Children of Brave New World and 1984

Children in many stories are depicted as small and insignificant, but in 1984 and Brave New World they are much more. The governments in both books realized that the power lies within the kids. Both governments figured out that if they could control the children they would control the future. Both governments went about gaining their power in slightly different ways, but each method was very powerful. The children in both Brave New World and 1984 are taught their belief systems by their government, but the children who live in 1984 are much more of a danger to those living in their society.

In the Brave New World the children are brainwashed from the moment they are able to comprehend speech. The adults in Brave New World created a very powerful way to teach their children to believe the ideals they wished them to. The adults would play a recording of the target idea over and over while the children slept. The government teaches the children to be happy with there placement in the cast system. A whisper box says to the sleeping children, “Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they’re so frightfully clever. I’m really awfully glad I’m a Beta, because I don’t work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no I don’t want to play with Delta children” (Huxley, 27-28.) This clip is teaching the children that there is no reason to have desire to be in a different cast. The government also teaches the children there promiscuity and other values in this same manor. The plus to this method is that the children grow up peacefully and completely under the government control.

The children of 1984 are also brainwashed, but they are taught radically different ideas. The ridiculous behavior is cherished by the government, and is outwardly praised. The children in Oceania were granted free rein of their lives. They were taught that to be a Thought Criminal or a traitor was a terrible act. The children formed groups of spies that would roam the streets looking an adult to harass. These children are brainwashed by their educators to believe that Big Brother is number one, and no one else can compare to him. These kids get very nasty in their following of Big Brother. To be accused of thought crime is a very serious offence in Oceania, and the children treat it like a simple name to yell at someone.

These wild children create a monstrous danger to the society they live in. The crazy thing is that these children pose no threat to their government. They are exactly what the government wants, kids fired up about following Big Brother and his ways. The groups of spies give the children power in numbers, and they use it. The book describes,

“What was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the Party. On the contrary, they adored the Party and everything connected with it. The songs, the processions, the banners, the hiking,