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 required to attend the "Two Minutes Hate," a

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.