Dystopian Societies Are Close to Becoming Ours “Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It’s the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic utopia” (Orwell 267). Everyone’s idea of a utopia is different, in many of them there is a vague idea of fairness but when executed it becomes on the verge of communism and turns into a type of dystopia. No functioning society is a utopia, nothing can be fair. Now these failed utopias are ignorant and at war and have nothing to live for, nothing to lose, and they have no one to blame except themselves and those around them. The society they live in is the one that the same society created. 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 put into perspective how society is expecting ignorance and feeding us …show more content…
“Not physically.” (Orwell 73). In 1984 there is no pleasure in life, you cannot find comfort or enjoyment in food, people, or life in general, what is the point of being alive at all in these types of societies? One might as well be dead...In dystopias all have similar plots they follow a character who becomes self-aware that the society they live in is not always like this. Fahrenheit and 1984 both follow these premises that previously in life it was not this way. Both in Orwell and Bradbury’s story they have characters like Winston and Montag who live in worlds with oppressive government but deep down know they do not want to continue living like they have been their whole lives. Propaganda overshadows the reason for the set of strange rules and heavily enforced laws. Neither Winston nor Montag is happy; they have aching jobs with ignorant co-workers. Winston has a wife he cannot get rid of, and Montag has a shallow, selfish wife. Books are not banned in 1984, but all information is edited to show how great “Big Brother” is and all the government ministries must be praised. Nothing in 1984 is enjoyable rations for food go down, but the news propaganda makes it seem as if it goes up, anyone who denies this or rebels shall be …show more content…
Likewise, in 1984, but in an unsettling way 1984 seems like they can never escape being oppressed, however, Fahrenheit’s society picks jobs off looks and has a whole distinct set of rules unfamiliar to us. He was not happy with it. He was not happy with it. He said the words to himself. He recognized this as the true state of affairs. He wore his happiness like a mask” (Bradbury 9). In Fahrenheit you can feel the suffocating theme of feeling trapped in a dull world surrounded by shallow people. Montag was lucky at the end of the book he found like-minded people who he was able to rebuild with. Winston didn’t get that lucky he was faced with betrayal from O’Brien, who he thought was part of “the brotherhood” but in the theme of feeling trapped there was no brotherhood, no escape from the party. “There is no way in which the party can be overthrown, the rule of the party is forever” (Orwell 262). In the sense of people, Winston and Guy have both been betrayed by those who they trusted. Guy was turned into Beatty by his wife, who did not care about Montag when the house was being burned, but rather her parlor
Dystopias in literature and other media serve as impactful warnings about the state of our current life and the possible future. Two examples of this are in the book Fahrenheit 451 and the movie The Truman Show. Both works show the harmful effects of advancing technology and the antisocial tendencies of a growing society. The protagonists of these stories are very similar also. Guy Montag and Truman Burbank are the only observant people in societies where it is the norm to turn a blind eye to the evils surrounding them. Fahrenheit 451 and The Truman Show present like messages in very unlike universes while giving a thought-provoking glimpse into the future of humanity.
In most stories we enjoy, may it be from childhood or something more recent there is many times a theme that shows a clear hero and a clear villain. But ordinarily this is not the case in real life, there are few times that this is quite that simple. There are many sides to each story, and sometimes people turn a blind eye to, or ignore the opposing side’s argument. But if we look at both sides of a situation in the stories we can more clearly understand what is going on, moreover the villains in the book or play would seem more real, instead of a horrible person being evil for no reason, these two people have their own agenda may it be a ruthless vengeance or misplaced trust.
To say this novel is even remotely similar to anything being read in my high school classes would be an outright lie. The philosophical themes of existential dread, nihilism, absurdism and general apathy are unlike those found in any novel. Thus, it is fortunately unlike a great number of books and ripe for comparisons. “Fahrenheit 451” and “Huckleberry Finn” come to mind, as those books have plots centered around active rebellious tendencies and great adventures. In the book “Fahrenheit 451” the protagonist Guy Montag, when presented with great danger, makes an incredible escape in order to pursue his life and his curiosity. In stark contrast to Guy Montag’s exciting escape from his inanimate doom, the narrator (his name is Meursault, left out in some translations) accepts his death sentence as an implication of the inevitable. He does not know whether his is guilty or not of his crime, only that he has been sentenced to the guillotine and that an attempt to prolong his existence is
During the course of the semester, I covered many topics during this class. These topics consist of; The Great Gatsby, The topic of Rationalism, Romanticism/transcendentalism, The crucible, and Fahrenheit 451. In this assignment, I was asked to summarise each topic with a single thing I could use to describe the meaning of the topic. I chose to summarise each topic in terms of a single quote. I chose quotes because of the open-mindedness of quotes. Everyone sees quotes differently, and they have different meanings for everyone. They are often used to express opinions, or public knowledge led to educate and inspire others.
