Introduction The contemporary Western society is very often focused on values such as effectiveness, physical satisfaction, and so on; it is hard to call these values “bad,” but it might be possible to state that their domination and the lack of other universal values which are not associated with only physical satisfaction and entertainment (such as the values of the Enlightenment), as well as the omnipresence of the culture of capitalism, in which an individual is constantly prompted to purchase and consume, results in the situation when consumerism becomes prevalent. On the other hand, various totalitarian ideologies, which were (and sometimes still are) pictured as alternatives to the current Western system of views, also involve numerous dangers. The current paper discusses two dystopias, 1984 by George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair) and Brave New World by Aldous Leonard Huxley. It is argued that, while 1984 is clearly a dystopian novel that pictures a society in which the power of the higher class is based on propaganda, fear, coercion and torture, Brave New World contains certain elements of utopia, such as the attempts to make all the citizens happy in a certain manner. The three features which are discussed in this respect are the division of the two societies into social strata, the use of state power and control over citizens, and the loss of people’s individualities. After that, it is shown that 1984 closely resembles totalitarian societies such as the Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, whereas Brave New World is more similar to the contemporary society in which physical satisfaction and consumerism became the ultimate values. The Social Strata of the Two Dystopias Both novels describe societies which are divided into castes (in Brave New World ) or social strata (in 1984 ). However, it should be stressed that this division appears much less rutless to the lowest classes in Brave New World than in 1984. Indeed, in Brave New World , the human population is divided into five main strata, which are named using Greek letters: from Alphas, the highest caste, to “semi-moronic” (Huxley 44) Epsilons, the lowest caste. Each of the castes also have subdivisions denoted with pluses or minuses; for instance, Alpha Double Plus is the highest subdivision of Alphas. The strata are not just social, but also biological divisions; “batches” of multiple identical individuals are manufactured in incubators using the “Bokanovsky’s process,” and, depending upon the amount of oxygen a “batch” is given, individuals belonging to different castes are produced (Huxley 10). This is done with the purpose of increasing effectiveness and maintaining the social stability; individuals from different castes do different types of work, ones that are most suitable for them. Higher and more intelligent castes do more intellectual or administrative work, whereas “semi-moronic” Epsilons are engaged in manual labor. Noteworthy, according to the “World Controller for Western Europe” Mustapha Mond, each caste is satisfied with what they do, and previous attempts to have them do other types of work ended in problems ranging from an increased use of narcotics to serious social strife (Huxley 169-171). In 1984 , the division into social strata is also present. It is mentioned in “the book” (a text supposedly created by a person rebelling against the state in 1984 ) that there exist three soc