Huxley vs. Orwell

As each day passes the world changes and evolves in predictable and not so predictable ways. As we look back on the world and even the country alone, we see how much times have changed in just 100 years. From radio to television, from sinks to dishwashers society has developed in ways that we would never have thought possible. That makes me wonder... what will the next 100 years bring? What does the future hold in store for us? Although very different, in both 1984 and Brave New World, the future of our world hold frightening realities, "The final aim is the same; only the means are different" (125). Although both Orwell and Huxley may go about their ideas presented in a different, and sometimes complete opposite way, they both end up with the same, or very similiar overall messages. Many may argue that Orwell's 1984 is something that our society can not relate to and will never exist, however, already there are many aspects that ring true and are slowly developing into this controlled environment that we are so afraid of.

In 1984 many of Orwell's idea's seem very impractical and far to distant to become a reality. First of all, having telescreens watch over every single person seems like an idea that, even if it was presented, would never be put into effect due to inaccessibility and expenses. On the other hand, many people 200 years ago probably thought that something like satellite television was just as unlikely. Already people are losing their privacy one step at a time. Having the government invade through wiretapping or even something as simple as someone you don't know being ab le to view your house on the internet are both a small step in the loss of our individuality and the right to privacy. I would like to say that Orwell's ideas are completely impossible and could never happen, but with technology developing so rapidly it is to hard to make that assumption.

In both of the novels the past is something that does not exist or matter. In Orwell's the "past still survivesm though not necessarily the past as it actually occurred" (124). As we progress further into the future the past becomes something that we are reading in history books and hearing about from our grandparents. Already the Holocaust is becoming something that may not always appear to have happened the way it did. There is denial and different perspectives that alter what has happened. Once all of the survivors are dead, there is no longer any hard evidence of this event and evetually, just as in 1984, the past may be changed to make the world seem like a better place.

The fact that, in both novels, literature has been destroyed, reveals a sense of narrowing the mind. This may seem like something that people know will never happen, yet little do they know, that it is already taking place in our society. In 1984 there is no literature, art, or science. This keeps the people unaware of their abilities and lets them not be able to explore because they do not know how to. "O'brien's aim... is to produce 'neurologically' and by means of intense conditioning a 'new man,' a man almost asa new and genetically engineered and scientifically conditioned new man of Huxley's novel" (124). Although Orwell does not use conditioning, he is controlling the people by narrowing them down and not letting them think, by not teaching them how to. The elimination of words, not only makes the word non existent, but in turn, makes the item non existent. If there is no word for "desk," then there no longer will be desks. This idea of not letting people think is slowly creeping up on our society. In our country there are schools that are not teaching children how to analyze or discuss ideas, but only hand them facts in history. If they never get the chance to think and interpret the facts in their own way, how will they ever learn to think and interpret other aspects of life? If they are not taught how to do something, then they will never know how to do it. We are slowly narrowing the minds of children and molding (or conditioning) them into people we want them to become.

Although Brave New World, carries many ideas that we see exploding through our society, 1984 seems just as likely as a result. Even if Orwell was influenced by Huxley's ideas, it does not dismiss his work. Orwell took the aspects of Huxley's work and created his own perspective and almost an argument with Huxley to show that there are other and even more fierce ways that our society can turn.

I believe in being yourself.

You're walking. You see him. You hate him. As you both awkwardly make your way down the hall you notice his group of friends surrounding him.

You pass by with your chin up and your nonchalant face.

His friends start yelling comments about you. He joins along. He laughs. And then in the midst of all that, he stares at you. You look at him. How could he do that? That isn't who is he. He is different- you know him. He is part of you and you are part of him. You are hurt.

You keep walking with your chin up and your nonchalant face.

I believe in not following the crowd. I believe in not changing who you are. I believe in being yourself.

Over the past four years of highschool, I have watched people change. They have grown, matured, and become who they are going to be for the rest of their lives. Are they happy with it? Yes, many people change and become someone that they were meant to become, they are proud of themselves and they stick to their beliefs and their morals. But, what about the people that change for others?

In my life I have met and become friends with people who have created aspects of me that I may have never had.

She gave me confidence.
He showed me patience.
She made me realize that I can just "let go."
They guided me the right way.
I became someone that I am proud of.

Sometimes, people get confused. They have lost themselves and therefore, they become the people around them. Sometimes, people are scared. They are not sure why they are different, so they find a way to be the same. Sometimes people change. They go against who they are and what they know.

No matter what I do in my life, I will always stay who I am and someone that I am proud of. Watching people around me change into someone that I know they are not, is frightening. It is scary to know how vunerable people are. It is so easy to fall into the trap of conformity and to forget what you believe in. Following your friends because you want to fit in, only makes you a coward. It makes you someone that I will not respect because it is not who you are.

