Category: Dystopia

In 1949, an evolution in literature was produced by George Orwell with his world-renowned novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The book described a world besieged by war, civil conflict and revolution, where three totalitarian super-states rule the world under an iron fist, corrupted by the ideology of the “Ingsoc” and by mysterious world leaders who demand a cult of personality. The novel was a massive success, pulling in hundreds of thousands of dollars worldwide, and winning a place in NPR’s Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of All-Time. In a world of literature revolving around romance and life-based events (Goodreads, 2016), one can see how a genre full of chaos and unlawfulness with a thick plot of action and twists at every turn might become one of the most popular genres of the modern day.

In many cases, Dystopian texts bring out the insecurities in people and emit a relatable sense of felling through the various themes that are explored. However, we must question; why is it that people pursue comfort in destruction? I don’t mean seeking shelter in a storm; I mean why do people submerge themselves into these dystopian fictions, why does it give them a sense of safety, should they not cause a sense of anxiety? During this frenzy for dystopia, many people wonder what makes the genre so appealing.

I first came across dystopia when I was in dire need of a good read, this is where I came across The Hunger by Games by Suzanne Collis. Immediately, the novel booms into action, with diverse language features and an intense narrative, following closely behind, a thrilling plot full of nail-biting action and relatable real-world problems. I found myself enthralled in the imperfect world, dictated by the oppressive Coriolanus Snow who demands a totalitarian authoritative without peril to his rule. Several themes are seen through the novel: poverty, inequality, stoicism, voyeurism and even self-identity. Majority of these themes, although foreign to me, were enticing. I felt… comforted. As I continued to consume dystopian fictions, they drew me in, until eventually, I felt myself craving more of the destructive fictions of dystopia. Reading about the anxieties of the characters and their interpersonal issues, gave me a sense of relatability to them.

I felt in control, and that felt good. In a time of fear, crises, and anxiety, these dystopian futures give us a sense of comfort, control and relatability, that many other genres fail to deliver. One constituent to the relativeness of young adult dystopian literature is that they are written in a teenagers outlook, which is scarce for traditional literature. Young adults, with the drama and unique anxieties, are trying to figure out who they are and what they want to be in life. With dystopian novels, the character is perceived as someone with individuality and determination. For example, “So, I learned to hold my tongue and to turn my features into an indifferent mask so that no one could ever read my thoughts,”. This describes Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games and how she comprehends herself as an individual. This gives comfort to the reader, who is at similar age to the protagonist of the story. They appreciate how the author shows the protagonists uncertainties and anxieties such as their love interests and body image. The readers, especially in young adult dystopian literature, can take themselves to an alternate universe in which the character lives and feels like they are in the story. This notion makes it simple for them to relate to the protagonist.

With the increasing popularity of dystopian novels that was just recently discussed, several questions arise. Of the most important; does increasing consumption of dystopian narratives influence people’s perspectives about the world? According to a study conducted by the Washington Post in 2019, which utilised three computer-based experiments to rigorously test hypotheses about the effects of dystopian fiction on people’s attitudes, it was certain that dystopian fiction makes people more willing to justify political violence. It was paramount in the study that despite dystopian fiction being “make-believe”, the texts heightened peoples willingness to justify radical – and especially violent – forms of political action against injustice by political elites (Jones, 2019). In the first experiment, it only took a small stimuli to a totalitarian-based dystopian fiction to make people say that violent protest and armed rebellion could be justifiable (compared with those who consumed no media) (Jones, 2019). Subjects who were exposed to a dystopian text, were also more likely to agree that violence was sometimes necessary to obtain justice, especially when compared to the no-media group. From these experiments, we can justify that dystopian fictions have a significant effect on what people thought was ethically acceptable. Clearly, the fictions of dystopia influence our society into more violent and rebellious afterthoughts, especially in relation to totalitarianism.

Dystopia which means community or society is popularly assumed to be an inverted mirror and negative adaptation of utopia. Dystopia is considered as a genre in the absolute sites for generic combination. Which means tyrannical governments, dehumanization, environmental disorder are come along with cataclysmic (lots of eradication) that dwindling in society. It was a literal opposite meaning of a word utopia .Dystopian society arose in many entireties such as imaginary or invented works. Before the decennium dystopia was first adoption the colloquy documented was cacotopia (insubstantial seat of defective government).

John Stuart miller who was an English philosopher, miller was a person coined the word dystopia, meaning unsatisfactory abode in 1868 as he was denounced the government which is an Irish land administration. He was inspirited by great writer Thomas More’s calligraphy on utopia. Utopia brings about the illustration of any sort of dreamer society regarded as admirable to the under consideration by its originator, “dystopia” intimate its opposition, or any sort of society take into the consideration as underneath by its creator.

Dystopia is ostensibly a much unpractised concept belong to the extreme 19th century. It is a considerable way regarding daunting or deformed and undesirable. Some themes were prevalent in dystopian societies like corruption, globalization, social flexibility, integrity and morality.

Dystopian literature is a construction of formularized fiction in order brings about the acknowledgement to utopian discourse. A dystopia displays an insubstantial community or aristocracy by the way of explanation brutalize and daunting. A dystopia stands and reverse of a utopia and that is a consummate society. Specific societies are within view of many exquisite works, distinctly in adventure set in plot. Citation of dystopia in literature Suzanne Collins the Hunger Games already stated works characterize an apocalypse cosmos, surface in a advanced society dashing her alternation. 1984 by George Orwell, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and The Giver by Lois Lowry types of apocalypse, by the way explains constitutional, tyrannical or monolithic, bourgeois, technocratic ideology.

Diagnostic of a dystopian society whatever the propaganda, self- determining thought and abandonment are hitched or diminished. A nominal head or abstraction is canonized by the naturalized person of a society. Civilian are anticipated to be concealed by constant supervision. Community have an agitation and concerning the extraneous world.

Harry Potter, stands during the time that the aboriginal novel to establish the key dystopian idea for children and adolescent. General concept and themes were placed in apocalypse novel and recurrently more than one keynote will be inquired into the inner one plotline. Which are environmental contamination, nuclear affliction, government dominion, religious domination, technological limitation, continuance and fear of losing identification.

Dystopia endures a category in literature which depicts a formidable community or society. When it is commonly the expedition to make else community into a utopia the excellent place. That satirically leads through such outrage conditions. Dystopia emblematize synthetically constitute a world or society in that vulnerable population impulse beneath the basis sort of the backbreaking government or is administrate to distinct several other category of oppression (dashing, standards, absence of individualism, isolation).

Dystopian society requirement had this issue which is conflicts, challenges and threats. George Orwell’s Animal Farm is an apocalypse work as a result its portrays a cosmos where the characteristics seeks to have a perfect, like a utopian society but the results is people which is worse in that society. A social dystopia is similar to both corporate and governmental apocalypse in that group in community that has taken charges of lives of the common people and declines it to adapt into the needs of their practice and beliefs.

The ultimate prominent works of dystopia in 20th century best fictions are Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1932),George Orwell 1984 (1868) some of the finest dystopian works are The Road(2006),The Hunger Games (2008),Do Androids work Dream Of Electrical sheep (1968), We(1921), The Chrysalides (1955),The Drowned World (1962), Animal Farm (1946), The Windup Girl (2009), The Maze Runner (2009)it is a young adult apocalypse science fiction novel authored by American writer James Dashner.

Some characteristics countenance of dystopian fiction, A attainment story of battle, anarchy, uprising, crowdedness, natural calamity, or some other crucial event that accrue in dramatic adjustment to society. An authoritative of alive among the middle class and lower class that is approximately poorer than an extant society. A dystopia out of a possession ancient Greek, which is avenue bad place.

