...Two Dystopias After reading the iconic novel, The Giver by Lois Lowry, and learning about the devastating Holocaust, I have come to a conclusion that there are many similarities between the sick realism of the world and the made up world of a book. A dystopia is a fictional world where people live under a highly controlled, totalitarian system. In both The Giver and in the Holocaust, societies were based off of: rules, sameness, and death. All qualities of a dystopia that make it the highly controlled, totalitarian system that it is. To begin, I will start with the extreme control and rules placed upon all citizens of the community in The Giver, and the millions of Jews during the Holocaust. Over the course of the Holocaust, Hitler...
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...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 in both the books have...
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