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Critical analysis of dystopian literature
Critical analysis of dystopian literature
Thoughts on dystopian literature
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In many novels, authors display dystopian societies as chaotic worlds with war and poverty, but dystopian societies are much more than just that. Many governments will use anything it has to have control of its citizens. In the novels Nineteen Eighty-Four, V for Vendetta, and The Hunger Games, the government uses propaganda, fear, brainwashing, and many other forceful tactics to control its citizens. Currently, the United States government is even implementing some of its own dystopian-like devices such as; cyber pills. An oppressive government will do whatever necessary to gain or keep control of its citizens.
In George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the government, better known as the Party, goes to great lengths to maintain control of the citizens. In the novel, Winston, a party
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The government is set up into branches who each monitor the citizens in different ways. The Finger is the branch that does the field work. They make arrest and enforce the laws. The Mouth is the group of people who verbally distribute the laws and news. They relay information from a super computer called Fate. The Eye is the visual surveillance portion and the Ear listens to all audio. The last branch of the government is the Nose, this is a detective branch that investigates all crime or possible crime (Moore). The government puts a lot of effort into making sure that the citizens are in line. Before all of these branches were created, a war erupted. All the black people, Pakistan people, radicals, homosexuals, and many more were taken to resettlement camps much like the concentration camps of the Holocaust. There they were tortured, experimented on and eventually killed (Moore 28). V, the main character, was injected with a virus called Batch 5. After the virus is administered V is tested on and used as a lab rat for research at Larkhill Resettlement
Imagine a world where civil liberties have been stripped away, a bare façade of civilization left behind. This is a world that is inhabited by people who were once free-willed and strong-minded. These people have become weak and obedient, easily bent to the will of their oppressive government. The world that these words have conjured up in your mind is the same existence that the characters occupy in Edwidge Danticat’s “A Wall of Fire Rising” and Alan Moore’s “V” for Vendetta. Danticat’s story is about a small family living in present-day Haiti with their small, ambitious son. The country is a mish-mash of people amassing obscene fortune while the rest scrape at the bottom of the proverbial barrel just to make ends meet; the class gap is seemingly far apart. In Danticat’s story, the husband spends his days either working at the sugarcane mill or searching for work elsewhere. Each day the husband watches the mill owner’s son take a hot air balloon up into the sky, and each day becomes more envious of the freedom attached to that action. After complaining to his wife about his exhaustion with their current situation he claims that he wants to take the hot air balloon for himself and leave Haiti for a far-away and better place. The following day, the husband makes good on his word, abandons his family, and takes the hot air balloon up into the sky. In James McTeigue’s version of “’V’ for Vendetta”, the country is a futuristic and dystopian London. Corrupt politicians control every aspect of the country and the citizens within. The main character, a masked vigilante by the name of V, grows tired of his country’s lack of freedom and decides to destroy an historic courthouse at midnight on the morning of November the 5th. The building i...
In “1984,” Orwell uses Winston to portray a single individual’s attempt to take action against a powerful government, culminating in his failure and subjugation. His individual efforts failed tremendously due to the overarching power of the Party to control every aspect of social life in Oceania. Orwell uses Winston’s deeply seated hatred of the Party to portray his views on power and social change. Winston’s actions show that even in the direst of situations ...
The perfect society always exist in one form or another in everyone’s minds. The only problem with this is that no one ever thinks about the negatives of these societies. Comparing and contrasting this book and movie will show us how great and how terrible these places really are. The book 1984 and the movie Minority Report, have many striking differences as well as similarities. These differences and similarities can be seen throughout the setting, main characters, and themes in both 1984 and Minority Report.
Within both the Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and V for Vendetta it can be concluded that the leaders of the governments included in both are some of these people. They have their own ways more often than not unethical and violent put in place in an effort to obtain the power to which the crave so very much. Also, they have their own methods to discourage those against them whose agenda may contradict with their own, again the methods are often unethical. Both Governments operating within the book Brave New World and V for Vendetta use a plethora of different things to manipulate those lower in society than them. A constant method in both A Brave New World and V for Vendetta includes some sort of crooked or manipulated law enforcement. Also, in both the information given to the media outlets and general public by the government is usually coerced or twisted in order for the government to make themselves look better or to hide
George Orwell creates a dark, depressing and pessimistic world where the government has full control over the masses in the novel 1984. The protagonist, Winston, is low-level Party member who has grown to resent the society that he lives in. Orwell portrays him as a individual that begins to lose his sanity due to the constrictions of society. There are only two possible outcomes, either he becomes more effectively assimilated or he brings about the change he desires. Winston starts a journey towards his own self-destruction. His first defiant act is the diary where he writes “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER.” But he goes further by having an affair with Julia, another party member, renting a room over Mr. Carrington’s antique shop where Winston conducts this affair with Julia, and by following O’Brien who claims to have connections with the Brotherhood, the anti-Party movement led my Emmanuel Goldstein. Winston and Julia are both eventually arrested by the Thought Police when Mr. Carrington turns out to be a undercover officer. They both eventually betray each other when O’Brien conducts torture upon them at the Ministry of Love. Orwell conveys the limitations of the individual when it comes to doing something monumental like overthrowing the established hierarchy which is seen through the futility of Winston Smith’s actions that end with his failure instead of the end of Big Brother. Winston’s goal of liberating himself turns out to be hopeless when the people he trusted end up betraying him and how he was arbitrarily manipulated. It can be perceived that Winston was in fact concerned more about his own sanity and physical well-being because he gives into Big Brother after he is tortured and becomes content to live in the society he hated so much. Winston witnesses the weakness within the prole community because of their inability to understand the Party’s workings but he himself embodies weakness by sabotaging himself by associating with all the wrong people and by simply falling into the arms of Big Brother. Orwell created a world where there is no use but to assimilate from Winston’s perspective making his struggle utterly hopeless.
