Comparative Essay | Brave New World, 1984 & The 100
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Course
Engels
Level
VWO / Gymnasium
Book
Brave New World (Pocket Edn)
In the attached document you will find a comparative essay on the books Brave New World (Aldous Huxley), 1984 (George Orwell) and The 100 (Kass Morgan). A comparative Essay means that the books are compared according to different criteria. In this case, all three books are a dystopian novel: A stor...
Escaping from a deadly maze like Thomas or fighting for your life like Katniss in the
Hunger Games might sound like a fictional and made-up story, but a dystopian world
may be closer than you think. For example, if we have a look at communist China.
The government “controls” people’s lives through thousands of cameras and where
opportunities are given or taken away through a point system. Because the dystopian
world is now closer than ever it can be very interesting to have a look at some of the
dystopian novels such as Brave New World, The 100 and 1984 which do not only
have some similarities to our modern world, but also to each other.
To begin with, most dystopian novels want to spread an important message and
warn us about what might happen if the government gets too much power. So do the
Novels mentioned above, where one government or party controls the society
through a network of strict rules. Kass Morgan, the writer of The 100, describes a
Council with the Head Chancellor Jaha who makes the rules and decide whether a
person can live or die. In Brave New World we can see similar concept with
Musthapa Mond and in 1984 with O’Brien and the inner party. However, in The 100
and 1984 the dictatorship is mostly based on spreading fear, while in Brave New
World the government controls ones freedom through constant happiness.
One of the rules to pursue this constant happiness is that the woman in the book
can’t get pregnant. When a child dies or does something bad to their parents this can
cause sadness. To prevent this from happening women can no longer become a
mother. The word mother is therefore horrible. “and remember, my dear young lady,”
he added, leering obscenely at Lenina, and speeking in an improper whisper,
“Remember that, in the reservation, children are still born, yes actually born, revolting
as it may seem.” In The 100 there are also rules about pregnancy. Due the lack of
oxygen on the ships women are not allowed to have more than one child. This rule is
called the Gaia Doctrine. When Bellamy’s mother tells her child that she can’t have
both, son and daughter, she suggests that whether she or the child will be killed if
anyone found out. “You can’t have both. ”She blinked and refocused her gaze on
Bellamy. “You can’t have a mother and a sister.”
Another similarity between the setting of the works is that the citizens are divided into
groups. In 1984 we see a society divided in The Inner Party, The Outer Party and
The Proles. In the 100 The Colony is separated into Phoenix, Walden and Arcadia,
and in Brave New World there are Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons. In
general the groups hate one another although the way this hatred arises is very
different. In Brave New World it is conditioned through hypnosis while sleeping:
“Rosy and relaxed with sleep, eighty little boys and girls lay softly breathing. There
was a whisper under every pillow.” While in The 100 it is more about status and
wealth.
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