So, change. Go ahead. Become someone knew. But make sure that it is someone that you want to be.

I believe in being your own person.

Genetic Engineering

Each person in the world has something about them that makes them different. They all have flaws and assets that make them who they are. Well, what if someone had the power to change you? Would you let them? Would you want them to? Genetic engineering is a scientific advancement in our society that is slowly becoming more of an issue in today’s society. Although genetic engineering is an advancement in the medical and scientific field, it is morally and ethically wrong and puts too much power in the people’s hands.

Many people may feel that by giving parents the opportunity to be able to genetically engineer their children, they would be giving parents a chance to save their children from disease and other medical ailments. Although this may take care of the immediate disease and would prevent suffering and death of diseases that are pending on today’s world, the long term effects would end in disaster and chaos throughout society. Yes, people would not obtain cancer, be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or other heart wrenching ailments causing them to die at an early age, but one most consider the population of the earth. If people have a longer longevity, then the world’s population will start to increase. This increase will create a problem with not only an over crowded society, but the economy. Retirement and pension will become an issue as people begin to live longer and employment will become scarcer and more of a problem than it already is today.

This advancement in science could be taken advantage of and eventually could end up like Brave New World. These cures and solutions to medical ailments could be taken to a level where it gets too carried away with individual people that the government needs to step in. In this scenario, it becomes something that eventually everyone will be forced to do. Yes, they could say that people are being given a “choice.” However, the people who do not use genetic engineering automatically will become the impoverished. This would cause diversity between people that would make this medical advancement more of a burden and a split between the classes than an asset to humans.

Genetically engineering people is morally and ethically against what life stands for. As soon as parents begin to choose what their children are going to be like, they start playing with their futures. Of course all parents are going to choose a life that is perfect for them and a life that, perhaps, they may have wanted for themselves. However, the child that they are choosing this for, is a person too and they should get to live life with the same choices that their parents had. By putting lives in people’s hands they are taking away choices. Through past instances, it is a known fact that people get extremely power hungry. It is this power that may seem like it is helping people individually; however, it will eventually become chaotic to the population as a whole.

Thanks.

Love. I love my mom. I love my new CD. I love my dad. I love new pencils. I love my sisters. I love seasons. I love my boyfriend. I love an unopened book. I love that I can love.

Love is general.

How can you describe your feelings toward an object and a person with the same word? Yet, in a way... they both sometimes can do the same thing.

My love for my new CD can make my whole day brighter and let all my emotions wander when I am isolated in my car with nothing but a loud song. It lets me escape into a world of my thoughts My love for my mom lets me know that she will be there for me when I feel that I have lost everything and need someone to talk to... even when I swear to myself that my emotions need to stay inside- just looking at her makes me blurt out everything I feel and everything that is going on in my life. My mom is my escape.

My love for a new pencil is what keeps me steady. I know that it will work for a while, it will be new and sharp and perfect - but eventually it may snap and the point may break... but there will always be another one waiting for me in the package, new and ready to keep me steady again. My love for my dad keeps me focused. He forces me to remember life and how it should and shouldn't be. What is good... and what is bad. But always keeping in mind that there will always be a backup if he should break.

My love for seasons helps me grow. It lets me experience a different perspective every few months. It is always changing, yet it is guaranteed to come back around. It is constant, it is something that I know will always be there and will always be the same, yet a little different. My love for my sisters is what makes me who I am. They are the ones who know all of my secrets, who will always be there... who, if one fails, there will always be two more to pick me back up. Together we make four strong bonds that may be a little different, yet will always be the same.

My love for an unopened book makes me curious. It is new and exciting, yet familiar in the sense that I know it will not let me down. It has yet to fully unravel and let its complete inside out for me to see, but has given me the power to ruin it... to leave it out in the rain or to bend its corners. It has become vulnerable. It has pages that have never been turned but a back cover that has been read a thousand times over. My love for my boyfriend gives me hope. He lets me see that things take patience. That time should be taken slow and every word should be read to understand its true meaning. He lets me see myself through him and let go into a world of hope and wonder.


As my life changes, as I grow older, I have become a different person. I have gone from shy to outgoing, from eager to patient, from self conscious to confident. For these changes, I thank the people and objects that I have loved. They have taught me to be myself, to love myself.

I am thankful for love.

We blame...

The abuser. Well, of course we should blame the abuser. They take their problems out on people who do not deserve it... especially in cases of domestic violence.

(For my argument the abuser is the husband)

If an angry man comes home and hits his wife for no reason there is nothing she can do about it. She is the victim. But, then again, maybe she is at fault. Maybe there is something she can do about it.

