the solution in creating an established and stable social system, the state motto being Community, Identity, Stability. Within the fertilizing process there is another process
that is performed on the Gamma, Delta and Epsilon ova. The Bokanovsky Process is a 'prodigious improvement' (Brave New World p.4), "Making ninety-six human beings
grow where only one grew before" (A. Huxley p. 4). The Director states that this process, "...is one of the major instruments of social stability" (A. Huxley p. 5).
As I have mentioned in the introduction, this text comments on society, post war. One of the main concerns of a nation, especially Britain after the massive loss of lives in the trench warfare of World war One, was to encourage the growth and stability of the population. In the ‘New World’ the Bokanovsky Process is the competitive creation of a mass of identical workers working identical machinery, an industrialised human production system that stabilises the population, "The principle of mass production at last applied to biology" (A. Huxley p. 5). Embryo selection and the controlled production of human beings ensure population stability and with the distribution and rationing of the drug 'soma' stability is enforced. Writing to G. Wilson Knight in 1931, Huxley comments on the horrors of utopia, his main concerns at this time being the, “…application of
psychological, physiological and mechanical knowledge to the fundamentals of human life” (G. Smith p.353).
'Community, Identity, Stability'. The problems that arise even with this motto are one of the main aspects of the work. The community of AF632 is one where the individual is
programmed to believe that they are part of a community, and yet in their own castes they are also conditioned to ‘voice the hypnopaedic prejudices’ (Lenina p. 55) of their caste. It is a 'community' where love and hate has been removed, sexual contact between the
members of this community are also controlled by the state, caring for another individual is looked upon as being strange behaviour. Hypnopaedia, or sleep teaching, is the way in
which the masses are conditioned. According to caste, they are taught to hate nature but to love country sports," A love of nature keeps no factories busy" (A. Huxley p. 19), especially those that require the use of 'elaborate apparatus' this in turn encourages
consumerism, especially amongst the lower classes. Hypnopaedia also ensures consumerism in a more general fashion through the use of slogans such as: ending is better than mending, the more stitches the less riches. This implies that Identity in the state motto does not involve freedom of thought, creativity or the personality of the individual, just strict and loyal abidance to state rule and education. Humans are distinguished merely by the caste system that they belong to and the nature of hypnopaedia they are subjected to pre-birth and throughout childhood.
The social system in Animal Farm undergoes it's dramatic change at the start of the book so the reader gets a more definite idea of the change that is about to take place and it's success or failure that follows. Set in rural England, the plot is cleverly structured so the reader learns of a system that has caused unrest, is then overthrown by the 'mass' and eventually, through it's failed organisation and totalitarian leadership, perpetuates, leading
once again to unrest. Old Major and his dream incite the animals of Manor Farm. In a rhetorical speech given to the animals one night, Old Major lays down his feelings of hostility towards man and the need to eradicate him from the natural order of
their existence.
"Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove man from the scene...the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever...Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs...Yet he is lord of all animals" (G. Orwell p.4). Old Major goes on to state, "...that all the evils of this life of ours spring from the tyranny of human beings" (G. Orwell p.5). The struggle has been outlined and the turn of events is about to take place. The workers have been informed of man’s exploitation of them and now all it takes is for the more intelligent and forceful animal members of the farm to lead them to revolt. Led by hunger the animals fight back,
much to the suprise of their owner, "...the sudden uprising of creatures whom they were used to thrashing and maltreating just as they chose, frightened them almost out of their wits (G. Orwell p. 12). "And so, almost before they new what was happening, the rebellion had been successfully carried through; Jones was expelled, and the Manor Farm was theirs" (G. Orwell p.13). It is at this point that, perhaps, utopia has been achieved, but do the animals realise the importance of what has been achieved. They readily accept a new regime of leadership that brings with it it's own rules (seven commandments) and social system. As Berdiaeff claims in the opening quote to this essay, "Les utopies sont realisables...Comment eviter leur realisation definitive?" Utopia is attainable, the animals