The approach towards freedom is hard to achieve against a totalitarian government but possible to win with the people’s belief. 1984 by George Orwell and James McTeigue’s V for Vendetta portray the same idealism of the anti-heroes, Winston and V. An anti-hero is “a protagonist who lacks the attributes that make a heroic figure, as nobility of mind and spirit, a life or attitude marked by action or purpose” (“Antihero”). Winston is not courageous, peaceful, and self-centered along the path of freedom for Oceania, whereas the anti-hero, V is violent in his actions, impatient and careless in his pursuit to free London from the totalitarian government. As a matter of fact, V and Winston have the opposite behaviours; this is significant because it helps to compare the approach of the anti-heroes toward freedom. At the end of 1984 and V for Vendetta, the result of their approach is different from each other; Winston gives up on the liberation of Oceania, while V dies knowing that London is freed from Norsefire Party. In 1984 and V for Vendetta, the different behaviours of the anti-heroes, Winston and V, illustrate their approach to attaining freedom from the totalitarian government.
Rather, it contends that when government is unrestrained in the form of totalitarianism, as exemplified by the Party of Oceania, it can by nature exist only to serve itself. This argument serves as Orwell’s warning against the dangers of totalitarianism; it is so corrupting a force that it can hide behind claims of good intentions, but ultimately exists only to accumulate its own power. Furthermore, since a totalitarian drive for power constitutes a total control of its citizenry and a political structure that necessitates its existence, as shown by the military strategy of the Party, Orwell warns that once a truly totalitarian state is in place, there is no possible way to overthrow it or turn back from it. Ultimately, Orwell sees a government that is so distorted it has become completely self-serving as the largest threat, defining his view of totalitarianism and the themes of his
Adam Sutler keeps everything controlled and in line. Any signs of rebellion are quickly taken into action. To secure each government's power, they must implement laws and enforce them. In 1984 we have the “Thought Police” and in V for Vendetta we have “Fingermen”. Both serve as the government's secret police force.
In the novel 1984 and the film “V for Vendetta”, the protagonist for both stories are captured while performing various acts of rebellion against the totalitarian government, of which is controlling their city. In punishment, the government tortures them with harsh, inhumane methods that are similar to those used in dictatorships during the 1900s like the USSR under Stalin’s rule. However, both protagonists are tortured by different sides, and by people from completely opposite ends of the political ladder: one a government agent, the other a rebel. Although the themes disclosed in relation to the purpose and meanings of torture are similar, the overall message and final opinion that is expressed and conveyed to the recipients are complete opposites.
1984, a novel by George Orwell, represents a dystopian society in which the people of Oceania are surveilled by the government almost all the time and have no freedoms. Today, citizens of the United States and other countries are watched in a similar way. Though different technological and personal ways of keeping watch on society than 1984, today’s government is also able to monitor most aspects of the people’s life. 1984 might be a dystopian society, but today’s condition seems to be moving towards that controlling state, where the citizens are surveilled by the government at all times.
In a dystopian society, the government watches and dictates everything. It is the opposite of a perfect world in the sense that careers and social status are pre-destined. The government of this society does everything in its power to make the citizens believe that this is the most ideal place to live. The word “dystopia” ultimately roots back to the Greek word “dys” meaning bad and “topos” meaning place (www.merriam-webster.com). Citizens in a dystopian society rarely question their government. Many citizens are brainwashed and others are just too frightened to speak out against injustices evident in their society. The Hunger Games and The Giver are perfect examples of dystopian texts d...
In the novel 1984, written by George Orwell, there is a place called Oceania where the government is Big Brother. The government, the Party, and the Thought Police are constantly oppressing the citizens of Oceania. Most of the people don't know that they are being oppressed, but the two main characters, Julia and Winston, realize the oppression and don't stand for it. Winston and Julia absolutely hate the Party, and are constant breaking its “rules”. Julia is self-centered and resists the Party by doing rebellious acts that only affect her in a positive way. Similarly, Winston also does small acts of rebellion in the beginning of the book in ways that only relate to him. Later, Winston rebels for a greater cause, joining the Brotherhood to
Psychological manipulation the Party uses on the citizens is one of the first themes Orwell exposes in this dystopian society. The Party maintains this manipulation by constantly overwhelming citizens with useless information and propaganda. And when memory failed and written records were falsified—when that happened, the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted, because there did not exist, and never again could exist, any standard against which it could be tested. (Orwell 82) Winston Smith, the protagonist, is having a frustrating conversation with an old man about life before the Revolution.
In the novel 1984, George Orwell predicts the world’s future, when human rights, such as freedom of speech, do not exist anymore. Everyone has to obey the government. The government controls its citizens’ lives. No one speaks up against the government yet because they do not even have a chance to make up a thought about it. The government dominates the citizens’ thoughts by using technologies and the thought polices to make sure no one will have any thoughts, that is against the government. George Orwell wrote:“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows,” (Orwell.2.7.69) the government tries to control Winston knowledge and change it to fit into the purpose of the Party. To Winston, O’Brien said: “Whatever the Party holds to be truth is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party.” (Orwell.3.2.205). As a citizen, no one get to look at or tal...
The government portrayed in the book as well as in the film is referred to as “Big Brother” the mastermind of establishing a totalitarian government. A totalitarian government is a single party that rules over everything and is superior to everyone. The totalitarian government was created to prevent corruption in the society and keep the people believing in what “Big Brother” wants them to believe. “Big Brother” kept the society in believing his reality by intimidation and brain washing. Also the lack of privacy was enforced by the use of surveillance like system known as the tele. The involvement of the government helped in conforming and controlling the society.