Utopia, a place where everything is perfect, but is it truly perfect? Is it really a utopia or is it a dystopia in disguise? Behind the rulers of a utopia might be a dark, horrible, flawed operation doing anything they can to keep their world perfect. Nearly all utopian books written, are dystopian worlds. They start off with a painted picture of happiness and serenity, nothing can go wrong user a superbly controlled world. Then slowly, the main character truly discovers the world of lies they have all been living under. In some books, mainly the novel 1984, true totalitarianism shines through showing to what depths some people go through to have full power over people. Utopia novel's plots are controlled by different types of people with assorted levels of power hunger want, they all differ from the novel 1984. The society represented in 1984 stands for an excellent example of a dystopia, but it is not the only novel with a utopia showing its true colors. …show more content…
1984 is not the only novel with a storyline developing on a utopia gone wrong.
Just like in 1984 when Winston realizes the type of world he is living in, Jonas from the novel The Giver, also realizes the type of world he was truly living in. Although in 1984, the main theme is about having full control over their people and being the most powerful, and in The Giver, the main theme is about “sameness” and controlling memories. In The Giver, their government controls all forms of freedom and individuality, everyone is just like anyone else in their community. They have no choice in the decisions of their lives, which is why Jonas takes full advantage of mandatory community service hours required by them, he enjoys the sliver of freedom he has to choose where to spend those hours. “Sameness” takes away what makes one self, different from the rest, not even families are
different. Family units, which are regular families (in their world), consist of four members, a mom and a dad, then two children a boy and a girl. Since they have the idea of “sameness” all babies born of the same year have the same birthday, and their birthday is celebrated in a community gathering. At certain ages, the children equally get new items, whether it be a passed down bike or even a job. Every person living in their community is appointed a job by the time they turn twelve, these jobs are chosen by the community elders and not the children specifically. Jonas, the main character, gets the job of “The Receiver” meaning he gets to hold all of the community’s memories, keeping them all save from what the community elders think is harmful. In 1984 it is seen that memories from people are rewritten and changed quite frequently to make their government seem like they are always right. “Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.”(35). The past is always rewritten and never shared. Just like in The Giver, memories are taken away from people to create their perfect world, although only in this book is the ability to see color taken away due to “sameness”. The Receiver holds all memories for the town, those of pain, those of happiness, and more importantly, those of love. As said by Jonas when he comes to realize a bit more of the world he is truly living in, "They have never known pain." (110). All emotions have been taken away from the people in The Giver. Love, along with all other emotions, seems to be a huge deal in both these books. All emotions have been taken away from the people of both novels. Emotions are very important in a human’s life because without them, they are a walking body with no sentiment of what they are doing, having no emotion towards everybody. In 1984, emotions have been taken away to benefit the government, Big Brother, and help them have total power over the people. Any sign of emotion is seen as a crime, if committed one would be sent to the Ministry of Love which was their jail where the citizens would be tortured and all that would be left of the person, would be the shell of a man. Love is a huge deal since In The Giver, all emotion was also taken away from the people. Jonas’
His Death Written Life The novel, 1984, by George Orwell, depicts a dystopian society where no freedom exists; not even the freedom of thought. The scene takes place in Oceania, a society in which the ruling power called “the Party” strictly controls everything people do: from the way they speak, to how they move, to their very own thoughts. Winston Smith, the main character of 1984, struggles through the day to day life of having to blend into the brainwashed citizens of Oceania, where monitors called telescreens record and analyze every little movement. Anyone not showing signs of loyalty and homogeneity becomes vaporized, or in other words, ceases to exist and becomes deleted from history.
Once Jonas begins his training with the Giver, however, the tendencies he showed in his earlier life—his sensitivity, his heightened perceptual powers, his kindness to and interest in people, his curiosity about new experiences, his honesty, and his high intelligence—make him extremely absorbed in the memories the Giver has to transmit. In turn, the memories, with their rich sensory and emotional experiences, enhance all of Jonas’s unusual qualities. Within a year of training, he becomes extremely sensitive to beauty, pleasure, and suffering, deeply loving toward his family and the Giver, and fiercely passionate about his new beliefs and feelings. Things about the community that used to be mildly perplexing or troubling are now intensely frustrating or depressing, and Jonas’s inherent concern for others and desire for justice makes him yearn to make changes in the community, both to awaken other people to the richness of life and to stop the casual cruelty that is practiced in the community. Jonas is also very determined, committing to a task fully when he believes in it and willing to risk his own life for the sake of the people he loves.
Jonas is the protagonist in The Giver. He changes from being a typical twelve-year-old boy to being a boy with the knowledge and wisdom of generations past. He has emotions that he has no idea how to handle. At first he wants to share his changes with his family by transmitting memories to them, but he soon realizes this will not work. After he feels pain and love, Jonas decides that the whole community needs to understand these memories. Therefore Jonas leaves the community and his memories behind for them to deal with. He hopes to change the society so that they may feel love and happiness, and also see color. Jonas knows that memories are hard to deal with but without memories there is no pain and with no pain, there is no true happiness.