achieved it briefly, but the story goes on to show the need for it to be avoided, as they did not have the means to sustain the initial power they held that fuelled the revolution and overthrowing of the old regime. If the animals had replaced Mr. Jones’s model of rule with a completely different model, rather than just replacing the humans for animals (pigs and dogs), utopia may have been achieved. Orwell implies that the animals, perhaps,
would not be satisfied with their new found freedom, they may well depend on the misinformation and rule of a hierarchy, “…the ruled often willingly surrender to the ruler’s method of deception by training themselves in self deception. It is in Animal Farm that Orwell first addresses himself to the refinement of such techniques and the tragic consequences for those who dare to resist them (I. Slater p. 199-200). One example of this is the different levels of education awarded to the animals in the novel. The pigs have been preparing for the change of events for months, placing themselves higher in the natural order of the animals by teaching themselves to read and write, “With their superior knowledge it was natural that they should assume leadership” (G. Orwell p.17). This empowers them and enables them to adapt Old Majors concept of animalism to
produce the seven commandments: a set of fixed biblical style lessons in how to stay loyal to the idea of animalism. As the novel progresses, and the power and corruption of the new leadership increases, minor adjustments are made to the ‘commandments’, as many of them are continuously broken, and yet not one of the animals significantly speaks out against the adjustments. It is as if they are oblivious to the seriousness of their predicament, they are still holding onto the initial feelings of pride and loyalty they felt
when Mr. Jones was ejected from the farm. The animals relished in their victory, freedom and, “…sense of honour and privilege in being members of Animal Farm” (G. Orwell p.87).
As for the others, their life, so far as they knew, was as
it had always been. They were generally hungry…sometimes the older ones among them racked their dim memories and tried to determine whether in the early days of the Rebellion, when Jones’s expulsion was still recent, things had been better or worse than now. They could not remember…They were still the only farm in the whole country-in all England! -owned and operated by animals…their hearts swelled with imperishable pride…None of the old dreams had been abandoned. The Republic of the Animals…was still believed in. Some day it was coming: it might not be soon, it might not be within the lifetime of any animal now living, but still it was coming.
(G. Orwell p. 88-89)
The animals of Manor Farm are subjects in a totalitarian leadership by the end of the novel, one perhaps worse than the ‘old’ regime that they had managed to overthrow. “…The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which was which (G. Orwell p. 95). It is
obvious that the revolution has produced nothing new as the post revolution organisation of the farm is brief in it’s democracy, with the instant enforcement of a leadership the
animals, as a collective, lose sight of their utopia. They, once again, become exploited, sometimes even settling for worse conditions than they had with Mr. Jones.
It would therefore be appropriate to conclude that each of the chosen texts deals with the idea of creating a perfect world, a utopia. With the use of irony and satire they actually manage to produce dystopic novels. In the case of Brave New World, Aldous Huxley insists that to survive the utopic world of Community Identity, Stability, man cannot have religion, creativity, history, freedom or individuality. Humans must become industrialised from creation to cremation. Aldous Huxley wanted to show us the shocking implications of a futuristic world, the “…appalligness (at any rate by our standards) of utopia…” (G. Smith p.351). Could Huxley have created a very accurate model of utopia? The dysopic elements in Brave New World may only be dystopia because as readers we are looking at it from our own point of view. Orwell, however, makes significant statements through the characterisation and events in Animal Farm. If the animals had only realised the initial significance of their victory, then there must be a similar power struggle to ensue, if not there would most certainly be a dictatorship. This in itself would contain power struggles. Perhaps if they had refused the social system that
replaced Mr Jones at Manor Farm, and realised their own power as a united ‘mass’. Animal Farm clearly suggests the attainment of utopia is possible but there needs to be a driving force, a change in the pessimistic outlook of the masses and their ability to sustain such dramatic changes in social organisation.
Bibliography and References
Coppard, A Orwell Remebered, British Broadcasting Corporation,
Crick, B London, 1984
Huxley, A Brave New World, Flamingo, Harper Collins Publishers
London, 1994
Orwell, G Animal Farm, The Penguin Group, London, 1989
Slater, I Orwell: The Road to Airstrip One,
W.W. Norton and Company Inc. New York, 1985
Smith, Grover Letters of Aldous Huxley, Chatto and Windus Ltd.
(edited) London, 1969
Thomson, D England in the twentieth Century 1914-1979
Penguin Books Ltd. Middx. 1965
