The novels Brave New World and The Gulag Archipelago both talk about Totalitarianism and the negative impacts it has on a world and a society. Although the novels have very different plots, the overarching theme remains constant: Totalitarianism ruins people and societies. There is no reality where totalitarianism can lead to a productive and successful society. The Brave New World novel is set in the future where humans are engineered all the way down to their thoughts to serve a ruling order. The society was engineered this way for order, elimination of pain and suffering, stability and conformity. But with these principles comes unhappiness. The totalitarian society controls every aspect of life. In The Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn describes the pain and suffering of the Soviet regime. He describes the inhuman brutality that comes with living in a Totalitarian society. He portrays his message through two major themes, “survive at any price” and “only the material result counts”.
The principles this society strives for, like stability and conformity, are only achieved through suppressing human emotions, creativity, and natural interactions. Everything is fabricated and in a way dull. The World state enforces this control and restraints on the people in order to ensure that each and every individual is content with the role they have been given. The society is orderly and calm. In Brave New World, the main character Bernard Marx does not conform to society. He is trying to break free from the restraints imposed by the totalitarian. In chapter 6 part 1 he is talking to Lenina about his wish to be free and she does not understand why free means because he is deep into the control of the ruling order. On page 90 Bernard says “…what would it be like if I could, if I were free—not enslaved by my conditioning.” No one is ever free in a totalitarian society. The people in charge, also known as the World State, control your every move. In this “Utopian” society they even control your thoughts. A world that no one could possibly want to be in.
Solzhenitsyn The Gulag Archipelago is not a dull world but one filled with brutality and inhuman treatment, death and violence. This is not a fabricated “Utopian” but an example of a totalitarian society that exists. Although there are aspects of this novel that have been written with some imaginative power, there are still historical accuracies. One of Solzhenitsyn’s main ideas that he touches on is to “Survive at any price” he continues to write about it when he says, “… simply “to survive” does not yet mean “at any price.” “At any price” means: at the price of Someone else” (Solzhenitsyn 603). Solzhenitsyn uses the theme “survive at any price”, but he believes that people should reject this idea because surviving no matter the cost always means at the expense of someone else. He believes that if you reject this idea you will lead to the ripening of human spirit, you will find love and patience and genuine friendship. This theme can also be seen in Brave New World because those who still had hope of true freedom from the World State kept moving forward in the same way that prisoners of Gulag did. They did not resort to suicide because they believed that their was still hope of freedom from the torture.
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