The Difference Between the Methods of Control in 1984 and Brave New World

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 of fear and ignorance that is the source of the party's power, thus the slogan: "Ignorance is Strength". This method of control theoretically remains effective as long as the citizen remains both afraid and ignorant, for one cannot exist in 1984's society without the other. Although Winston Smith remained largely ignorant of his own past and future, he was able to rebel because he was not entirely afraid to face the unknown:

"they’ll shoot me I don’t care they’ll shoot me in the back of the neck I don’t care down with big brother they always shoot you in the back of the neck I don’t care down with big brother--" (20)

His bravery and determination is seen again when he pledges his allegiance to the Brotherhood:

"'You are prepared to give your lives? Yes. You are prepared to commit murder? Yes. To commit acts of sabotage which may cause the death of hundreds of innocent people? Yes. To betray your country to foreign powers? Yes." (142)

Because he is no longer afraid, the Party can no longer control his mind, and therefore he is able to at least attempt dissent. In terms of the "love/fear lifeline", it could be argued that Winston's gradual transcendence of fear is catalyzed by his introduction to, and indeed the actual act of, love:

"He wondered vaguely whether in the abolished past it had been a normal experience to lie in bed like this, in the cool summer evening, a man and a woman with no clothes on, making love when they chose, talking when they chose, not feeling any compulsion to get up, simply lying there and listening to peaceful sounds outside." (119)

When separated from Julia, as he is in the ironically named Ministry of Love, Winston again succumbs to fear, which then facilitates his acceptance of ignorance, after which he is powerless to withstand the control of the Party.

As the Party in 1984 used ignorance to control its citizens, so too did the controllers of BRAVE NEW WORLD, combining it not with fear but with mental conditioning. In 1984 we see rudimentary mental conditioning through means of Newspeak and propaganda, using groups such as the Spies and the Junior Anti-Sex League to indoctrinate even the young. The controllers in BRAVE NEW WORLD took this a step further, using advanced mental conditioning techniques to control the mind set and relative intelligence of infants. Since each citizen is by default incapable of rebelling on his or her own, it takes only ignorance to maintain control.

"Mustapha Mond leaned forward, shook a finger at them. 'Just try to realize it,' he said, and his voice sent a strange thrill quivering along their diaphragms. 'Try to realize what it was like to have a viviparous mother.'

That smutty word again. But none of them dreamed, this time, of smiling. Try to imagine what "living with one's family" meant. They tried; but obviously