Remnants of Hope in Zamyatin’s We and Huxleys Brave New...

Humanity, despite Huxley and Zamyatin illustrating two different types of dystopia where servitude is commonplace, manages to hold on to the remnants of hope which can be found in numerous (and sometimes unexpected) places. Soma, described by Mustapha Mond as ‘euphoric, narcotic, pleasantly hallucinant’, is a drug that took ‘six years [sic] [to be] produced commercially’. It offers the conditioned society hope by giving them a way to always be happy; ‘a gramme of soma’ can cure anything in their eyes, apart from a ‘glum Marx’ . However, in all actuality it doesn’t offer hope but rather gives the illusion of hope. Instead, it controls the population, enslaving them with happiness. In chapter seven, Lenina ‘[feels] in her pocket for†¦show more content†¦In spite of the strict routine which the citizens of One State must follow where an impersonal sex visit must be applied for, I-330 flirts with D-503, looking at ‘[his] hands’ even when he ‘can’t stand people looking at [his] hands’ . The rebellious nature of I-330, who smokes cigarettes and drinks alcohol in discordance with One State and her â⠂¬Ëœslender, sharp, tough, and springy as a whip’ figure contrasts with O-90 ‘everything about her round with the babyish crease on her arm’ who represents everything that One State stands for. Even though O-90 wants to ‘come to [D-503’s] place today and let the blinds down. Today – right this minute’ , ‘she knows as well as [he] does that [their] next Sex Day is the day after tomorrow’ compared to I-330 who casually invites him without an order to come and see her ‘the day after tomorrow in auditorium 12’ . Her unruly behaviour exists as a beacon of hope in the regimented society; freewill does exist. Moreover, she attempts to explain the concept of love to D-503 which exposes him to a more liberal world, ‘that means you love it. You’re afraid of it because it’s stronger than you, you hate it because you’re afraid of it, you love it because you can’t master it. You can only love something that refuses to be mastered’ . However, he is new to the feelings of love so these feelings create confusion and uncertainty, which leads into fear, resulting in hatred