Submission Of Societies Essay, Research Paper
Submission of Societies Nicole Simes – English 11
"Oppression that cannot be overcome does not give rise to
revolt but to submission." This concept can be clearly seen in
both Brave New World and 1984, even though the structure
of their societies are different. The goal of their respective
governments is the same, total control of society. The
governments use similar tactics of manipulation, with the
purpose of keeping the majority in ignorance and
submission. The governments in 1984 and Brave New
World weakened their citizens with ignorance and silenced
them with fear. In 1984 the proles were considered to be
completely without thought, and regarding the actions of the
Party they in fact were. The ignorance of the proles allowed
them to continue on with their lives without the burden of
knowledge of the Party. Those in the Party who had
somewhat of an idea of the motives and deception of the
higher members were silenced with the fear of death and
torture. This enabled the party to prevent a revolt from ever
occurring. The people who were caught and subjected to
torture were not killed or injured to confess their crimes,
instead they were physically, intellectually and emotionally
reborn. They loved the Party and more importantly they
loved Big Brother. In Brave New World this triumph over
the individual and destruction of the sprit of man does not
happen in the same way. The citizens in Brave New World
have almost no need to be reborn to love the Party, or the
State in their case. This is so because they truly had no
human spirit in the beginning, for without true love and
nurturing from parents and real interaction with others at
young ages, and without even a real birth, those in Brave
New World do not need to be changed by the state because
all that they have learned is that which the state as imbued
them with. There is, however, precautionary measures of
fear, used in case the preconditioning of an individual was
reversed at some point in time. The citizens grow up with the
fear of being shipped to a far off island for a life of intense
manual labor if they do not succumb to the standards of their
society. The control of the people was to assure the power
of the main leaders, such as Big Brother and the World
Controller. For the societies of 1984 and Brave New World
to exist, the manipulation of the citizens must occur. In 1984,
the Party has control over everything, including the minds of
its people. Double think is a kind of manipulation of the
mind, used by the rulers of Oceania. This makes people
accept contradictions, and believe that the party is the only
institution that distinguishes between right and wrong. It
denies the citizens any possibility of questioning rapid and
hypocritical changes in the policies of the Party. Doublethink
ensures orthodoxy and loyalty in spite of anything that may
occur. The Party also created newspeak as a tool to
promote and enforce doublethink. Newspeak manipulates its
citizens into thinking a certain way. The reduction of words
to a bare minimum, or newspeak, disables the citizens from
producing true thoughts of their own that may stray from the
path of Big Brother. In Brave New World the citizens are
not only manipulated into conformed thoughts, but their
behavioral patterns are preconditioned. They are sleep
taught the laws and rules of their society, so as to prevent
them from ever producing thoughts that differed from those
of the government. The children are thought to love the
social status in which they are granted. This creates stability
for the society as the citizens have no motives to move up
the social scale. The inhabitants of Brave New World are
indoctrinated, and brainwashed in their sleep. Another form
of manipulation, yet much less subtle in both novels, was the
formation and distribution of propaganda. In 1984
propaganda was distributed through the use of telescreens in
each room and political pamphlets. All members of the Party
were requir
propaganda film that repeated each day. Every year there
was "Hate Week," which was an enormous propaganda
event. In Brave New World there were propaganda houses
which had vast studies for emotional engineering. These
displays of propaganda induced the citizens of Oceania and
the State to follow the standards of each ruler. In both
novels the traditional family is abolished. Although the
reasons for eliminating parenthood are similar, the methods
in which it is done are quite distinct. Wanting the citizens to
feel as if the state is their family is the main reason for
abolishing the family in Brave New World. If the citizens
have family-like ties to the state then they can more easily
surrender their power to the control of the government. The
same is true for 1984, although the ties are implemented
between the citizens and Big Brother. Love for Big Brother
is the key idea in the Society of 1984, for that keeps the key
people of the Party in control at all times. In 1984 though,
family is not looked upon as obscene and unnatural.
Conception is still allowed between specific people. The
difference to normality is the relationships between children
and parents. It is one of illusion, for the children are taught to
report the thought crimes of their parents, and they do so
even more willing then others. In Brave New World there
are no parents at all, for every man, woman and child are
laboratory-grown clones, bottled and standardized from the
hatchery. This is a significant difference between 1984 and
Brave New World in the lives of their citizens. In 1984
sexual conception is permitted and is regarded as a "duty to
the Party." Whether it be low, middle or high class, or some
form of the previous, almost all societies have classes in
which each person exits. In 1984, the classes were that of
the inner Party, the outer Party and the proles, the majority
being with the proles. The higher the class a person found
themselves in, the more knowledge they would have of
Oceania and how it worked. With that knowledge came
more responsibility. Those found in the proles were regarded
as little more than beasts, but at the same time were allowed
more freedom than any others. They were not watched over
twenty four hours a day, or even at all. The proles were
allowed to have the freedom of thought because they were
thought to be incapable of it. Anyone in the party must have
direct and orthodox thought patterns. All educated citizens
were constantly monitored on telescreens, in order to
prevent "ungood" words or actions. In Brave New World
the classes were just as distinct. The Alphas, Betas,
Gamma?s, Deltas, and Epsilons were the different levels of
intelligence, the were also the social order of castes. Each
caste had its own duties that were to be fulfilled. No one in
any class wished to change over, a result of hypnopeadia.
The classes in 1984 kept most knowledge in the hands of
the inner Party and assured that all jobs, that could result in
destruction of the party, were confined to elite members.
The castes in Brave New World created relative stability for
the citizens and allowed the state to stay in control.
Submission and control of a society can be easily achieved
through the manipulation of its inhabitants. By using a variety
of manipulation tactics, the governments in both 1984 and
Brave New World were able to obtain and keep control.
Both ruling powers played on the ignorance of its people
while making sure those with any amount of information
were silenced with fear. Both the Party and the State used
many means of propaganda to instill lies into the minds of
their public. The governments of 1984 and Brave New
World also changed the family unit, as it was once known,
so that the traditional love for the family would be replaced
with new love for the Party, Big Brother, or the State. This
was the ultimate goal. The loss of the peoples control as well
as the peoples blind devotion for their rulers.