the government. This year, a few days before I had to brainstorm a topic for my senior thesis, I watched a TED-Ed YouTube video called “What ‘Orwellian’ …show more content…
Citizens who defy the will of the government disappear, all media is government controlled, and history is modified to align with the ideology of the party. Even language is manipulated by the government through the use of “doublespeak” and “newspeak” that limits a citizen’s thoughts and vocabulary (Orwell).
In the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, citizens of the World State are kept in a constant state of numb happiness through the use of a drug called Soma and recreational orgies. Citizens are conditioned from birth to align with the ideals of the World State and society is fragmented into rigid social castes. Forms of classical entertainment (i.e. books, plays, magazines) no longer exist and members of society engage in mindless entertainment such as “centrifugal bumble-puppy” and “the feelies” that prevent them from ever questioning the oppressive government …show more content…
Most people, even if they have never read 1984 are familiar with Big Brother and the phrase “Big Brother is watching you” (Orwell), due to the fact that any form of intense surveillance is usually compared to this aspect of Oceania. Because Brave New World is lesser known than 1984, there are far fewer explicit comparisons in the news. Instead, the mention of mindless consumption of reality television and constant attention to technology suggest a modern-day connection to Brave New World that makes the novel seem far more relevant to today’s society than at first
Research Question
How have comparisons of modern America to the dystopian societies of 1984 and Brave New World affected people’s perception of the US government?
Significance
After reading Brave New World in AP Language and Composition last year, we wrote an argumentative paper about whether today’s society was more similar to the World State in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World or Oceania in George Orwell’s 1984. As I wrote the paper, I realized that the majority of the comparisons that I could draw between our society and either of the aforementioned dystopian societies were related to the government. This year, a few days before I had to brainstorm a topic for my senior thesis, I watched a TED-Ed YouTube video called “What ‘Orwellian’ …show more content…
Citizens who defy the will of the government disappear, all media is government controlled, and history is modified to align with the ideology of the party. Even language is manipulated by the government through the use of “doublespeak” and “newspeak” that limits a citizen’s thoughts and vocabulary (Orwell).
In the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, citizens of the World State are kept in a constant state of numb happiness through the use of a drug called Soma and recreational orgies. Citizens are conditioned from birth to align with the ideals of the World State and society is fragmented into rigid social castes. Forms of classical entertainment (i.e. books, plays, magazines) no longer exist and members of society engage in mindless entertainment such as “centrifugal bumble-puppy” and “the feelies” that prevent them from ever questioning the oppressive government …show more content…
Most people, even if they have never read 1984 are familiar with Big Brother and the phrase “Big Brother is watching you” (Orwell), due to the fact that any form of intense surveillance is usually compared to this aspect of Oceania. Because Brave New World is lesser known than 1984, there are far fewer explicit comparisons in the news. Instead, the mention of mindless consumption of reality television and constant attention to technology suggest a modern-day connection to Brave New World that makes the novel seem far more relevant to today’s society than at first