Modern dystopia whatever means dystopia conceivable post apocalyptic or apocalyptic or no more, but it accept to be a anti utopian, a utopia come around backwards, a cosmos in which people certified to establish a republic of accomplishment only to found which they accept created a democratic state of misery. Dystopian novels as a result provides us worst case scheme of the fortune, may be depicts our current community and it would be astonish enough to deflect those scheme eventually in the real life.

In this work The White Tiger Adiga announce the abominable. It appears that a value based moral story of a budding man who was horribly murdered by his executive the young man also want to proceeds the confrontation against that political deprival, the social or community marginalization affecting the devotional subjugation of an effective impoverished. The entire particular are catching place in India at the heels of the screen of commercial, political, infrastructure and technological growth.

The novel is in striking first person anecdotal style is ostensibly forward to the wen jiabao, who was the premier of China. The storyteller acknowledged his, own personal history in current personal intimate, intelligence and lively articulation. The contemporary current Indian English Literature covered the threat of disaster and violence.

This work act in the place of bitter and brutal reality, truths and distinct realistic circumstances of India he characterize in The White Tiger. Social dystopia in Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger conception existent in contemporary conditions of Indian society. It portrays the sufferings as well as social injustice and inequalities based on class, caste, religion and population impoverished.

Balram Halwai belongs to sweetmeat maker caste; he was a son of rickshaw –puller in the village called Laxmangarh located in Dhanbad. Though he was intelligent in the school he is not able to continue his studies. He was a drop out from the school and he wants to learn driving. This is about poor boy’s achievement story in a corroded society where it was filled with corruption, hypocrisy and ladder escalade is the adjustment of the day. Aravind Adiga exactly brings about the world of drivers –cum-assistant dollop their masters in municipal cities like Delhi with some outstanding insight and affinity. The agitation of exhausting the khaki uniform, the territorial bus conductor looking him in his khaki uniform and having silver whistle in his mouth before was of school hero of everyone that time, is something brought up out with a affectability giving the retold a local hardiness and local rural colour.

In Delhi Balram was the driver once, he remained accommodating servant turn over the end breeding secret admiration by mimicking his employee. Taking to acoholic beverages (drinks), visiting the house of prostitution, deceiving his master these all get into his stream of blood.

The affiliation between his employee Ashok and Balram is enlightened though Ashok who was the American returned found himself as misfit of the place. His brother who was called mongoose and Ashok father was the stork, was lived in the village called Laxmanagarh in Dhanbad are black as the fuel coal they dig up. Ashok and his wife Pinky was his real masters. Whenever they fight in his companionship, his wife is extremely dictatorial at many times.

Later Pinky abscond in some scenes pursuing divorce her husband. Ashok though dejected, continues to chummy with Balram and delighted him as a human that is what strikes; he was missing in city which is Delhi. At last he killed his master at the end of the novel brutally by using broken scotch bottle. Balram decided to steal money bag for that sake, he carries to bribe minister, comes as a sudden push. It considered as a murder a murder without any plan or enough preparation to kill him unless one occurrence Balram was a debauched rascal, which is not action he is granted as.

The way of his narrative is clearly absorbing, an alternation of accurate written on a visit of premier of china who don’t know English. Then they coming together India and China both politically and culturally mock as a abortive bid from pitch darkness to light. These two images used broadly throughout the work The White Tiger. Servility, Illiteracy, darkness of poverty and impoverishment from rural are contrasted with the life of cities as well as called light of cities which corruption is blustering.

Balram Halwai was wanted by the police and he flees to Bangalore to lead a life in better manner. Balram lives under a candelabrum of lights. He was a single man living alone without his family and friends. This is about the fable of the normal life of an ordinary driver. The rise of the son of rickshaw puller to a driver later and driver of drivers now who would have become a minister hypothetically is the message of the novel. He included, there is emptiness to redeem this corruption and rottenness.

The fictional has a apparent liveliness and brightness as a drivers view of poverty, squalor and filth that hang like banners and posters all settled up the interurban externally becoming a clutch experience. Once Adiga interviewed by Nick Dimartino (2014) Adiga expressed his catalyst behind his work, novel The White Tiger. He portrayed the darkness, and the poverty of Indian society, when he talks about common man sufferings and his struggles to carry through .He has the access of three Black American writers of post world II era who was called James Baldwin, Ricvhard widget and Ralph Ellison. Their influence on Adiga made him to portray the problem of the destitute classy in India.

The educational conformity in the work is not avoided by the corruption. It has been contaminate by the accelerating constitutional system. He accost, scraps to riches amidst brutal classism, amorality, exploitation and globalization. This novel is bombarded as a sarcastic encounter on the political, socio economic and moral codes. Adiga throughout this work The White Tiger has arranged loopholes of classification that dictum the nation, and fictionalized study in human inequality.

Marginalized people are commonly segregated, discriminated, ignored and often abolished on the substructure of gender, race, culture, ethnicity, education, race, occupation and religion, economy of the predominant. The countries centralize on regenerate the nation from inner side by battling against its endemic affliction in the political and economical life as well as cultural and social issue.

The author adoption of dystopia is a scholarly technique to deliberate actuality and delineates issues that competences appear in the destined. In this fashion, the performance of dystopia in literary works is to discipline and give acquaintance to the admirers. Dystopia also delivers as admonition about the present state of concern of a government or those who are in power.

According to Aravind Adiga, his novel The White Tiger was to acquire the implicit voice of citizens taken away the darkness. The depleted areas of Arcadian India, and the necessary to accomplish, so externally portraying and sentimentality of them as they are normally The White Tiger modulation of amusing convey the social inequality and injustice of contemporary modern India with equitable amusement and fury. Dystopian novels can claim the readers to be convinced about differently current political and social climates and in some occasions or reason can even activated actions. Dystopias are societies in ruinous decline, with characters that attack technological control, environmental breakdown and government abusiveness.

Dystopian literature possibly behold as a weapon to cultivate the coming generations and that reason make them larger conscious about political issues, and among the extremely large approach to facts from social media. His works fall into basically two major categories that are autobiographical and social. Aravind Adiga has a person who was focussed his full attention on the difficulty, dejection and misery of the impoverished as a conclusion of the profiteering of the oppressed citizens of our contemporary Indian society.

All his works provides major social message to the citizen of India, connected Indian society or community and from what source the people carry through in crushing poverty. His considerable work assumed to us breath of India’s dirt poor in an applied and sympathetic condition. Adiga’s agony contagious declarations of people taken away all spas in the life and accomplish him an energetic critic of the contemporary India. He was a person socially committed, has composed an excellent deal of literature. General social problems or issues indirectly or directly induce the members or people of the society.

Corruption issues an implicit to politics and Indian society, rivalry between some other countries of Asia and India, getting alternation in the system of education, poverty and changes in equality etc. The common social issue taken placed in our society is unemployment, child labour, dowry, racial discrimination, poverty etc. Terrorism, gambling, torture on women, corruption and crime these are benefits by the current affairs. In recent period one that comes beyond modern affairs like quest for identity, alienation sensitivity of non-acceptance pertaining to existence crisis that is reflected in his different novel.

Adiga keeps an excessive contribution of various customs for the complication and burden in the society. He analyzes the authenticity regarding life and current extensive views of social life concerning common people. The frames of Aravind Adiga survive not too assumed and his characters, situation and incidents are real. The approach of his novel, realize the private misconception affiliate to the public evils. People privilege and significance into social stigma while alternately have solution. Awareness endures the essential counteraction for this social issue.

