Weird "Romance" Parallels in 1984 and Brave New World
So for my first blog post, I want to talk a little bit about (as the title would suggest) the similarities and differences between 1984 and Brave New world so far, and how they compare to the present. The most jarring thing I noticed in both books is the aversion to love that the depicted societies have ingrained in their societies, as well as the super weird culture they've created regarding sex. In both books, romantic attachment is heavily looked down upon, in Brave New World it's emotional connection, and in 1984 it's physical attraction, but I suppose it seems like emotional disconnect is pretty prevalent in 1984 as well. Regardless, I feel like these rigid rules about sex and marriage are super strange, and thankfully similar cultures aren't too prominent nowadays, at least in America. I'm aware of the Christian value of preserving yourself until marriage, but that's vastly different from the encouraged sexual activity with other citizens and/or prostitutes in these books. Perhaps there are other popular sex/marriage-related lifestyles I'm not aware of, but for the most part I feel like in this aspect we're very far from the worlds Huxley and Orwell imagined.
The other thing I'd like to talk about is the way men's sexual desires have been depicted in these books. Both books have had weird uncomfortable scenes regarding a man wanting to rape a woman or harm her because of her sexual choices, or even just what the men imagine these choices would be. Unfortunately, I'm not as confident saying that modern day circumstances are much different, but hopefully there has been and will continue to be improvement in this area.
And if you want to engage with me, feel free to let me know down in the comments about similarities, differences, and other things you found in the books that stood out to you.
I think one big difference I noticed was the role of sex as you mentioned, and children. In BNW every sexual encounter is heavily protected, and having children and familial relations are looked down on. In 19884, the role of sex is ONLY to have children and one can assume that families are not hater, and are more normal like in our world. Though both books are incredibly weird, I find Winston's frustration with not getting pleasure from his prostitute scarily similar to todays world and a bit of a red flag.
ReplyDeleteRed flag's a good way of putting it. I miss the good old days, back when we read BNW and laughed at how silly their ideas on sex and gender were
DeleteI think this difference in the role of sex stems partially from how technology is used in each book's world. Most of BNW's tech is focused on the assembly line production and conditioning of humans, so there is no need for "manual" reproduction. Conversely, most of the tech that we see in 1984 is used for surveillance and not production of human beings, so the only way the population can sustain itself is through human reproduction.
DeleteEven in 1984, though, there's still a gaping disconnect between children and their parents. As Winston says when he goes to check out his neighbor's pipes (or something), basically all "kids these days" are undisciplined brats, and parents are almost afraid of their children because they're being indoctrinated from a young age to report suspicious behavior--even that of their family members. The construct of "family" only exists as a necessity, and there's little to no emotional connection because the Party takes precedence over all other relationships.
DeleteThis is definitely a disturbing aspect of both books. Keep all of this in mind when we get to Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale and see how the comparisons change.
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