Governmental Control: A Brave New World

The fear of government control is a leitmotif in many dystopian literature stories; therefore, strong, oppressive central governments feature prominently in this genre. Both Brave New World and 1984 provide examples of this type of government, which superficially appear to be quite different. Although the outward aspects of these governments appear to be in opposition, they both use conditioning and societal manipulation to maintain control of their citizens in worlds affected by industrialization.

In Brave New World, conditioning begins before birth. There they acclimate each fetus to their caste and career. They deprive members of lower castes of oxygen in order to ensure they do not possess the mental capacity to challenge their status. As explained by the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, “Nothing like oxygen-shortage to keep an embryo below par” (Huxley, 24). They also condition the embryos to enjoy their pre-selected work environment. For example, they use hard X-rays combined with cold to make those embryos destined to work in hot environments want to work in these environments (25-26). They do this, because as the Director elaborates, “that is the secret of happiness and virtue--liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny” (26).

In Oceania, on the other hand, they have not yet developed techniques to condition embryos, however if they had the techniques they would definitely use them, just as they endorse the techniques they have available to use on children. As O'Brien informs Winston, “in the future there will be no wives and no children

In Brave New World, they use neo-Pavlovian conditioning to link things the government wants them to avoid...

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... ensures beyond a doubt that party members agree with the party. When the thought police take Winston to the Ministry of Truth, they starve him to the point of not recognizing himself (581). They proceed to torture him so long that to Winston it seems unending. In the end, he views his torturer O'Brien with affection and at the end it states, “He loved Big Brother” (638). He has been broken and has no further desire to challenge anything the party says.

Although the methods used by Oceania in 1984 to maintain control of their citizens are much more violent and fear inducing than those practiced by the World Government in Brave New World, they both seek to maintain power in an industrialized world.

Works Cited

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World & Brave New World Revisited. 1932. New York: HarperPerennial, 1965.

Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Signet-Penguin, 1949.