The White Tiger accord by the relationship and social structure, progress of social change and the assorted laws in it. He also mentions to distinct evils spoiling our community or society. The White Tiger provides a case of differing misdeed in Indian emancipation and community at a broad. This book gives a social issues centralize on the depletion and anguish of India and it socio-political-religious conflicts conferred through an exceptional blend of irony and humour.

Adiga’s aspect on India subsistence overwhelmed with slavery and fodder, where a person who was born in poor family gets his chances of gradual growth or progress on entity, limited and the circumstances dominant in the country while that proper for him to approve a crimes like thefts and murdered allowed, has been depicted. Adiga raising various issues or problems in this work and this is beyond fact confutation that India affront by better of these issues were put forth by him. Aravind Adiga, ended from his novel in an unappealing sight about India which developing the consequence of the problems abundant, to a degree that they assume to exist an imperative agency in Indian society.

And our nation, though it has no drinking water, electricity, sewage system, public transportation, sense of hygiene, discipline, courtesy, or punctuality, does have entrepreneurs. (The White Tiger p.4)

Aravind Adiga explains the exact condition of this society. Nothing is proper in our society. Everything was distorted and they never mind about people basic needs. Modern India is the extent democracy in the world, equality, justice and liberty these are the basic consequence values over that the habitation of democracy inactivity. Still there is no assurance if one system is not employed properly, the alternative one aim do much better in India. An equality is the most excellent form of guidance in despite of the error that have listed this domain. He exposes a bit of certain flaws which have collapsed India’s complex as the control of the confined mafias, periodic selection and abortion of compact government.

He can read and write, but he doesn’t get what he’s read. He’s half-baked. The country is full of people like him, I’ll tell you that. And we entrust our glorious parliamentary democracy’ – he pointed at me –‘to characters like these. That’s the whole tragedy of this country.’(10)

Education plays a vital role as an equipment of liberty for him. His journey from scraps to riches above account of his poverty and education both offensive evils still exist in our society. Aravind Adiga recommended mainly the modern social regulation in his works. Although absence of academic education, Adiga insists above lines in there is no proper and good education systems are available in our society he indirectly says people where half-baked which means there is no proper education or knowledge, people are not able to survive in our society without education now-a-days.

No!- Mr.jiabao, I urge you not to dip in the ganga unless you want your mouth full of faeces, straw, soggy parts of human bodies, buffalo carrion, and seven different kinds of industrial acids. (15)

In this novel, the author deliberates his burden at the increasing pollution of the Ganga. It is boundless religious and emblematic expenses to millions of Hindus, who uses it for many ceremonial and choose it as receptacle for their ruins after death. Consequently, the Ganga formally announced as India’s national river now it was alternate into one of the extremely polluted rivers in the world. Ganga is a river which is outstandingly important materially as much as spiritually. It is an antecedent of farmers and source of indoor and industrial water as well as hydropower for urban place. To India’s Hindus, the Ganga is deliberate as a holy river. But it was eminently polluted in recent days. This circumstance is complex by the hindus belief, mere little of the excrement and technical waste is wield. Commonly, wood fires are used to burn human dead bodies. It causes water pollution as well as air pollution. So, the creed for the gross pollution of the river are corporate sewage, industrial discharge, carrion and carcasses etc.The most worshipped river is extremely polluted because of sewage, industrial waste and religious expiation. Naturally it spoils our environment and causes a kind of pollution. H.M Saxena, he also discussed about his work Environmental Management that book regarding to environmental problem and pollution. He also explains about people should aware of pollution especially water pollution.

Published in 1953, Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 focuses on a dystopian world. In which is his prediction of the 21st century, where the government controls society through technology and the burning of books. In this alternate reality technology tends to have control of the population. Similarly, The Matrix is a film directed by the Wachowski’s brothers is a science fiction movie, also set in a dystopian world in which a war is being fought against a control system known as the matrix. In this the world’s population is controlled through a powerhouse for the control system. Although there is different representations and perspectives between the two texts, both societies would be unable to function without the concept of control.

In Fahrenheit 451 and The Matrix, the populace is controlled trough government enforcement with technology. This technology punishes the characters who are defying the laws and control by the government. In Fahrenheit 451, mechanical hounds are programmed to sense out and attack the wrong doers. This is evident when a hound appears at Montag’s house, when the reader initially discovers that Montag is stealing books from houses he has burned. “It does not think anything we don’t want it to think” (p.39), indicates that hounds are technology of the government which are controlled to keep order and enforce laws. In The Matrix, sentinels are robots that roam through the sewers and intercept hovercrafts managed by human resistance. As seen in scene 182 the sentinels attacking the hovercraft, this threatens Neo’s life as he is inside the matrix. “On the hologram radar, he sees the sentinels…You can’t use that until Neo is out!” (scene 182) this scene represents how technology is used in the form of sentinels, in attempt to eliminate rebels. Both texts offer a method in which control is enforced through technology to abolish resistance against the system.

The texts also govern the experience in which the population receives by technology. Thus, almost brainwashing the population to think that what is happening is normal and right. Wall sized televisions are used in Fahrenheit 451 to play reality like shows in which Mildred and her friends are seen to be addicted to. This is apparent when Mildred and her friends are talking about the shows as if they are almost living inside the television. “‘Will you turn the parlour off?’ he asked. ‘That’s my family.’” (p 65) also demonstrates that the televisions take over the life of viewers and creates control of each individual. Similarly, The Matrix uses a coding system that creates what happens within and around the population in the matrix system. The scene where Neo sees the girl in the red dress is evidence of this as cypher creates this character to intrigue Neo and that is exactly what happened. Although this was not in the Matrix it is a representation of what occurs within the matrix. The coding in the matrix also control things such as taste the quote “You know, I know that this steak doesn’t exist. I know when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious.” (scene A71) displays how the system controls what is tasted, and the messages being sent to the brain. These texts use experiences in which the government regulates using technology to maintain control within the populace.

Fahrenheit 451 uses technology to scare the people into abiding by the law and control by the government. This is also achieved by the wall sized televisions playing live broadcasts of news that is frightening. This happens when Montag is in pursuit with the mechanical hounds after he escaped from his burning house. The televisions are persuading the viewers that Montag is dangerous and needs to be killed. Although Montag escapes and survives the televisions show someone else getting killed to enforce the control within the population.

‘Thank God for that. You can shut them, say, ‘Hold on a moment.’ You play God to it. But who has ever torn himself from the claw that encloses you when you drop a seed in a TV parlour? It grows you any shape it wishes! It is an environment as real as the world. It becomes and is the truth. Books can be beaten down with reason. But with all my knowledge and scepticism, I have never been able to argue with a one-hundred-piece symphony orchestra, full colour, three dimensions, and I being in and part of those incredible parlours.’ (p 109) this quotation displays how appealing the televisions are to the population and how it becomes as real as the world, to compel the viewers to comply with what the government wants. This text traps the populace into the control through technology.

In both Fahrenheit 451 and The Matrix, personal devices are used to create control. This strongly encourages the populace to continue to follow the control of the government. In Fahrenheit 451 headphones known as seashells are used, this similar to a radio in which music, talking and sound play inside the ear. These seashells are used by Mildred, which makes her often disconnected to the world and tied to an alternate reality in which the government can encourage her thoughts. The quotation “And in her ears the little Seashells, the thimble radios tamped tight, and an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk and music and talk coming in, coming in on the shore of her unsleeping mind. The room was indeed empty. Every night the waves came in and bore her off on their great tides of sound, floating her, wide-eyed, toward morning. There had been no night in the last two years that Mildred had not swum that sea, had not gladly gone down in it for the third time.” (p 20) displays that they are so tied up within the control of the government that Mildred doesn’t even realise that she isn’t happy. Using a similar concept, The Matrix uses a fibre optic device that tracks the person in which it has been inserted to, this is used when the agents kidnap Neo.