When thinking or talking about domestic violence cases, the blame automatically goes straight to the abuser, but what about the victim? Many people don't realize that the victim is still part of the situation. She is the one who is in the position. Many people say that it is too hard to get out... that it isn't as easy as it seems for the wife to get out of an abusive situation. But, in many cases, it is the wife that makes it hard. The victims are don't make the move. They either think that the abuse will get worse... or just can't picture their lives without the other person in it.

They are afraid.

Change. Change is something that people can't seem to grasp quickly. It is scary. What if my life isn't as good as it was before? Or.. What if my life is even better than it was before? Sometimes, people are so used to their bad lives, that they are afraid of having good ones. In The Glass Castle, the mother claimed that she liked her life- that she loved the adventure of it. Somehow, though, I just don't know if I buy that. I think that she was just too afraid to change her life.

Embarrassment. Being embarrassed is one of the worst fears of life. Being laughed at, or pointed at... being ridiculed or just being stared at- it is something that everyone fears. In recent studies, woman who were being abused by their husbands don't do anything about it because they are too embarrassed. They are embarrassed that they have let themselves fall this low- or that they have not done anything about it sooner.

Children. Many times adults think that by separating or divorcing that it will be worse for the children... So, do they think that yelling and screaming is good for them?? Do they think that watching physical violence inside their house is teaching them a good lesson?? If the abuser is too unstable to realize this, then the victim has to. If a wife is being abused then she needs to realize that something needs to be done to get the children out of this environment.

Clearly, the mother in The Glass Castle suffered from depression that altered her ability to feel some of these emotions or symptoms. However, she should have had the strength, at least for her children, to get out. She knew that Rex Walls was not going to get help and was not going to be able to fix himself, yet she still tricked herself into believing he would, or pretending that she didn't care and it didn't affect her.

I have some sympathy for her and her life. But, she should have had the audacity to take some responsibility for, if not her own life, then the lives of her children. She should have gotten help. She should have realized her problem and faced it with everything she has.

I hope that is what I would do. But then again, I am not the one in this situation.

Courage?

First, we should define courage. What does it mean to be courageous? Does every person in war automatically carry courage simply for joining? Or is it more? Webster's defines courage as, "the quality of being fearless or brave; to do what one thinks is right." For me, courage is different for every person because everyone has their own "right." What one person feels is brave and the best thing to do, can be the total opposite for someone else.

It is hard to define something that is not ours.

In Tim O' Brien's The Things They Carried there is a lot to be said about courage- or the lack there of. To Tim, courage is something that not everyone possesses. It is a trait that takes a decision. For Tim, the decision was war. Is running away from war harder than going to war? Or is "harder" even part of it? Perhaps, that is not the question at all. Perhaps, the question that Tim is asking himself is, what is my "right?" How can I be courageous? How can I not be a coward? After making the decision to go to war Tim states, "I was a coward. I went to war" (64). This statement clearly states Tim O'Brien's "right," even though he chose his "wrong."

Is that ok? Is choosing what one knows is wrong ok? To Tim, I suppose it was... but maybe it shouldn't be. People should not feel so much pressure or embarrassment that they are forced into doing something that goes against their idea of courage. Because if they do, then how much courage are they really showing?



People can not relate to war until they have been in war, and even then, every soldier has a different experience. It seems that the idea of being courageous is more important than actually being courageous. The soldiers spend so much of their time worrying about being brave for their country, their peers, or just, themselves, that when they show the slightest bit of weakness it becomes unbearable to handle. When Tim goes to visit Jimmy Cross years after the war is over Tim asks Jimmy if he could write about him Jimmy replies, "Make me out to be a good guy, okay? Brave and handsome, all that stuff... And do me a favor. Don't mention anything about..." (30). Jimmy has gone years since the war, yet the idea of knowing that he let someone die, that he was not brave for one moment, still haunts him. He doesn't want people to know that he was not courageous. Tim says he will not write about that part of him, yet, he does. Why would Tim go back on something that he promised? Perhaps, Tim didn't see Jimmy as a man who let someone die because of his lack of bravery. Maybe, Tim thought that Jimmy's story, his full story was needed to make him out to "be a good guy." Perhaps, Tim felt it was necessary to reveal these things in order to show just how courageous this man was.

Courage shouldn't be something that is taken away from a person with one mistake. Courage is something that lives within a person. Jimmy Cross still lead those men and did the best he could. He showed bravery and did the best he could to be what he felt a brave man should be. I mean, he is still a human. He does make mistakes. Just because a man goes to war, does that mean that he has to have this sense of bravery one hundred percent of the time?

Going back to Webster's... "to do what one thinks is right." What do you think is right? What does every individual think is right?

To be honest, I don't even know what I think is right.