final essay

Anthony Dionisi
Mrs. Anderson
Composition Honors
2 June 2007
A Dark World or A Brave New World
After and during World War II there were two books written on how the world might be in the future. Both of these books were set in totalitarian worlds. One might see this as the cause of the Nazi party taking control over Europe and the Communist government of Russia. 1984 by George Orwell had the idea that the world would be controlled by fear and hate. In a Brave New World by Aldous Huxley he had the idea that we would become obsessed with technology and controlled by pleasure. Both authors had very different views for the future but both had the idea that we would be controlled in someway or another. But as we look at are world today it seems like Huxley had the right idea about the future.
George Orwell believed that we would live in a world where we were controlled by lies and hate. Orwell saw a dark world with Big brother, telescreens and thought police. Orwell feared that we would be deprived of information and truth. He saw four Ministries in the future. The Ministry of Truth that dealt with making lies so the Party was always right. The Ministry of Peace was involved with conducting Oceania’s never-ending war. The Ministry of Plenty is in charge of rationing all recourses. The final ministry in Orwell’s dark future was the Ministry of Love, which dealt with arrest and torturing disobeyers of the Party. Orwell also believed the world would become a captive culture. As evidence from his book the telescreens, thought police, no individuality and almost no independent thought. In the book we are led thought the life of one of the party member and how he is trapped by this society. The main character believes he has found people against the party and big brother but actually it is all an illusion set up by the Party. So the end of the book reveals the chilling truth that there is no control the Party controls everything, everyone and even gets rid of independent thought. George Orwell believed in a dark and communist like future, but in our world today it is pretty much to the contrary.
Aldous Huxley believed in a future almost opposite to George Orwell but he still believed in a world were there was no control. Huxley saw a more loving and peaceful place. A place where technology was so advanced that people would lose the capacity to think. In his brave new world people were no longer born they were grown in test tubes, and in this world people were actually made for what they do and people are also trained from babies to when they become adults. People are also given all these pleasures like soma, sex, feelies, orgy porgy, which keeps them satisfied so they do not want anything else. Another thing the world state does is us give people the truth but put so much other crap around it the truth becomes irrelevant. Most of what Huxley predicted came true to a point. Today in our news some truths are drowned in irrelevance like something will happen with the government and all the news stations will partly broadcast it but then will broadcast some non-important story about some nobody. Also are world is controlled by pleasure. Sex is everything no a days. As you turn on the TV some thing is about sex or sexual. MTV, Vh1 and hundreds of TV shows and movies have some sexual content; the Internet is also flooded with sexual content. Also eventually technology with get to the point were we can choose what babies will be like and possible not have to give birth anymore.
As one compares at all these thing from 1984 and Brave New World to our world today, it seems very likely that Aldous Huxley’s brave new world might eventually become our world. Huxley feared that the truth would be come irrelevant. There would be no reason for certain things in life. Huxley also believed that our obsession with technology would give us no reason to think and remove our maturity and history. Even though these certain things are not to the scale in Huxley’s book it looks like it might eventually get there. So it seems like Huxley had the right idea.