“Smith nods and the other two rip open his shirt. From a case taken out of his suit coat, Smith removes a long, fibre-optic wiretap. Neo struggles helplessly as Smith dangles the wire over his exposed abdomen. Horrified, he watches as the electronic device animates, becoming an organic creature that resembles a hybrid of an insect and a fluke worm.

Thin, whisker-like tendrils reach out and probe into Neo’s navel. He bucks wildly as Smith drops the creature which looks for a moment like an uncut umbilical cord — before it begins to burrow, its tail thrashing as it worms its way inside.” (scene 20) this displays the control through tracking of Neo actions and location.

Technology as a means of control was utilised within both Fahrenheit 451 and The Matrix to display the extent to which the government enforces power and control over a populace. As Montag realises in Fahrenheit 451 there are many methods of technological control presented within the texts such as mechanical hounds, wall sized televisions and seashells that manipulate and create values within the populace. This enables the government to create and maintain control. In The Matrix, sentinels, coding systems and fibre-optic wiretap are used as aspects of control. In both texts different representations and perspectives have been used to represent the concept of control through technology, although Fahrenheit 451 uses it in a larger aspect.

Bibliography

1. Bradbury, R., n.d. Fahrenheit 451. 56th ed. Crydon: CPI Group (UK), pp.20, 39, 65, 109.
2. The Matrix. 1999. [DVD] Directed by L. Wachowski. Sydney, Australia: Warner Bros.

In this American novel written by Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 is set in a dystopian future is said to perhaps be his best writing, because the novel attracted and still catches the attention of people today. At the time of the novels release , Ray Bradbury had taken witness to the inclination of Americans towards book burning in the 1950’s. In today’s society the relevance towards the novel stands prevalent in the fact that most of today’s writing are shortened into highlights leading to shortened truths.

The first character that is presented in fahrenheit 451 is Guy montag. Who is a thirty year old fireman in the twenty-fourth century. In this representation of the future , people relief day to day stress in ways such as speeding down blocks in jet cars and with parlor walls. Parlor walls are televisions that take up the space of an entire wall and the only broadcast that are available are for entertainment and for propaganda that is produced by the government.

Although in present time the job of a firefighter is to put out fires , in the 24th century represented in this book houses have been fire proofed with a thin layer that surrounds an entire building making them resistant to catch flames. A new job has been placed upon firefighters, which has them build fires in order to burn books with tools like a hose that was once filled with water is now filled with kerosene to drench books making them highly flammable.

We see montag begin his day like any other typical day with a call that a hidden collection of books has been discovered. Arriving to the address with montag’s team, they see a woman in the entrance who is kneeling. At the time the gentlemen think she spouting nonsense in her grief of being caught. The men kick the books into a pile and douse the mound with kerosene, whilst ordering the woman to leave the house or else she will be burned with the books. The woman refuses to leave and instead of the men just torching the books , she reveals a match and burns the books along with herself.

This event jump starts a transition within Montag that has him questioning many of the normal things in his life, like why would a person die for books ,and to even to go far into his personal life to question his love for his wife. Montag says “Well, my wife, she . . . she just never wanted any children” (Bradbury, 26)proving that their connection isn’t whole because she see no need for a family. The excessive use of the Parlor wall has given his wife a fake “family”.After coming home from the traumatic day he questions his wife so much that they both can’t remember how they first met. These distortions in montags thoughts cause him to become curios and he starts to collect books himself from his job before burning most of them. He shows his wife the collection of books and they begin to read them , all of them but also trying to best hide their secret from mtags boss the fire chief. Another worry is formed from a mechanical dog that patrols the neighborhood in search of books. They are discovered eventually by the chief and in a spite of rage montag burn the chief alive instead the books he had collected. When he was given the option to do so. With the help of a friend montag comes into contact with an organization that can not only hide him from the police but also encourage his curiosity for the information of “destroyed” books.

Although this novel was based in a supposed future , the ideas are similar to events in the early 1950’s . The Women’s Auxiliary of the American Horde of Norwich, CT ,advocated the burning of ‘graphic’ comic books in 1955. The organization asked children to bring 10 comic books to burn, in place for one “clean” comic Book ”. The Women’s Auxiliary was an organization that was first gathered in order to help the veterans and the community.

Graphic novels like that of comic books were booming especially in the 1950’s around the time of the creation of the organization. With the vast success of these upcoming comic books children were accused of becoming delinquent from the readings within the books. The uproar of negativity towards the writings came from psychiatrist and doctors alike saying that the villance that was represented in the novels was intent for children to repeat them. With this rise of the idea that comic books caused bad behavior in children many artist and writers lost their jobs for “conspiring”.

Just like in the novel , how information like propaganda was sent to the american people through their parlor walls this occurred in the early 1950’s. The Us Senator at the time Joseph McCarthy created a list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and through other platforms of American entertainment authorities that he claimed to be communist allies but without any real proof or hard evidence. This gave life to an age of paranoia called McCarthyism. This lead to propaganda being spread across america with the help of radios , newspapers , and even television broadcast.

This novel was and always will be very compelling in its argument that america’s censorship could and is leading to dangerous ideas. With complete censorship like in novel that is done by the government , this action ratifies the basic american writes of freedom of speech. The freedom of speech really and truly is the basis of our country and with the downfall of that, also will come the downfall of our individualism and idealism for a great melting pot of a country.

Ray Bradbury’s, Fahrenheit 451 novel tells the outlook of a possible dystopian future that states that reading books are bad and that most reading should be censored. Overall, Ray Bradbury poured his thoughts onto paper and portrayed a very realistic world that connects with so many events in recent history. He also represented on how dangerous the advance of technology in the future could cause such dependence that people would eventually no even be needed for strenuous task like that of an EMT or even doctors.

Manifestation of Modern Feminism in Handmaid’s Tale It was in the early nineteen hundreds with the addition of women’s suffrage when the first waves of modern feminism began. This was one of the first steps in altering women’s previously thought power, identity, and individualism. These factors continued to be at the crux of later feminist movements especially the second and the third. A manifestation of the perceived issues of the time period along with a humanistic approach to showcasing these issues to an extreme was through the publishing of the book The Handmaid’s Tale. Specifically the dystopia’s issues lie on their erred belief that women’s rights are not human rights. Although Margaret Atwood portrayed the focal issues at their peak, she also highlighted the double bind women face when being complicit to their own marginalisation. This novel is a complex piece on what it truly means to be a woman in the darkest of circumstances, and how feminism is truly reflected in light of this piece.Atwood’s formative years coincided with the second wave of feminism, this influenced her work as through her work one is able to see the evolution of feminism, even in this novel, the heroine’s mother is a radical feminist, portraying ideals of second wave feminism but the book itself as well as Offred, portray mostly the ideals of third class feminism (Howells, 2005 p13). Atwood is also a devoted environmentalist; the destruction of the world’s leading to toxic waste and infertility as seen in the novel are reflective of her persistent movement for the protection of the ecosystem. Some of her other works such as Surfacing and Bodily Harm as well her poetry True Stories chronicle women being oppressed by society by gender stereotypes (Rigney, 1987. P104)

The concept of self-ownership began with philosophers like John Locke who started sharing a perceived belief that the individual, ‘has a right to decide what would become of himself and what he would do, and as having a right to reap the benefits of what he did.” In the 19th century and on, issues with human and civil rights would rely on the belief that some individuals are more deserving of those rights than others, or than certain people were not even considered individuals in the first place. When humans begin to lose key distiguishers in their lives, they are rendered heavily incapacitated in society. Allowing the possibility of people being born as little more than an inanimate object without emotion and feeling, to be bought or sold.

