After reading Brave New World, I noticed some similarities between Huxley's book and Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. Both were dystopias, examples of totalitarian control, and societies that were crumbling due to an obsession with the pursuit of happiness. In Fahrenheit 451, this was done through exposing one's self to danger or distracting yourself with constant immersion in television, while in Brave New World this happiness was achieved through the use of soma and destruction of monogamy. Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World are two books that depict totalitarian societies where society has been changed and social interactions have been destroyed, but that's what we want, right?
The government in Fahrenheit 451 did not burn books because it was an oppressive government. It burned books because the people voted to burn books due to their massive infatuation with television and mass media, which is similar to what Postman's idea that television is consuming our society and destroying relationships. Postman and Bradbury have already written about the possible future of our society. The society and destruction of relationships in Brave New World were caused by the people's attempt at happiness. In both these cases, the people were the reason why society was the way it was. Our world today is "messed up, obsessed with the internet, and addicted to technology" because of us. We are the reason why the world is the way it is today. If there one day is a totalitarian regime, that's probably on us. Our world today is the result of the actions and inactions of people in the past, and if in the future there is a totalitarian regime, it was because of what we did and didn't do, and if we didn't do anything about it, we probably wanted it that way, right?
I like the connection you made here. I would also like to add that in Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman contrasted 1984 and Brave New World by pointing out that in 1984, the culture was taken away by force, and in Brave New World, the society willingly left the culture. Although books were outlawed by the government, the society put behind its culture long before in favor of passive, mindless entertainment long before that law was put into place.
ReplyDeleteI like the connection you made here. I would also like to add that in Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman contrasted 1984 and Brave New World by pointing out that in 1984, the culture was taken away by force, and in Brave New World, the society willingly left the culture. Although books were outlawed by the government, the society put behind its culture long before in favor of passive, mindless entertainment long before that law was put into place.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, that Huxley and Bradbury's books are similar. Although I want to point out that in Fahrenheit 451 the government burned books because they were fearful of giving the people knowledge that could make them powerless because knowledge is power. This was censorship the people did not vote to burn books they were terrorized and forced by the government to do so and if they were caught harboring books there were consequences because it was against the law to have them.
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