...Atwood’s and Orwell’s novels share the fundamental idea that control of language and thought are crucial to dystopian novel. George Orwell’s ‘1984’ was written after World War Two building on people’s fear of the political stability of the world. His novel includes the all-powerful Big Brother, which monitors and controls Oceania, where the novel is set. Margaret Atwood’s delve into control of thought and language is through religion. Her novel set in the near future religious state, Gilead, in North America. The inspiration for the two dystopian novels comes from the election of conservative power, Thatcher and Regan, in the western world, and the general fears that civilisation had in the 1980’s about declining birth rates and the dangers...
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...Orwell wrote and published his final novel 1984 about a utopian society, Oceania, on the surface and a dystopian society when looked into further into through Winston Smith’s perspective. This character goes against the totalitarianism government ran by the Inner Party and Big Brother. Orwell gave a dramatic utopian and dystopian fiction book that is also political and social science fiction because Orwell often wrote about going against totalitarianism. Utopia is defined as ‘an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect.’ which is exactly how George Orwell portrayed Oceania to be for a majority of the citizens or Party members. Oceania’s government or Big Brother can do no wrong, especially in the eyes...
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...‘Dystopian fiction is less about the powerful and more about the powerless’ To what extent is this true in The Handmaid’s Tale and 1984? Dystopian fiction usually revolves over a power struggle between an oppressor and the oppressed, alternatively this can be given the label of powerful and powerless. However, the exposure given to one of these groups is often inclined to be imbalanced. For example, The Giver by Lois Lowry has biased exposure towards the powerless due to the simple fact of the third person limited narrator perspective from Jonas, a member of the aforementioned sector of respective society. This is similar to the 1984 narrator where Winston is never truly aware of what goes on when he wasn’t physically present. But, it could be for this exact reason that in 1984 the dystopian genre inclines towards the powerful, highlighting the hold over the powerless. Contrary to this, The Handmaid's Tale (THT) has blurred lines as to whether the dystopian fiction prevalent in the novels are more or less about the powerful. This is majorly due to conflicting plotlines and enigmatic characters, significant in both of the books. For example, the character of Nick could be characterized for the powerful and powerless. Nick behaves with Offred in a manner which confuses the reader about his loyalties. Ultimately, this essay will aim to prove an option that is a fusion between the two rivals of dystopian fiction offering the complex concept of the powerful powerless. The powerful...
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...Modern Totalitarianism. In the 1940s through the 1960s, the world lived in a time of war. In September 1939 World War II broke out , and was followed by the Cold War of 1947 that lasted up until 1991. The historic wars of these times influenced literature and the writers of the time, as they shaped their novels and books around these events. Writers such as George Orwell and Kurt Vonnegut created novels of dystopian societies to alert nations that communism was not as great as it sounded. British writer George Orwell wrote the novel 1984 published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. in 1949. 1984 is a political novel written with the purpose of warning readers in the West of the dangers of totalitarian government. In 1949, the Cold War had not yet escalated, and many Americans supported communism as possible political systems for the west. Therefore, Orwell wrote his novel in order to expose the cruelty and oppression of communist countries. In his dystopian nation, Orwell gave a sneak peak of what a country could become if the people gave all the power to the government. In 1984, Orwell portrays the perfect totalitarian society in which the government monitors and controls every aspect of human life to the extent that having a disloyal thought is against the law. They do so with the use of technology such as tele screens and microphones across the city which allowed the government to monitor all the citizens almost all of the times. In order to keep the citizens of London...
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...Restriction of originality and individualism is another significant motif explored in the two novels. In both novels, the citizens are restricted from being what they choose to be, and taking action out of their own will. The two novels portray this through different styles and methods. Firstly, in The Circle, the company tries to shape their employees and customers under their control and influence. Noting that the majority of the world’s population are Circle’s customers, the Circle closely resembles the media in the reader’s society, portrayed as a more intensive force. It will always be influential to the citizens, how media is in the readers’ society. Social network services and technological devices develop and increase along with cunning,...
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...‘The twentieth century has seen a rise in the appearance of a distinctive literary sub-genre, the dystopian or anti-utopian novel with dehumanisation as its dominant theme.” To what extent do ‘1984’ and ‘Brave New World’ depict a dehumanised society? Both Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ certainly deny humanness to the characters in their novels. Kelman defines humanness as having two key attributes, identity and community. Dehumanisation occurs when these are removed from society. It is true that individuality is denied to citizens and although the community remains, it is subverted in order to fit the government ideal. It can therefore be said that dehumanisation occurs as people are denied and identity and the true meaning of community which is the perception that a person is part of an interconnected community of individuals. Dystopian literature serves to critique the current social and political conditions by looking at potential conditions. Both novels were written when the fear of growing totalitarian governments was present. The novels are a prediction of what may happen to society if this power grows worldwide. In 1946, Orwell wrote "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it." Around the time Huxley wrote ‘Brave New World’ there had been huge discoveries made in science and technology, Huxley took these and created a dystopia...
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...A dystopian society means that it is a total opposite to a perfect utopian society. And yes every person version of their own utopia but there are some things that most people will agree on. The literature version of dystopian future has been written about a lot. This is especially true of books like The Hunger Games, and Divergent have given new to life and popularity to the genre. However, the messages are a little misread by a society obsessed with stories. These stories in actuality remind us of what we could become in the future. There are many classical works of literature that shows us the future of our society. There is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury where knowledge and reading are sin. There is Anthem by Ayn Rand which handles the topic of collectivism, and only doing what the party tell you to do. There is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, where the main topic of discussion is how media distracts and brainwashes you, while also...