In the past the idea of individualism was often one of the most discouraged and oppressed concepts by regimes. The French aristocratic political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) described individualism in terms of a kind of moderate selfishness that disposed humans to be concerned only with their own small circle of family and friends. Likewise, critiques have been made by advocates of communitarianism, who tend to equate individualism with narcissism and selfishness [6]. This sort of negative connotation was instigated and encouraged to suppress women’s ability to congregate and form a power capable of toppling the Sons of Jacob, but left them feeling empty and alone.

Margaret Atwood was very specific when designing her famous dystopia. She pieces clues in the fabric of their society, inadvertently allowing the reader to recognize women’s lack of perceived self. Their names were altered to reflect which ever commander they were assigned to at the given moment. They were reflections of a man’s need to have a child, nothing else. They were little more than glorified property, and ends to a means, discarded when no longer useful. Another concept that aided in undermining their ability to differentiate themselves from objects was their lack of belongings. There were not allowed to keep any keepsakes, mementos, or even photos of their past. Hardly even allowed to look at themselves in mirrors, and forced to wear the same clothes as anybody who was constricted to play their same role. This lack of distinguishing factors almost make them forget who they were before the new government, “A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze.”, further alienating them as belongings. The girls in red would be required to provide only one service and exist for no purpose outside of it while the same is true of those in blue or green.

Although many are inclined to quickly assume that Margaret Atwood’s novel is a strong figure of the feminist movement, it also highlights issues of the other spectrum where there is female complacency in subjugation. It was said in the text that after the government fell women lost the ability to hold currency. Eventually many were sent to a retraining center called the Red Center. Other than Moira it seemed that most women were scared or too drugged to attempt to rebel. The creation of the Aunts almost lead the girls into a false sense of security. They were being subjugated by someone of their own sex so they weren’t able to recognize the true extend of what was hapening to their own personas. The novel almost regarded a sense of femininity as a weakness in where the more feminine women tended to be more docile and afraid. On the other side of the spectrum, women like Moira who broke those molds were less afraid to rebel and break those bounds. The same concept applies to Offred’s mother who was unmarried but a very forward thinker who took part in many marches and female protests.

The acting government of the Sons of Jaccob in Handmaid’s tale, is in one way taking advantage of the fear in movements like Take Back the Night and worked to intensify a notion where the villain of the country in the novel is the possibility of rape. Although normal society does percieve rape as an isssue, the dystopia altered who was to blame shifting it to the women. This sentiment of blaming all of the girls for actions they were not in control of is a deep rooted idea that aid in making such a dramatic change in the society, “There is more than one kind of freedom,’ said Aunt Lydia. ‘Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it.”. It deeply alters the identity of women in the context of their society. They are to blame for any harm that could befall them from men. They are to blame if they cannot conceive a child for a sterile commander. WHat it meant to be a woman was completely restructured for the benefit of the Sons of Jacob and the commanders in power. Going further into altering the image of what it means to be a woman in that society, the government implemented certain steps and ceremonies to create the concept of what it meant to be a handmaid or a wife. Having the wives replicate the birth as well as actually going through the birth on a specific chair all aided in drawing the conclusion that the handmaid were not women or mothers simply instruments to give the wives and commanders children. Similarly the bible reading at night went further ways in establishing the identity of a handmaid as she is the only one that sits kneeling as if in repentance of praying. It was almost as if the handmaids are now to blame for the lack of children in the society. Despite what was metabolically happening to the women their lack of conception could result in them being shipped off the nuclear waste site.

Many philosophers have attempted to tackle the true meaning of ones identity. Some even attempting to isolate what makes up the body of one’s own self perceived person. These texts are the most debated by historians for many philosophers because of the ambiguities that lies in their shared commonalities. A woman with an education was not dependent on others for support, for she had the skills to gain an income. On an individual level. Real Woman hood saw education as beneficial for a woman as a means ‘to combat neurosis, depression, and mental illness’ and ‘to widen her horizons and enrich herself as a person'[7]. Women lost the right to read in the society of Handmaid’s tale to further render then incapactitated and completely dependent on men. Their identity as women was contingent, and centered around a world of men.

Women were not allowed to have face creams or any sort of beauty enhancement or self care. This further rendered their identity restricted to than of an objects whose sole purpose was to give birth to a child who would not even be their own. In Handmaid’s tale, the dystopia created by the sons of Jaccob rendered women incapable of being feminie without relinquishing power. Their only option was to live as weak women dependent on the charity of whichever men they belonged to, or as hidden prostitutes in a brothel for “holy men”. They either maintained the small shred of femininity they had, keeping the opportunity to even have children of their own one day, while the other option was to become sterile but live somewhat more freely with slightly more control over their lives. Either way to be female meant to surrender control, simply because it was established that women were lesser than men.

This new identity of women in the story would make them too weak to congregate or fight back. As when they started to lose individuality it became more difficult to isolate what made them individually who they are outside of the governments constructs. The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan, criticized the idea that women could only find fulfillment through childrearing and homemaking. According to Friedan’s New York Times obituary, her book “ignited the contemporary women’s movement in 1963 and as a result permanently transformed the social fabric of the United States and countries around the world” and “is widely regarded as one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century.” Friedan hypothesizes that women are victims of false beliefs requiring them to find identity in their lives through husbands and children. This causes women to lose their own identities in that of their family. [5] The same could be said of the women who were slowly being immersed in this misogynistic society. Finally, a psychoanalytic theoretical perspective could be adopted because Offred reconstructs her identity numerous times and through the stream of consciousness method we are able to see symbols and patterns of thinking she created for herself, possibly as a coping mechanism. This review, in the subsequent segment, will undergo a deeper analysis of these theories can be used to dissect the novel. [9]

The largest issue for the feminist movement as well as was the power dynamic slowly established with minimal resistance in the new government of the Sons of Jaccob. “Yes,” writes Atwood in her New York Times piece, “women will gladly take positions of power over other women, even — and, possibly, especially — in systems in which women as a whole have scant power.” There was a very complex power dynamic between the aunts in the retraining process, they out of all of the women seem to have the most amounts of free will and power when it comes to dictating their own decisions. They took advantage of what little power they had and seemed to be allowed to walk around much more freely than the handmaids or even the wives. It was the wives in fact who still seemed to have some sort of authority over the

The régime also uses and misuses language to establish control and disempower its citizens. Since it likes to pretend that its oppression is beneficent. The women who control the Red Centre, using cattle-prods and steel cables, and who run the Particicution, are called by the apparently kindly name of ‘Aunts’. The state’s soldiers are called ‘Angels’. Shops are named after quotations from the Bible, such as the ‘Loaves and Fishes’. Gilead sees itself as a fundamentalist Christian régime, and the Bible is often cited – but very often the quotations used, for example by the Aunts, are subtly altered or perverted. More pervasively, education is strictly controlled, books and magazines are banned and women are not supposed to read or write, unless they are workers on state activity, such as the Aunts. Gilead knows well that language is a very powerful tool.

Atwood’s Gilead is undeniably an oppressive regime that employs a warped version of biblical moral instruction in order to propagate a perverse ideological structure. The most prevalent example of power dynamics within the novel is that of the relationship between men and women in a society where women are brutally subjugated. The Commanders epitomise the new establishment of patriarchal power and could be seen as being responsible for shaping the power dynamics throughout the story. The Commanders, holding high status roles, have been ‘issued a woman’ after ‘gaining enough power and living to be old enough’ to be ‘allotted a Handmaid of their own.’ Atwood employs a lexicon of defamiliarization as she uses commercial, business-like terms to describe men and women. The words ‘issued’ and ‘allotted’ have direct connotations of bargaining and rewards; in light of the initial quotation, this choice of language presents the ‘oppression against women’ in Gilead and how their only status is in relation to men.

