Methods of Control in 1984 and Brave New World Anonymous

The difference between the methods of control in 1984 and BRAVE NEW WORLD is the difference between external control by force and internal control, enforced only by the citizen's own mind. While 1984's method has real-world precedent and seems more feasible to the modern reader, in the end it boils down to the oppression of a people whose human nature at its very core demands freedom. No amount of dictatorial force can eliminate this basic human desire. BRAVE NEW WORLD, therefore, sets out to take the idea of control to the next level, doing away with the need for forceful control by controlling the very nature of humans themselves. Although we see more dissent in BRAVE NEW WORLD, in the long run 1984's system is more vulnerable to uprising because it fails to control its subjects in the true sense that BRAVE NEW WORLD does.

The Party in 1984 implemented two complimentary methods of controlling its citizens: fear and ignorance. The citizens' self-induced paranoia would produce its own fear, which would then perpetuate ignorance. The two need each other to survive, their relationship like that of plants an animals, each producing something the other needs to survive (oxygen, carbon dioxide). It is the combination...