The following article is part of a series called “German A-Levels/Abitur 2005 English”. In Germany you have your a-levels after the 13rd year in school. Pupils are usually between 17 and 18 years when they have their exams. In the compulsory schools you a broad variety of courses: From German, English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Greek to Science, Maths, Geographics, Physics, Literature, Arts and Sports etc. I prepared myself in 2005 for my a-levels by writing everything down. May these articles help anyone. Enjoy!

- Main ideas
utopia / dystopia = anti-utopia

- Our future, is it doomed?
* colourless
* dull
* grey

- Asia, a new market
- Africa, the forgotten continent

_FUNCTION+PURPOSE: warn of technology and its consequences

- far advanced technologies

- birth control
* artificial production of humans
* mass production
* controlled society
* faster reproduction

- DNA / gene manipulation
* standardized human beings
* fixed destiny / inescapable future

- one language
- limited resources
- fake wars

- drugs / drug use
* honest and contempt citizens
* emotions are suppressed by drugs

- totalitarian system
* propaganda is used to manipulate society.
* Dictatorship like government
* education and punishment in order to impose ideology on society
* total surveillance
* omnipotent controllers
* fixed system of values
* set ideals

- loss of individuality

- urge of perfection at expense of emotions
* no more love and romance
* sex only for fun
* monogamy

- communication world wide (internet?)
- information overload vs. controlled life
- nature vs. machines
- no wars
- no revolutions
- no changes
- no developments
- no history
= stuck in the present, no past and future
= only progress is stand-still
= history ceased to exist
= human values are destroyed
= nature has been replaced by an artificial environment

1984 & Brave New World – some common traits
- anti-utopian
- totalitarian system
- controlled society (by an elite)
- total surveillance
- uniformation of society
- new language
- castes
- theme: individuality vs. society

1984:
- war
- hate
- sadism, diabolism, brutality
- feasible/comparable with existing science and technology
- colourless, dull world
- political dystopia
- violence and punishment
- takes place in the past
- limited resources

Brave New World:
- pharmacological totalitarian system
- no more war
- friendly atmosphere
- no diseases
- no problems
- colourful
- technological dystopia
- no violence
- satisfaction
- takes place in the future
- enough resources
- harmony
- far advanced technology

Essay on society of the Brave New World, J.Klewes
Society of the BNW is not really a society at all. This is my introductional theses which I will be trying to explain.
Society as A. Huxley describes it, lacks most of the features that make up a society or what I consider a society. There is no real and intact family structure, words and abstract expressions such as “mother”, “father”, “parents”, “home”, “family” or “romance” do not really exist anymore.
Only a handful of people know those words and those who do know them from history only. A society is a dynamic and vivid concentration of different groups. Often it consists of many different religions, cultures, races and ethnic minorities. All those features are lacking in the BNW.
Society is stable due to the controlled system. The birth rate is controlled and altered whenever it is necessary, furthermore everyone’s fate is decided before he or she is decanted.
Decanted? Yes, that’s right; the leaders of the BNW abolished viviparous reproduction. Nowadays they rely on artificial creation of human beings.
Almost industrial-like humans are created in hatcheries.
Society is a human thing. People have the urge to come together, form groups and to interact which each other. Society in the BNW is totally different from that, humans in the BNW lack this human feature.
Actually it is a good question whether the people living in the BNW can be considered “human” at all, because they betray they body, block emotions and take drugs in order to feel happy. It is a very important human feature to have emotions and that is why I hope Huxley’s dystopian views of the BNW will never become reality!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Related posts:

1. The End of Work by Jeremy Rifkin The following article was written by Lena as a part...
2. The Third World The following article is part of a series called "German...
3. Multiculturalism The following article is part of a series called "German...
4. The American Dream-Trying to capture a Myth The following article was written by Lena as a part...
5. American Dream The following article is part of a series called...