These warped power dynamics become internalised even by the women they are meant to oppress. Offred describes herself as having ‘the power of a dog bone, passive but there’. Atwood suggests that it is the narrator’s acute self-evaluation of a ‘passive’ ‘dog bone’ that depicts her true subjugation despite the ‘power’ that she ostensibly feels. The lexical choice of ‘dog bone’ reminds the reader that women are a reward in this society, a treat for men to enjoy. The description of the ‘bone’ and ‘dog’ gives the idea an aggressive image as the bone, representing the female form, can be consumed and the dog, presenting the man, gives an animalistic and wild presentation. This ‘passive’ position that she holds mirrors Laura Mulvey’s concept of ‘The Male Gaze’. We see Offred become the object of titillation as she becomes aware of her objectification within the patriarchy but does not seem to be bothered, instead welcomes the possibility of being looked at as more than a provider of children.

Writers of dystopian literature focus mainly on the present and future. Both Orwell and Atwood turn their attention to the ways in which the present plays a pivotal role in helping to shape the future. Although both novelists focus on both tenses, dystopian literature often makes readers question if these events reflect the present or events that have not yet happened.

Dystopian literature is often reflective of the times in which the author has written them. Both dystopias are mirrors of what has already happened in the past or what is currently happening. For example, Orwell’s dystopia ‘1984’ was published in 1949 which was the bleak post-war period of the 1940s during the context of the cold war and the rise of Stalinist terrorism. Some say that Orwell’s dystopia is built upon the context of Hitler and Stalinism; this is most reflective in Orwellian terminologies such as “Big Brother”. This is a deliberate reference to Stalin and Hitler; Stalin liked to name himself ‘Uncle Joe’ a term usually used for endearment, Orwell may be critiquing the rise in powerful dictators of the 20th century and is therefore focussing his attentions on the present rather than the future. Orwell in his essay ‘Why I Write’ claimed that before writing he likes to think with a “sense of injustice” and aspires to tell the truth by turning politics into a work of art. This could demonstrate how Orwell’s dystopia is mostly focussed on his present and the “sense of injustice” that occurred during the 1940s when writing ‘1984’ rather than focussing on the future. In contrast to this Atwood claimed how her dystopia is a “speculative fiction” and that dystopias are “more like dire warnings, dark shadows cast by the present into the future” and they are what will happen to us if we don’t change our present now. Atwood’s dystopia is therefore more of a speculation of what could happen if our present conditions become extreme. Nevertheless, Atwood’s comments are still reflective of her present, so we might ask ourselves is her dystopia really a speculation? Atwood’s comment resembles both American societies in the 17th century and also the 21st century we currently live in – much of what has happened in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is already happening. For example, ethnic cleansing is still present and is happening in North Korea. Both dystopias are based upon the present, but both novelists still demonstrate how the future is also being inflicted by the extremes of the present.

Both texts emphasise how the present and future are interlinked, although written during a different time both novelists demonstrate how the present becomes the starting point for the future. Atwood defined science fiction as “fiction in which things happen that are not possible today”, dystopias not only concern the present day, but they become a possibility of what could happen in the future – they are events waiting to happen. Speculative fiction enables readers to imagine and explore contemporary themes and ideas by pushing them to extremes in a strange but imaginable future context to warn us about the consequences of how we choose to live. Dystopian literature therefore not only focusses on the present but helps readers to craft ideas and think about the future. ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ was written while Atwood herself was living very close to a totalitarian regime and in an interview with New York Times Atwood confessed that during visits to several countries she “experienced the wariness, the feeling of being spied on” and these “had an influence on what (she) was writing” this links in with Orwell’s dystopia – surveillance is a key theme in dystopias and often writers of dystopian literature have experienced some sort of wariness. Atwood being born in 1939 was aware of how “established orders could vanish overnight” and this links in with Orwell’s ‘1984’ as laws and orders are being rectified continuously to manipulate minds. Both authors have focussed mostly on their present but have considered the future too – Atwood’s theory of speculative fiction allows ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ to not only reflect Atwood’s present but provides a warning for future contemporary readers.

One might argue that whilst dystopian literature is built upon the writer’s present it still provides information on how the future is affected. Both dystopias portray surveillance which was present in both of their lives whilst writing their novels, surveillance is still ongoing and is still happening in 2019. Many countries such as China and North Korea are still under restriction and so dystopian literature is not just a reflection of the writer’s current state but also a rear view of the future. Spying is still occurring in 2019, CCTV cameras have been normalised and this links in with Orwell’s ‘1984’ as ‘Telescreens’ become a way to spy on someone. Whilst Orwell’s use of telescreens may be reflective of his present – Nazi’s actively spying on Jews in concentration camps, it’s also a frightening picture of the future. This links in with Atwood’s own comment on how science fiction is fiction that is yet to happen and is not yet possible, but one day will be due to “various technologies we have not yet developed”. Spying and surveillance is a common dystopian trope found in many other dystopias such as Dave Eggers ‘The Circle’ where cameras are everywhere and “knowing is good but knowing everything is better”. Moreover, dystopias are portrayals of the author’s present but are still relevant to the future – spying happens everywhere, and Atwood and Orwell have used their present to indicate the dangers of it.

Although both dystopias are largely built around the present and future, both novelists also focus on the past affecting the future and provide warnings of how history may repeat itself. Orwell’s dystopia concerns the rewriting of history and links in with his own present life, during the post-war period many rules and regulations were being rewritten to create a revisionist version of history. Orwell’s own life is reflected through the Party’s attempts to rewrite history in order to “vaporise” memories from people and this also links in with the burning of Jewish books under the early Nazi regime during Orwell’s lifetime. Similarly, Atwood’s dystopia also considers mind control, and this is reminiscent of Atwood’s own life of Puritan New England. In ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ religious verses are often rewritten and replaced by a new meaning, Gilead redefines religion and uses it to justify their actions. Both dystopias may act as a warning of the past altering the present which then alters the future. Both Orwell and Atwood may be trying to show through their dystopias how information is changing continuously in order to control minds, history cannot change but it can be repeated. So although dystopian fiction stems from the writer’s present it still demonstrates how the future can be involved and writers like Orwell and Atwood have used their present lives as a template for what could occur in the future.

Ultimately, both writers have focussed on both the present and the future and have not just used their present to form the basis of their dystopias. Coral Anne Howell pointed out that “the primary function of a dystopia is to send out danger signals to its readers” this indicates how dystopian literature doesn’t just focus on the present, but writers of dystopian fiction will often use their present as a way to speculate the future – will history repeat itself?

Like many dystopias O’Neill’s dystopia ‘Only Ever Yours’ focusses on the theme of entrapment. The theme of entrapment is a common dystopian trope and O’Neill introduces this through her protagonist Freida. Immediately the passage starts off with the narrator explaining how she “can’t sleep” even after taking “SleepSound”, this description instantly alerts readers and makes us question as to why she can’t sleep? Freida’s lack of sleep could perhaps demonstrate how the narrator is unable to sleep due to thinking and worrying about what’s going on in her life, this links in with many other dystopias such as Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ whereby the protagonist is unable to sleep due to flashbacks of her past.

