Dystopian themes can be found throughout the novels 1984 and Brave New World; although written by different authors, they have a similar central ideal. Adystopia is essentially is the opposite of a utopia. Both George Orwell, the author of 1984, and Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World, make grim predictions of a futuristic society through their respective works by conveying their thoughts. Orwell and Huxley offer insight into societies where totalitarianism, psychological manipulation, control of the masses, technology, and other such themes are rather prominent. .
Aldous Huxley was born in 1894 to a distinguished British family that was part of the ruling class made up of the most intelligent members of society. Huxley's upbringing and background had a large impact on his writings. He always possessed an ambivalent attitude towards authority of a high class. Through his writings he portrays a rigid class structure, one that is quite a bit stronger than the one of England during his day. As a small child he was very alert and intelligent, but felt separate because of his gifts. He drew on this to mold characters in some of his works. At the age of 14, his mother died of cancer. This was yet another event during his life which is reflected in his writings. When he was 16 he was attending Eton, when an eye illness just about made him blind, but he recovered enough to later attend Oxford University. He married Maria Nys in 1919 and had their only child Matthew in 1920. Aldous Huxley also spent time all throughout the world, including fascist Italy ("Aldous" n. pag.). .
Leach 2.
Unlike Aldous Huxley, Eric Arthur Blair was born to a lesser-known family in an Indian village near the border of Nepal in 1903. Blair, who later became George Orwell, had a father that worked for the Opium Department of the Indian Civil Service. His mother was the daughter of a French tradesmen.