Atheism In Brave New World

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Since the concept of a state has existed, much like a cancerous tumor, it has exponentially increased in size. Both Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s 1984 present a dystopian future in which the state has obtained absolute power over humanity. It suppresses the family to make sure the state is the only family citizens have. Classical conditioning is employed to create attitudes in its subjects that make them easily exploitable. Truth itself is under assault, as the government quite literally turns truth on its head. While methodology varies, the goal for both the World State and Oceania is to divide and conquer the human race in all aspects. In order to cultivate utter loyalty to the state, one must tear down or at least …show more content…
For example, the Soviet Union promoted state atheism at the expense of Christianity to deal with the moral objections Christianity inherently had with communist doctrine. Brave New Worlds’ Bernard Marx has it explained to him that “What you need is a gramme of soma” to “Take a holiday from reality” and that soma has “All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects”(54). Reality, viewed by many as unchangeable, does not escape their control as soma offers an escape from reality. Soma distracts the people from their reality, and as such the state provides as much as possible so reality may be whatever they say it is. The world built by Ingsoc is described as “the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery… a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself” and “founded upon hatred.”(126). Rather than doling out pleasure, they rule through fear. They accomplish this by dividing citizens and cultivating hatred among them because, if everyone is divided, they will not join to rise against their overlords. The two world orders employ opposite tactics but accomplish the same