The words “can’t sleep” may be O’Neill’s ways of demonstrating that despite all the sleeping pills one may take, they still will not block out what’s happening in the present. O’Neill could therefore be critiquing her 21st century readers who readily depend on drugs and alcohol to help ease their problems whilst simultaneously damaging “vital organs” and instead of solving the problem we are just running away from it. This heightens the theme of entrapment because regardless of what we do to block out emotions we still feel engulfed by them and this could perhaps be the reason as to why Freida is unable to sleep – she is trapped in a cobweb of emotions. One may also point out that O’Neill introduces the theme of entrapment through her vivid use of a simile to describe the living conditions of the narrator.

Through O’Neill’s simile we discover that Freida is “lying in (her) cot buzzing like an exposed wire”, this is a very shocking description of Freida’s living conditions and immediately depicts the theme of entrapment. Interestingly the fact that O’Neill’s character is lying in a “cot” and not a ‘bed’ creates a sense of confinement, usually cots are used for babies. This informs readers that the narrator is in a very claustrophobic setting, it also creates a very patronising tone because “cots” are associated with babies and the fact that Freida has one demonstrates how she is not treated like an adult. This is evident in the opening paragraph where Freida is infantilised and is asked twice if she is “taking it correctly” (her medication). Ironically O’Neill’s deliberate reference to the “exposed wire” highlights how her narrator has no sense of privacy – although she is physically confined she is still “exposed” to the world and this links in with Orwell’s ‘1984’ where Party members are constantly under surveillance through the use of telescreens. This common dystopian trope of a lack of privacy further emphasises the narrator’s confinement – she isn’t just confined in her sleep but also her ‘cot’ aims to trap her. Cots usually have bars on them to prevent babies from falling and this imagery of a cot creates a prison-like structure for Freida further intensifying the theme of entrapment.

O’Neill’s dystopia aims to raise the reader’s consciousness and forces us to question our own society – are we too preoccupied with our own appearance to help others feel better about theirs? In O’Neill’s dystopia we discover that Freida is part of an “eve” and in this eve they all compete with each other and are rated according to their beauty and appearance. This competition over who’s rated number 1 links in with our society, O’Neill published her novel in 2014 and in 2014 many celebrities such as Kylie Jenner were introducing small changes to their appearance. Also, in 2014 beauty pageants were starting to become more popular as people wanted to be crowned ‘Miss Great Britain’ or ‘Miss Universe’, in this dystopia O’Neill is providing a mirror of our society and how we obsess over our looks in order to get a prize in the end. In ‘Only Ever Yours’ we discover that the sisters “were all designed equally”, this immediate reference to the verb “designed” sharply critiques the 21st century and how we are so determined to correct our flaws through plastic surgery and O’Neill hints at the theme of jealousy when we learn that they are “compared” with each other.

This idea of being “designed better” is also found in Levin’s ‘The Stepford Wives’ where women are killed and swapped out for a better edition of themselves – a robotic version. In ‘Only ever yours’ the direct reference to “fat women are ugly” intentionally fat shames women and the adjective “ugly” almost dehumanises them, O’Neill has deliberately placed the adjectives “fat” and “ugly” in the same sentence to depict what society is turning into. People are so focussed on being “thin” that they are forgetting to appreciate other body types and this example of fat shaming is common within our 21st century whereby celebrities are being scrutinised for having “gained weight” and many television shows such as Netflix’s show ‘Insatiable’ urges how ‘skinny is magic’. This fear is reminiscent in O’Neill’s dystopia where Isabelle fears she has gained weight and has “tried throwing up”, ironically instead of Freida telling Isabelle that weight gain isn’t a bad thing she deliberately asks her about the “extra meds” and encourages her to go to such lengths such as “throwing up”. The verb “throwing up” sounds quite forceful demonstrating how eager women are to achieve a perfect look despite damaging their health.

O’Neill has created a dystopia in which women fail to help one another and their sole focus is on appearances, this frightens her contemporary readers as it makes us worry that we will turn a blind eye to mental health problems such as an eating disorder in order to protect one’s appearance. Therefore, O’Neill’s main message in her dystopia is to not be deceived by appearances and instead of competing to become like the other, people should work together as one and not separate individuals.

Both Orwell and Atwood explore and present how two dystopian societies are completely controlled by different despotic regimes that restrict freedoms. In order to preserve the totalitarian states the secret police in both ‘The Handmaids tale’ and ‘1984’ the secret police invade and terrorise the personal lives of civilians so they are too scared to rebel against their leaders. Written in 1948, Orwell presents ‘1984’ in the future in order to present a message of alarm on the human race due to certain cynical mannerisms he believed would lead to the inevitable demise of humanity. Similarly, Atwood writes ‘The Handmaids tale’ in the near future and also presents a society run purely through dictatorship. Throughout both novels there is a clear restriction on knowledge, but also a restriction on sexual pleasure and in addition there is the idea that one will be punished severely if they speak out/rebel against the government. Essentially there is the recurring theme throught both novels that it is better to conform with the standard of society rather than to resist.

In ‘The Handmaids tale’ the fictional Gilead regime is the controlling system that allows for the restriction of any freedoms of those in society. One prominent restriction in Gilead is the restriction of sexual pleasure for the handmaids. For example if a commander wife is unable to bear childeren a handmaid would therefore need to come and get impregnated to have this child as their sole purpose is the bear childeren without asking questions or rebelling – “their status and purpose [is] made evident and their names formed by ‘of’ and the name of their commander” ~ (Peter G Stillman). This completely accentuates their value to society and reduces them to objects simply used to increase population. In chapter 16 of ‘The Handmaids Tale’ the ceremony impregnation is described where “the two of you will become one flesh, one flower waiting to be seeded.” This is removes any rights for women as they are not allowed to have sex for any sort of pleasure, as it is illegal in Gilead, but instead are completely objectified in an impersonal relationship. If they are found to be having sex for anything other than to populate they would be sent to colonies to be punished. This idea trumps traditional gender roles of society that women would stay at home, clean and look after the children. It goes to the extent to reduce the women to nothing instead of just below the men in society. Thus accentuating how hopeless and helpless the women handmaids were in the dystopian society run purely by men. Subsequently, any resistance from the women would be left futile and made in vain. This point and idea can be accentuated by the views of Micheal Ketterer who believes that “women with viable ovaries become ‘two legged wombs’”. Thus again reducing the women to mere objects instead of equals. This idea of the restriction of sexual pleasure in Gilead was also replicated in ‘1984’ by Orwell with the anti-sex league. This discourages the sexual relations between the youth and promote the idea that sex is only yo procreate instead of something about desire. Perhaps this anti-sex league was another way to indoctrinate the people in society because if you can control a persons desires then you are able to essantially control them as a person which wouldve been the main aim of ingsoc. Therefore, like The Handmaids Tale, 1984 also accentuates this idea that the resisitance of women (in particular) in society was useless because of how little influence they had in society. In addition, these restrictions on the people seen in 1984 would’ve been remiscent of those restrictions from a similar context in Weimar Germany – where sex would not be seen as something coming from desire but instead to increase the German population. This emphasises how the role of women in these two dystiopian societies was almost completely insignificant. Alternatively they could be seen as a pivotal item in society due to their ability to bear childeren but they were not valued people in society. Thus again making any sort of rebellion hopeless and helpless.

