Where is the hope?

With progress, whether it be technological, scientific, or literary, there comes changes. Social alterations, lifestyle changes, different communication styles, new governing bodies with new ideals. It is the prospect of these eventual changes that spurs many authors to write works of literature illustrating the potential for oppression, false happiness, and complete ignorance. Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451, Ayn Rand wrote Anthem, Yevgeny Zamyatin wrote We, and most famously, Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World, and George Orwell wrote 1984. Every single one of these novels follows the same general format: oppressive government, unhappy main character, unhappy side character, act of rebellion, governmental attack of the perpetrator, and then it's up to the author whether or not the rebel fails or succeeds. Yet, despite the repetitive dystopia archetype, every single one of these novels has a different message, perhaps more accurately a warning. These novels are not meant to be something that the reader "reads and leaves." They are written to stay with you, as a little reminder of what could potentially happen if you allow yourself to be manipulated or distracted and lose sight of the importance of individuality and "freedom."

In the case of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, both men created novels in which there is a present oppression, but entirely different factors are maintaining the oppression. As stated by the author of the essay "Conclusion: The Two Futures: A.F. 632 and 1984", "Huxley makes the point that terror is less efficient than pleasure; the stick is less guarantee of stability than the carrot"(120). Orwell, unlike Huxley, designed a society in which fear and pain keep the citizens of Oceania from outwardly disobeying the rules of Big Brother. Huxley focused more on the "carrot," the pleasure aspect of humanity, and how we gravitate toward things that make us feel good. Although both governments are "stable," in A.F. 632 the government is more stable in that it is created and dictated by the people according to their wants and conditioning, while 1984 is based upon the manipulation of the people to make them believe Big Brother is the supreme power in their lives. In both stories there is a cautionary note, a warning that if we continue to move forward as we are, toward new technologies and more than likely war, we have to be even more aware of the happenings in the world, and more diligent in our attempts to remain individuals who are part of a democracy.

Reading both 1984 and Brave New World, either situation has potential in our current society, and if one were to look closely, may already be happening. Pain and pleasure already dictate what we do or do not act upon in life. We are governed by our own materialist desires, our avoidance of pain, and our "need" for revenge upon those who wrong us. We get the latest and greatest computers, phones, cars, 3-in-1 appliances. We go to war with nations based upon suspicions and anger. We fear the government keeping tabs on our lives through our emails and phone conversations through the Patriot Act. We watch news stations that only tell half the truth and are guilty of rampant doublespeak. And yet we say we are educated, generous, individual, safe people. If we are not careful, we will turn into a 1984- Brave New World combination. It says in the essay "A.F. 632 and 1984", that"Both have obliterated the past and have destroyed all books that might bear witness to it, though in Huxley's world state the past has officially ceased to be recognized at all, whereas in Nineteen Eighty-Four the past still survives, though not necessarily the past as it actually occurred"(123-124). As a nation, as a collective humanity, we need to fight against the manipulation that occurs everyday in our lives, we need to be aware of what occurs around us, and we need to make sure that we remain individuals with the knowledge that we need to maintain the limitations placed upon our governments.

We cannot allow ourselves to be manipulated and altered in the ways that every dystopia novel abuses its humanity. these novels were written to open our eyes to the situations that happen everyday in our world, but that we may be too preoccupied or ignorant to acknowledge. Huxley and Orwell have both written novels that should prepare us to fight against situations such as those posed in their novels. Both works are fairly hopeless, yet, with that hopelessness, perhaps we will be more inclined to fight, to find that happy ending that we crave so deeply. Otherwise, "if and when we actually do enter those new and terrible worlds, it will at least be with our eyes open"(128). What is so fearful and hopeless in these novels is the basic knowledge that we allowed these societies to occur, and brought that oppression and ignorance upon ourselves.