A.C. Ward is one of many scholars who have taken an interest in the similarities and differences in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwell's 1984 in his essay, "Conclusion: The Two Futures: A.F. 632 and 1984". These dystopian novels have been referred to as "the same" to the untrained thinker and evaluator. ( I can’t tell you how many other students will ask me “why do we have to read these two books, they are exactly the same?”) Ward attempts to validate these people's assumption as well as provide logical information to show that each book reflects a different future based in the same warnings and principle. It is obvious that each book was written with a message in mind, a warning to the future when the present was in disarray with the world at war and the threat of relentless dictators coming to power. The message was, in simplest terms: make changes, avoid corruption and do not let this become your future, detect the warning signs and save yourselves from this tragic fate (whether it is Big Brother or World State). Although the warning is the same, the context in which each future is prophesied is quite different as Ward compares and contrasts the two eye-opening novels in his essay.
A crucial difference presented in the governments of each unfortunate future is the controlling and oppressing power of Big Brother in comparison to the very structured caste system of World State. In Brave New World the people are so well conditioned that no violent force is needed, the government simply overlooks the people who instinctively know what to do from birth, they are not stripped of power and oppressed because they never knew such opportunities. Huxley refers to Orwell's future as "simply not efficient and, all other things being equal, efficiency leads to stability as inefficiency leads away from it" (119) (Of course, Huxley himself states that he did not have the aid of writing his novel after seeing the power a dictator could gain such as that of Hitler). Clearly we can see from history, as well as current day governments, that dictatorships can survive and gain a frightening amount of power. However Huxley did not argue their power, but their efficiency and stability. The well structure future presented in Brave New World ran like clock work, there was not a person out of place and everyone did their job, supported their caste, and ultimately this balance created a state of extreme stability. There was no real progress, except in the increase of the number of people decanted, but everyone served their predestined purpose, nothing was out of line (until the Savage came and briefly through their world out of balance, but ultimately it did not last). Then one looks at the future provided in 1984 and basically the whole world ran on fear: fear that your children are spying on you, fear of committing thought crime even in your dreams, and the fear of the unknown secrecy of the government. All of these concerns and worries must be buried deep inside the individual until they soon become mindless workers who train themselves to believe everything they hear, no matter how many times the truth changes. Doublespeak in itself produced inefficiency and instability as the meanings are not literal often not clear. The government in 1984 works, this comes as no surprise as we currently see that China, North Korea, and Cuba all exist under a dictator. These countries are not as extreme as Big Brother, but they show the possibility for such a future to occur. The threat of oppression is powerful, but it does not produce the stability that World State has created removing the instinct to rebel, they are conditioned from birth and know nothing else outside of what they are taught. On the other hand, in an Orwellian future, by removing freedom and crushing the people it provokes the rebellious free thinker (who clings to the past they refuse to forget) to fight for the freedom they know can once again exist.
Huxley then goes on to argue the point that pleasure leads to stability, which he find to be key in the realistic possibility of his depiction of the future, rather than a future control solely by terror as Orwell has depicted. "...the lust for power can be equally well satisfied by inflicting a humiliating pleasure rather than a humiliating pain; and the power of pleasure has the advantage of being more stabilizing" (120). In the simplest terms, people naturally are more responsive to something they feel is enjoyable rather than something that hurts them, but both can be manipulated as powerful tools. The people of World State believe they are happy because they know nothing outside of the world set up for them. They feel as though they have free will because "everyone belongs to everyone", they can take a soma holiday, and play numerous leisure sports such as obstacle golf. They are conditioned to feel this way and believe that they are doing as they please. In Orwell's portrayal of the future there is torture, the threat of being monitored at all times, and the constant state of "war" to unite the people and make them dependent on their government and Big Brother. There is no escape from Big Brother, if one commits a crime they will be re-educated and eventually vaporized, there is no acceptance of the free thinker’s beliefs, no island where they can be an individual and work peacefully with colleagues. There is no exception to Big Brother; the government seeks corruption of every individual, body and mind. This is clearly a much more difficult task than simply conditioning the individual from birth and thus seems impossible to accomplish. There will always be someone to catch, because there will always be that one individual, if not numerous individuals, who will not take kindly to a restriction of their freedom and try to change world order.
On the other hand, as Ward points out, it is ironic that any remote similarities between the two books are reversed parallels of each other. World State has removed the past entirely, annihilating its very existence and conditioning the people to ignore this matter and stay away from any reading material that may otherwise provoke thought and questions. In Orwell's world, books are available to anyone who wishes to read them, however they are all published under the control of the government and change everyday so that Big Brother is always right. Both worlds are similar because they remove any trace of the actual past from the world and they both succeed because of their certain degrees of conditioning, one from birth and one by force. While Huxley's world seems more organized, both futures seem to progress in the same direction and eventually Big Brother would achieve the same level of conditioning as Brave New World if O'Brien's plan came to fruition "...to produce ...a 'new man', a man almost as new as the genetically engineered and scientifically conditioned new man in Huxley's novel" (124). The comparison between Mond and O'Brien is also chilling as both seem to be reasonable down-to-earth individuals with a curious interest in the rebel at hand. However, the worlds that separates these characters shows their ultimate difference as Mond recites Shakespeare with John, O'Brien shocks and beats Winston. The pleasure and peacefulness of one corrupt world over the violent terror and fear of another are what divide the two character's similarities. Both conduct experiments, Mond uses John to see how he can adapt and survive in a world unlike his own and O'Brien breaks Winston's spirit by physical torture rather than the emotional destruction that leads John to suicide. In a way both men are responsible for death, although Winston survived, his life is useless and pointless, when his spirit and his lust for rebellion died the Winston Smith we followed through the novel died as well.
It is more than evident that Ward finds Huxley's prediction more realistic than Orwell's and uses Huxley's own words to support his argument. However, on a much larger scale, it does not matter which book seems more realistic, or which one evokes the most fear in the reader. Both authors strived to show society what the world was slowly becoming. They did not pull this idea out of thin air; they were motivated by the state of the world and were compelled to warn everyone of the future that would become reality without change. Today we can see that these warnings are not to far off the mark as each day technology improves, the state of war keeps the country united in fear toward foreigners, and privacy is becoming less and less existent because the government feels it has the rights to intervene for our safety. We can now see the warning signs all around us, Huxley and Orwell have done their job, it is up to us to listen. Both scenarios are different yet possible, there is something to be said when none of the potential heroes "save the day" as we expect (these are clearly not written by the Disney Corporation). This is no simple matter; if the strongest willed individuals cannot make a difference then action must be taken now to avoid either dystopian fate.
Works Cited:
Conclusion: The Two Futures: A.F. 632 and 1984
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