Similarities Between 1984 And 1984

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Recommended: Essays on dystopian literature

Aldous Huxley 's Brave New World, George Orwell 's 1984, and Anthony Burgess ' A Clockwork Orange all present a distinct, multi-faceted dystopia. Elements of the human psyche are exploited in order to preserve each civilization. Any threat of defiance is thoroughly investigated and the three governments engage strategies to handle them. Although the customs and laws are different in the respective societies, each demonstrates the extremes of behavior, the power of conditioning, and the innate need to belong. Orwell, Burgess, and Huxley present a metamorphosis for their protagonists to display that radicals are bound to emerge in authoritarian governments, but often eventually succumb to its command. In 1984, Winston 's insubordination escalates …show more content…

Normative social influence, the pressure to conform in order to be accepted by others, is the reason the characters behave in certain ways. At the close of A Clockwork Orange, Alex is re-conditioned to be like his former self, once again committing crimes. However, when he sees his old friend, Pete, with a wife and plans for a family, his goals change. Because of this encounter, Alex considers "finding some devotchka...who would be a mother to [his future] son" (Burgess 212). After seeing how his peers have matured since he was released from prison, Alex is emboldened to settle down and be more like an adult as well. Likewise, Winston is compelled to include himself into the melee of the Two Minutes Hate. He concedes that "to dissemble your feelings...to do what everyone else was doing, was...instinctive" (Orwell 18). Although Winston is also throwing off suspicion, he knows he is incapable of resisting anyway, demonstrating conformity is inherent. Moreover, Brave New World depicts an attempt to create a perfectly uniform population in both appearance and acuity. From an early age, children are exposed through hypnopaedia to phrases like " 'Alpha children wear grey...[Gammas] wear green, and Delta children wear khaki '" (Huxley 27). This conditioning instills in every child that one belongs to a certain caste and their group is the best to be in. Each human is predestined to be in a specific class, unable to move between ranks, and is forced to

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