Struggles In Brave New World

The Struggle of Generations
“Throughout history men have struggled, suffered and died to free the oppressed” (Weil). This struggle has been through cycles of “excitement” throughout time. One such excitement was in the thirties and forties. The vast differences in societies got many thinking about the faults that lie within a society. One of the biggest faults that was discovered was the use of classes and the unequal distribution of power that ensued. In the dystopian societies of, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and 1984 by George Orwell, we see clear faults through the oppression of the lower class by the upper classes use of materialism, instillation of society over self, and exploitation.
Humans can only focus on one thing at a time,
Vladimir Lenin, a Russian political theorist, said, “For our attitude towards this phenomenon to be a politically conscious one, it must be realized that no natural science and no materialism can hold its own in the struggle against the onslaught of [. . .] ideas and restoration [. . .]” (Lenin). Lenin is talking about how it takes more than materialism to keep the lower class oppressed. The first thing the upper class in the World State does is creates classes in order to make people lose their sense of individuality. The Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning describes the reason they do this to Mr. Foster on the subject of Bernard. The director states that the life of a “mere individual” is insignificant over the life of the society (Huxley 148). This paraphrase clearly states it is society that is really important, not the individual; therefore individualism must be taken away. Secondly, they get their workers ensnared in their work with no extra time. Mond is speaking to some Alphas when he stated, “Now-such is progress- the old men work, the old men copulate, the old men have no time, no leisure from pleasure, not a moment to sit down and think [. . .]” (Huxley 55). Giving the lower class no time to sit down and think makes their realization of oppression incomprehensible. Lastly, the World State literally takes away individualism! John is grieving over his mother
Weil claims, “No society is ever divided merely into exploiters and exploited, but into several classes, each of which is defined by its relationship to the fundamental fact of exploitation” (Weil). There are many instances of class exploitation in Brave New World, especially of the Epsilon class. The World State goes as far as keeping the lower class unaware that they are being exploited. Mr. Foster explains, “The surrogate goes round slower [. . .] therefore gives the embryo less oxygen. Nothing like oxygen-shortage for keeping an embryo below par” (Huxley 14). Foster is telling us the exploitation of the upper class goes as far as to affect the lower classes mental and physical stature. The upper class then makes them do really menial jobs such as controlling the elevator (Huxley 58). They never have the experience the fullness of life and work to their deathbeds. The upper class in 1984 is no better! While Winston is reading Goldstein’s forbidden book he comes across the truth, “But above all they contain a bottomless reserve of cheap labor. Whichever power controls [. . .] The inhabitants of these areas, reduced more or less openly to the status of slaves, [. . .] and are expended like so much coal or oil in the race to turn out more armaments” (Orwell 187). Goldstein is talking about the proles and how they are exploited for work and then thrown