Several conflicting frames of mind have played defining roles in shaping humanity throughout the twentieth century. Philosophical optimism of a bright future held by humanity in general was taken advantage of by the promise of a better life through sacrifice of individuality to the state. In the books Brave New World, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451 clear opposition to these subtle entrapments was voiced in similarly convincing ways. They first all established, to varying degrees of balance, the atmosphere and seductiveness of the “utopia” and the fear of the consequences of acting in the non-prescribed way through character development. A single character is alienated because of their inability to conform – often in protest to the forced conditions of happiness and well being. Their struggle is to hide this fact from the state’s relentless supervision of (supposedly) everything. This leads them to eventually come into conflict with some hand of the state which serves as the authors voice presenting the reader with the ‘absurdity’ of the principles on which the society is based. The similar fear of the state’s abuse of power and technology at the expense of human individuality present within these novels speaks to the relevance of these novels within their historical context and their usefulness for awakening people to the horrendous consequences of their ignorance.
Society will never be perfect. Equality will never be sustained. A dystopian society will always have corruption of government. Corruption is present all around the world but is swept under the rug. Abridgment of human rights happens every day in our country or another. Oppression is the cause for all the sadness in our world. There will be always selfishness in dystopia. One must sink for another to rise, but “good doesn’t mean good for everyone. It means worst for someone.”
Imagine living in a time where books have been banned and your only source of companionship was a screen on the wall. Or picture living in the city of Thebes, where you must risk execution by the king in order to give your dead brother the proper burial he deserves. These two scenarios precisely describe the worlds of Montag, from Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and Antigone, from Sophocles’ Antigone, respectively. Though the ways in which Antigone and Montag challenge their world’s status quo are very similar, the motives and consequences behind their actions are very different.
Kofi Annan said, “Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family” but not in the society of Fahrenheit 451 or the world we live in today. The two societies are similar in the way that social status is focused on and that many people hide their guilty pleasures due to what others think. A difference between the societies is that thinking is punished for in Fahrenheit 451 while in the world today you're encouraged to think by elders but discouraged by your peers.
The book, Fahrenheit 451 and the movie, V for Vendetta, have many similarities as well as differences when their dystopian societies are compared. For example, their governments and their people are similar. However, their protagonists and settings are very different. These factors affect the plot of each story, which makes them unique and enjoyable to many people.
A Dystopia is a society where something is flipped from our normal society, making everything else different and worse than we can imagine. Harrison Bergeron is a good example of a dystopia because it changes one thing that makes that society worse than ours. In the society of Fahrenheit 451, reading books is illegal. This changes how people retain knowledge and see the past that their society was once in. In our society books are not illegal to read. You can retain information from books and know the history of how our society came to be. This book is titled Fahrenheit 451, and is written by Ray Bradbury. The protagonist in this story is Montag. He is a fireman that burns the books that people can’t read, then he suddenly goes through a change
Imagine a chaotic society of people who are so entangled by ignorance and inequity that they do not realize it; this would be called a dystopian society. Dystopian societies are very popular among many fictional stories. In fact, in the stories Fahrenheit 451 and “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, dystopian societies are represented. In many of these stories, the people in the fictional societies are violence-loving, irrational people who always seem to do what people of the U.S. society would consider "immoral." These stories are not a representation of how the U.S. society is now, but how it could be in the future. Unlike the society of Fahrenheit 451, the U.S. allows people
Much can happen in a matter of minutes; a man can go from thinking he is happy to thinking his life is falling apart, or can change from hating someone to loving them. These experiences sound outlandish, but they happened to Guy Montag, the main character in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and Winston Smith, the main character in George Orwell’s 1984. These two dystopian novels are about the characters discovering major problems in their societies, and then trying to fix them. Montag lives in a society where television controls people’s lives and books have become illegal. On the other hand Smith lives in Oceania, a territory led by a totalitarian regime. This regime is headed by Big Brother and is referred to as the Party. By examining Fahrenheit 451 and 1984, it is seen, not only through the dehumanized nature of society, but also through the theme of lies and manipulation that both Orwell and Bradbury wish to warn of a horrifying future society.
A dystopian society can be defined as “a society characterized by human misery”. 1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury both demonstrate dystopian societies. However, that does not mean they do not their differences. In each society the government has different ways of controlling and limiting its citizens for doing only what they want them to do. In 1984, violators are brainwashed into loving and following Big Brother as if they never knew the truth and return back to their everyday lives. Fahrenheit 451 also punishes violators in a way that makes them regret and scared to ever do it again instead of making them forget.
“Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.” (Nelson Mandela) In the movie Elysium, directed by Neil Blomkamp, and Fahrenheit 451, written by Rad Bradbury, each protagonist’s objective is to rebel against their oppressive government. In Elysium, Max grows up as a child with the inspiration of leaving his shattered earth and making it to the higher world, known as “Elysium” with his friend Frey. This makes it easier for max to reach his goal and obtain success because he grew up with the inspiration. Unlike Fahrenheit 451, where the Protagonist Guy Montag starts out by agreeing with the Utopian society he’s in, burning books and following the government’s orders. To acquire success, a
The year 1984 has long passed, but the novel still illustrates a possibility for the future of society. It still remains a powerful influence in all sorts of literature, music, and social theory. George Orwell envisioned a nightmarish utopia that could have very easily become a possibility in 1949 ? the year the novel was written. He managed to create such a realistic view of humanity?s future, that this story has been deemed timeless. There will always be the threat of totalitarianism, and at some moments civilization is only a step away from it. Orwell hated the thought of it, and 1984 shows that. From his work, readers who live in prevailing democratic society have a chance to consider about these very different political systems, democracy and totalitarianism.