ESSAY

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale intrinsically
explore common dystopic conventions, specifically the distribution of power and control. Huxley
explores how power is maintained through the archetypal technocracy exhibited by the world rulers
through their enforcement of mass consumerism. Atwood is more concerned with the brutal power of
the patriarchy which dehumanises women. Huxley also explores the implementation of caste-based
conditioning used by the state to assert their control, whilst Atwood solely concentrates upon the
normative social controls which keep women submissive.
Power in BNW is emphatically explored through the technocratic dehumanization of citizens
attributed to the brutal controls of the world state. A pervasive thematic concern highlighted in
Huxley’s novel is “the advancement of science as it affects individuals” and “consumerism”
(Huxley). This is reflected in Huxley’s use of paradox and irony to portray the negative impact of
these concepts upon man and his relationship with the natural world. The concept of technocratic
dehumanization is illuminated in the state moto, “Community, Identity, and Stability”. Although
community and stability reflect the idyllic fundaments of this society, “identity” indicates the real
truth behind this “brave new world”. Stability of the world state can be attributed towards the
minimization of individualism and the states desire is to make everyone identical. The “Bokanovsky
Process” consequentially attests this with citizens being mass-produced like goods and systematically
placed in class factions. This process eradicates free choice as the servitude of citizens is product of
the state’s exploitation of biotechnology, aiming to achieve total standardization across the
population. When Mustapha Mond, the most powerful proponent of the World State, is questioned by
John the Savage about just producing Alphas, he laughs. “Imagine a factory staffed by Alphas…of
good heredity and conditioned to be capable of making a free choice… Imagine it!” Huxley
satirises the nature of American consumerism and the destruction of freewill as humanity has been
replaced by commercial commodity. Additionally, Mond boasts about how life in the Brave New
World is “emotionally easy”, because the interval between desire and its fulfilment has been
eliminated, “Feeling lurks in that interval of time between desire and its consummation. Shorten
that interval”. This perfectly characterises the toxic nature of America’s consuming society which
can be attributed to mass production, consumption, rationalization and mechanization which Huxley
believed were prerequisites of dehumanization. Moreover, power is exhibited in BNW through the
archetypal technocracy’s exploitation of consumerism.
Atwood demonstrates the manipulation of freedom as a vital pre-requite of achieving power. Offred,
the protagonist, shares a story similar to that of a slave, confined by “inequality product of state
domination”. The puritanical Republic of Gilead reflects the possibility of state dissolution where a
civil war is fought to make women “Malleable to men’s desires”. Thus these regressive social roles
aim to eliminate undesirable cultural trends and to prevent the possibility of a Marxian revolution.
The ideology of the state is encapsulated through the forcibility of handmaids to behave in a
government-prescribed matter. Specifically, government- issued clothing which deprives handmaids
of their femininity. For example, The veil functions as a crucial tool of subjugation to prevent the
handmaids from seeing the outside world, “we have learnt to see the world in gasps”. Additionally,
the restriction of language is portrayed through Gileadan propaganda which is emphasized in the
bible. It is used to encourage the explosive growth of patriarchal fundamentalism ultimately
juxtaposing the nature of religion. As well as this, government attitudes towards songs attests this
pervasive issue ˝songs are not sung… especially the ones that use words like free”. However, this
lack of freedom is fundamentally a facet of utopic construct as women believe they are now “ free
from the threat of sexual violence” evident as when Offred questions her lack of liberty, Julia
argues, “Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it”. However, the utopia of
Gilead is undermined by Offred who has become a symbol of fragmented resistance. “I see the
dishtowel, out of context, and I catch my breath” this innocuous domestic item has become of
tremendous importance, highlighting the inescapable isolation of women attributed to the colonizing
force of the regime.
World state control in BNW is delegated through the implementation of caste-based conditioning and
the distribution of the drug soma. The assimilation of worldians into the ideology of the state is
attributed towards the state’s employment of differing psychological suggestions which have
successfully established a society whereby “everyone belongs to everyone”. This hypnopedic
proverb is believed by worldians to be axiomatic and utterly indisputable, highlighting the collapse of
individualism. However, this unified conformity is brought upon by extensive conditioning in the
name of “absolute stability”. Chemical conditioning begins before birth where the growth of an
embryo is directed to ensure it fits the characteristics of its predetermined class system. This system
turns subjects into docile bodies who follow the dictates of the world state as they are forced to “like
their unescapable social destiny”. Consequently, freewill is made devoid through controlling the
threat of hereditary and environmental influences as according to Mond conditioning lays “down the
rails along which he’s got to run”. Thus, Conditioning provides non-violent means for establishing a
society adorned in the ideological facets of the world state. Additionally, the world state asserts it
control through the distribution of the drug soma. Soma is a euphoric drug that “transforms faith
into ecstatic knowledge”. Soma is used as a substitute for religious feeling and stimulates the
individual into a vacuous escapism through creating a superficial hedonism. By supressing religion
and passions, the world state eradicates literature as it provides a critical understanding of humanity
which ultimately destabilises society and thus threatens the utopic fundaments of the brave new
world. Subsequently, the drug is used to avoid a Marxian revolution by keeping citizens under the
control of the hallucinogen in an effort to maintain “individual stability”. Thus the world state
exerts total control over worldians through employing extensive methods of indoctrination.
The theocratic Republic of Gilead exerts its control through enforcing fear upon its citizens. This
dystopic society is fixated on life and reproduction as Offred is one of several handmaids whose
viable ovaries are confined to a “prison like compound” (Atwood) in order to be systematically
available for sexual intercourse. Man holds the sanctified reign of power and have been able to do so
by controlling sexuality through evoking fear amongst their subjects. This fear is found through the
‘unwoman’, women who are deemed “unfit” for Gileadean purposes and are abolished from the circle
of societal protection. Thus the submissive nature of society can be attributed to the continuity fearing
the unknown. This “utopic” society was developed following a terrorist attack leaving the populace
extremely vulnerable and seeking security, hence the rise of the extremist movement “the Son of
Jacob”. To heighten this fear, the Gilidean regime creates the false pretence of an ongoing war,
˝This is the heart of Gilead, where the war cannot intrude. Although Offred does not entirely
believe this “truth”, ˝If only it were true. If only I could believe˝, her passivity permeates her
submission. Additionally, Gileadean regime publicly executes enemies of the states placing their
bodies on the “wall”, a poignant reminder of the state’s emphatic control. “These men, we’ve been
told, are like war criminals”, the “men” refer to abortion doctors who have been hung for their
crimes as reproduction is the foundation upon which this society is built. However, it is clear that
what the population has “been told” is product of Gileadean propaganda as these “war criminals” are
symbols of state resistance and liberalism.