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...Some people may argue that our global society is not a perfect utopian society but it hasn’t reached the values of a perfect dystopian society. One way that our global society is not a perfect utopian society is North Korea. The people of North Korea have no control over their thoughts and actions just like those in the novel. In North Korea, they have public executions. In 1984, their government also applies public executions. In 1984, “Some Eurasian prisoners, guilty of war crimes, were to be hanged in the Park that evening, Winston remembered. This happened about once a month and was a popular spectacle.”(p.23) Another society that is not a perfect utopia is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Democratic Republic of the Congo...
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...In cinematography and literature, dystopia is definitely not a new genre. In different novels, dystopian worlds have been elaborated, such novels include; ‘1984’ by George Orwell, ‘We’ by Zamyatin Yevgeny whose known for his stylistic and ideological contemporary dystopias, and ‘The Time Machine’ by Herbert Wells – the novel demonstrates the weird symbiosis of Eloi and Morlocks. In the side of cinematography, films/movies such as 12 monkeys, V for Vendetta, The Matrix and Brasilia have demonstrated the dystopia genre. However, dystopia has regrettably turned into a popular genre over the years. This is as a result of the one-dimensional, flat and simplified state in characters, storylines and style in the present dystopian movies. The Hunger...
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...There are obvious characteristics that each dystopian work shares on some level. To begin with, some manner of propaganda is used to control the inhabitants of the given society. Information, independent thought, and most importantly, an individual’s personal freedom is severely restricted- the population must conform to uniform expectations. Individuality and dissent are wicked concepts. There is usually a figurehead or a comparable concept that is worshipped by the populace. Citizens are perceived, whether they truly are or not, to be under constant surveillance by the authorities. There is also a strong sense of nationalism and citizens have a fear of the outside world and those that are outside their bubble. The society is generally stratified socially, economically, and politically causing a majority of inhabitants to live in a dehumanized state. For almost everyone except the protagonist, the society is a perfect utopian world. The melting away of this illusion is the journey a dystopian novel usually takes the reader. I can see these echoes of similarity between We and the many other great works of dystopian science-fiction such as Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451 and, for this discussion, Orwell‘s novel 1984. Both stories depict a post-apocalyptic world that has come into existence after a nuclear war has realigned the all of the previous geographic, political and social boundaries of the “old world”. Both stories are told by a government bureaucrat of sorts...
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...Garet Cauffiel Mr. Beedle English 4 16 October 2014 A Warning from the Past In writing 1984, Orwell's main goal was to warn of the serious danger totalitarianism poses to society. He demonstrates the terrifying degree of power and control a totalitarian regime can acquire and maintain. In such regimes, notions of personal rights and freedoms and individual thought are pulverized under the all-powerful hand of the government. Orwell exercises contradictions and paradoxes to display the dangers that could come in the future. The world of 1984 is a dark and morbid place, this theme of darkness helps carry the dystopian feel throughout the book. Orwell takes the events he was living through and magnifies them to a dystopian setting. The Party slogan “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength” (pg. 26) appears several times throughout the book and it is an example of how opposite the society is. This slogan is a clear indicator of the mind corruption of the party but at the same time each phrase bears a terrifying truth. War is Peace, without war, there can be no peace. Freedom is Slavery, without slavery we would not know of and crave freedom. Ignorance is Strength, in ignorance, you find the ability to create your strength. These contradictions are accompanied by many others, such as the four Ministries. The Ministry of Truth focuses on bending the past through destroying and rebuilding it, this would be considered lying but what the party claims is...
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...Great Power Comes Great Irresponsibility: An Analysis of the Eradication of Emotions by Unsolicited Control Governments today have immense power over individuals. Often times, political parties use this power to deprive qualities that define humans as a species from a population. In the fictional novel, 1984 by George Orwell (1949), the Party goes to extreme lengths to torture and brainwash their citizens to achieve utopian concepts. In Terry Gilliam’s film, Brazil (1985) the authorities operate behind the shadows, using technology to manipulate the masses and to eliminate the emotions of the citizens. In the real world, similar examples are evident; in North Korea, these stories are truer than ever. To be more specific, overseers order...
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...Wearing a Mask: Analysis of Rhetorical Devices Used in 1984 and 2016 Presidential Elections In the novel 1984, George Orwell illustrates the life of a man named Winston Smith in a dystopian society. Although the government, known as the Party, in the novel certainly differs from our government today. Some of the rhetoric the novel uses have connections with those used by our major presidential candidates, Donald Trump and HiIlary Clinton. Many times, the ways that the public interprets the government’s and candidates’ actions may contrast from what they are truly saying or doing. The various strategies used by the Party and mirrored with Clinton and Trump implore that the voters take notice of these differences. Firstly, the ways the...
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...He also then adds that New Middletown is bordered by a forest and the other half is walled. Thus, allowing the inference Max lives in a dystopian society. For example, from prior knowledge, I know dystopian societies have a tendency to create an illusion of a perfect society while information and freedom are restricted. In the same manner, New Middletown creates the illusion of a perfect society by isolating the city by building borders and not allowing access to people who will alter the way the society functions. Therefore, allowing the inference that Max might be living in a dystopian...
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...Oct. 2015. Lakoff tells of George Orwell’s 1984 and how he used to love the book, but now since he has more knowledge of the mind and how it works his opinion has changed. George Lakoff is Goldman Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, and Senior Fellow at the Rockridge Institute. This paper seems reliable from the credential he has and how he voices his opinion with facts to back it up. The uses of this article helps show by the authors facts and opinion how Orwell didn't know much about the brain. That how Orwell describes how the mind is working within the citizens is inaccurate, because the lack of knowledge in the time period the book was wrote. This sources is good to compare with the knowledge we have now about the brain and how realistic was Orwell's version of mind control compared to what mind...
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