Totalitarianism In Brave New World

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Pages: 5

A popular saying states that “things get worse before they get better”. Although this phrase is usually used to explain rough periods in someone’s life, it also fits well with government. When political officials attempt to improve life in their countries, they often make it worse for the majority of citizens there. They implement new and extreme ideas, believing that the old ones failed because they weren’t bold enough. One of these new and extreme ideas was totalitarianism, or the control of both public and private life by the government. It was a popular system in Europe and Japan. In addition to those real-life nations, totalitarianism also can be found in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Although totalitarianism is more extreme in the …show more content…
The World State was against education or anything else that might spark a revolution. There is a newspaper for every caste, and the lower the caste the simpler the newspaper. Articles in all newspapers can only be about a few mundane topics, and this frustrates one writer: “‘That’s one thing I try to teach my students-how to write piercingly. But what on earth’s the good of being pierced by an article about a community sing, or the latest improvement in scent organs?’” (Huxley 47) Just as Brave New World’s newspapers cannot contain anything that might cause people to question their leaders, Germany and Italy made sure the media was free of pro-communist language. If any citizens in these nations were found to be Communists, they would be killed. (“Nazi Progaganda”) If someone in Brave New World became too curious, they would be ostracized or deported. In the early stages of the World State, learned people were murdered just like communists were. Known as Simplelifers, these people who promoted simple living and education are strikingly similar to the political and ethnic minorities executed by the millions in Nazi Germany. In addition, traditional religion was banned and its followers were discriminated against in Brave New World and the U.S.S.R. Russia sent its illegal religious citizens and other criminals to labor camps. “For example, they seized...the decree on ending the war with Napoleon, on the formation of the Holy Alliance, and a proclamation of public prayers against Cholera during the epidemic of 1830.” (Solzhenitsyn 5) Instead of studying history and praying, citizens spent their time glorifying communist leaders such as Josef Stalin and Vladimir Lenin. In the World State, religion was replaced with Ford and his Model T. Both nations took extreme measures to keep citizens focused on working