When writing his novel 1984, George Orwell was conveying his disapproving thoughts about the actions of the fascist dictators that were attempting their rise to power during World War II. The dystopian society created in the novel was created as a warning to those who supported the dictators at the time, including Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini, and the negative effects that their power would bring. Although Orwell’s intentions were not to prophesy what the world would be like, society today is beginning to closely resemble that of 1984. The similarities between George Orwell’s novel 1984 and society today are becoming increasingly more significant because of an excess use of technology, a lack of privacy, and the extreme measures taken by the government.
What is a utopia? Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary defines _utopia_ as "an imaginary and indefinitely remote place; a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, gov-ernment, and social conditions; *an impractical scheme for social improvement."* In _Brave New World_ Aldous Huxley creates a _dystopia_ (which Webster defines as "an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives") by predicting a pos-sible _utopia_ after many generations. Aldous Huxley analyzes how the utopia degenerated from its original intent into a terrible dystopia. In this essay I will discuss some aspects of this dystopia and relate to Aldous Huxley's dystopian vision.
The Giver presents a community that appears to be perfect on the surface. Jonas's community is free of warfare, pain, sorrow and other bitterness we suffer in our society. The world seems to be secure and undergoes little conflict. Such a community seems flawless and is the idealistic society that we longed to live in. However, through Jonas's training, the imperfections of the Utopian community are revealed.
[1]George Orwell was completely against totalitarianism, "He was fighting Franco 's insurgents in Spain as a member of a left-wing, but non-Stalinist militia" (BBC.com "Orwell 's Road to Dystopia").
In the book, The Giver, Jonas is portrayed as a kind, curious and rebellious individual with a keen sense of awareness. The beginning chapters revealed Jonas as a very naive and compliant person, similar to everyone else in his community. Instances, when he was a child and got reprimanded for small misunderstandings, made him like this. However, throughout the book, Jonas has grown into an independent and determined person, someone who wants to make a change. Jonas finds new strengths in his character which forms him into someone spectacular and distinctive.
It is of mixed opinions as to the popularity of modern society and that of the current government. Some believe the United States is, frankly, the best and most free country. They are those who enjoy the freedoms granted by the government and indulge themselves into the American culture. Others are not as fond; always searching for an excuse to criticize the current happenings, whether they be in the government or on the streets. In previous decades, such as the 1940s, the majority of citizens shared the more patriotic view. When comparing the current United States as a whole to that of a dystopian society, it becomes clear that the former faction may be looking through rose colored glasses. The dystopian motifs in George Orwell 's 1984 stemmed
The Utopia Reader defines the word utopia as “a nonexistent society described in detail and normally located in time and space.” (p.1) I would best define utopia as a fictional dream- paradise land where everything is peaceful, perfect and all runs smoothly. There is no crime disease, or pain. People are happy, kind and fair and have each other’s best
The dictionary definition of utopia is “a theoretical "perfect" realm, in which everyone is content, where things get done well by people who are happy to do them, and where all the problems which have plagued our world for millennia no longer apply.” My definition of utopia is a “world” where everything is perfect and there are no issues or conflicts of any kind. Utopias also usually turn into dystopias. The dictionary definition of dystopia is “an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.” My definition of a dystopia is a “place” where there is only chaos and disorder.
Dystopian novels are written to reflect the fears a population has about its government and they are successful because they capture that fright and display what can happen if it is ignored. George Orwell wrote 1984 with this fear of government in mind and used it to portray his opinion of the current government discretely. Along with fear, dystopian novels have many other elements that make them characteristic of their genre. The dystopian society in Orwell’s novel became an achievement because he utilized a large devastated city, a shattered family system, life in fear, a theme of oppression, and a lone hero.
Utopia: an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect. In both the novel 1984 by George Orwell and the movie The Truman Show a perfect society is presented. But as the two pieces of work continue the viewer comes to find what is told to be a utopia really is a dystopia.
Jonas’ community chooses Sameness rather than valuing individual expression. Although the possibility of individual choice sometimes involves risk, it also exposes Jonas to a wide range of joyful experiences from which his community has been shut away. Sameness may not be the best thing in the community because Jonas expresses how much he feels like Sameness is not right and wants there to be more individuality. Giver leads him to understand both the advantages and the disadvantages of personal choice, and in the end, he considers the risks worth the benefits. “Memories are forever.”
A utopia is a community or society that posses highly desirable or perfect qualities (Definition Characteristics). “A utopian society is basically one where all the social evils have been cured” (Literary Devices: Utopia). The intent behind a utopia is political, social, and philosophical perfection (Literary Devices: Utopia). A couple examples of a utopia in literature include King Arthur's court at Camelot and Andraea's Christianopolis along with Plato's Republic, which is commonly referred to as the first example of a utopia. (Literary Devices: Utopia) In utopian novels, the authors make up new prefixes to show how the society is organized and set up. (Literary Devices: Utopia) Utopias are used for “exposing the flaws prevalent within an existing political structure” (Literary Devices: Utopia) and also as away of show...