Furthermore, in both ‘1984’ and ‘The Handmaids Tale’ there is an element of punishment, particularly to those who chose to go against the regime in power. This is exceptionally prominent in ‘1984’ where Orwell presents “thoughtcrime” as an extreemely renound and egregious crime to commit: he has created an undesireable and terrifying dystopian society where you are restricted in every type of way. Though there are technically no actual laws in ‘1984’, but there are many things in which you can be punished for. A “thoughtcrime” would be one of these things and would be described as something where you think something that would go against the party. Winston, the protagonist, tells us about thoughtcrime in his diary as “whether he went on with the diary, or whether he did not go on with it made no difference. The Thought police would still get him the same.” This together with the idea that a thoughtcrime cannot actually be proven but instead is something that would be decided by the thought police would accentuate the idea that every aspect of a persons life would be restricted. Infact, the character of winston and his diary can be seen as important motifs to embody views and thoughts that went against the party but because of his supposed demise at the end of ‘1984’ it suggests that any resitance to the party would not actually lead anywhere. Winston goes from saying “down with big brother” repetitavely in his diary, to “he loved big brother” at the end of the book: this shows a definitve difference between his thoughts, he went from being an ordinary citizen to a rebel to finally a pawn used by the party. This evident transformation of character may have been done purposefully by Orwell to present a universal feel to the character of winston that anyone reading ‘1984’ could relate to. Furthermore his passionate rebelliousness together with his rebelious relationshipship with Julia would further emphasise the insurgent within him and the extent that he went to go against the party. However he begins to beleive that he is helpless in avoiding his innevitable demise under the party so begins to take unnecessary risks as he is captured in chapter 10 with Julia; “he was looking, with knowledge, at a member of the thought police.” His recklessness with his ‘relationship’ with Julia (which a reader may have thought could’ve blossomed into something) is now over because of him going agaisnst the authority of the party which was considered illegal in Oceania. Orwell makes a point to emphasise how insignificant these acts of resistance were through the use of room 101 where ‘thought-criminals’ would be sent to face their worst fear. For Winston, after he was found to be guilty of “thoughtcrime”, is first beaten, starved and tourtued but he does not have anything positive to say about big brother and still says that he loves Julia (he also does not know “how many times he has been beaten [or] how long the beatings had continued”). But then he is put in room 101 to face “a room full of rats” and only then when he faces his worst fear, he forsakes his love for Julia and devouts himself to big brother – “he loved big brother”. However his fear for room 101 was evident before he went into the room where he would “give up [my] three childeren [and] […] anything but room 101.” Subsequently it has become clear that there is a differnce between the previous character of winston -that shared his rebellious thoughts within his diary and even to Julia – and this new character of winston that has to conform with the rules of the party or die. But in the end it seems as though his realisation that there is no way out comes too late as “the long-hoped-for bullet was entering his brain.” The ambiguity of this being towards the end of the novel provides two layers of meaning. Firstly there is the idea that he may have been killed due to how rebellious he had been which had brought up great suspicion from the party which left them with no other option but to kill him. And as there is no specific mention that he is left dead, a reader is only left to assume. Alternatively there is the idea that this “bullet” entering his brain was instead metaphorical and was not an actual bullet. It was instead the ideology and beliefs of the party that had plagued his mind and infected his intelligence. Infact due to his previous job being in the ministry of truth he would’ve rewritten history in the way the party desired. But more importantly he had access to all information about the party which put him in a dangerous position in the eyes of party officials which may have been part of the reason they believed he needed some “thought-reform[ing]”. To encapsulate this whole idea, it was said that “it is not always important that individuals reason well, it is sufficient that they reason” (~French philosopher Montesquieu) meaning that it is important for an individual to speak out regardless of the provenance of what is actually being said.

This idea of a restriction of freedom and punishment used as a deterrent in 1984 thought the use of “room 101” is seen to be similar in ‘The Handmaids Tale’ with “the eyes of god” and “the wall”. Firstly “the eyes” act as the secret police for the republic of Gilead and they are responsible for maintaining law and order but also rooting out infidels and traitors to the tyrannical regime. It is also clear that the handmaids have become untrusting of those in society: even Ofred at one point was sceptical of her ‘walking partner’ Ofglen. But as they cannot actually be seen talking openly as it would show signs of intelligence or knowledge (which was not allowed for women in Gilead), as “they learned to lip read”. This therefore highlights their fear due to the constant fear of the watchful “eyes of god”. But becuase handmaids were not actually able to read or write it procides a hint of irony about the party. In a prodominently christian society, the women were not actually allowed to read the bible so they were living in fear based on indoctrination into beliefs they had no idea or thoughts on. However, “the wall” provided a different form of fear which supressed any type of resistance to the regime that could take place. This is where one would see “six bodies [of] mens salvagings”. Howvever the heads of the men are covered with white bags while one has blood where the mouth would be which reminds Offred of a childs drawing and therefore fertility. This then presents the idea that the regime in Gilead has both removes life and creates it (with the commander impregnating the handmaids). This power shown from those in power portrays the power and influnce of them, to the point that if they do not feel as though you are being a model role in society you could end up like those on the wall, which would make any forn of rebellion utterly futile. In addition the immense showcase of threat from the regime leaves Ofglen looking on in awe, confusion and fear – however it appears as though Offred is immune to the suffering of those she is not emotionally connected with as she does not feel any way about the men being there “as long as it is not luke”. Because of this there then comes the idea that Offred, despite the attempts to strip her of her identity so she is like every other handmaid, still has kept strand of her old self from the pre-Gilead regime society. This would then have likeness to the character of Winston in ‘1984’ where he is forced to stop loving Julia and conform with the ideologies of “big brother”, but instead he sticks to what he believes until he is pushed to his breaking point and put in “room 101” where he can no longer stick to what he knows and is indocrtinated. Which would therefore accentuate the idea that no matter how much you try to fight for what you believe in will all be done in vain because in a dystopian society there is a predestined fate that come with not conforming with any sort of despotic regime which would subsequently be death or rape in handmaids tale or for you to be “reformed” in 1984 which really meant for you to comptely disappear.

In addition to the idea that any form of resistance was hopeless in “The Handmaids Tale”, Atwood also presents the idea that the truth had been re-defined in Gilead so that the handmaids only knew the information that they were told. This was partly due to the fact that they were not allowed to become educated so they had no way of getting their own information but instead were propaganised into believing everything that those in power wanted them to believe. But it is also due to how in chapter 5 Aunt Lydia tells the handmaids that there are two types of freedom, “freedom to [and] freedom from”. Firstly “freedom to” is the idea that women are able to do what they want as they want but she decribes that this was a “pre-gilead” era where womene would have been beaten and raped. Instead she says that within the society of Gilead they now have “freedom from” all of these terrible acts, essentially saying that Gilead is the saviour from sin by putting these women in confinement so that they are ‘safe from it all’. However this is a deciteful character, as on the one hand she is also a woman so she should be able to empathise if not sympathise with the other women easier but she is not able to do this and also sees no wrong in what she is doing. Instead she is tasked with making the women believe everything they are told about freedom which would suggest that Aunt Lydia too is indotrinated by the regime and is stuck in the endless spiral of tyranny. Furthermore, in 1948 the United Nations released a declaration on human rights laws that stressed how ‘everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression’. This right is blatantly ignored with the thoughts on freedom shown in ‘The Handmaids Tale’ which would therefore accentuate the idea that “freedom, like everything else, is relative”. So once you begin to rebel against the regine in power then ones rights will be taken away and they will be left in an abyss of oppression and fear. So therefore Atwood successfully explores the idea that dystopia is the fiction of hopelessness and helplessness instead of resistance.

To return to the idea that you would be oppressed in the society of 1984, this was partially due to the constant survaillence and the watchful eye of “big brother”. This has a grip on the lives of those living in Oceania at the time as citizens were monitored in their house, bathrooms and anywhere else that they went (“there must have been microphones, they’ve heard us all”) – there was literally no such this as privacy. So people would be scared that anything that they did wrong would be seen as they would be put in room 101 for being thought criminals. It even got to the point that people who were not part of the thought police would be saying to one another that one is “a traitor!” and “a thought-criminal!” and “a eurasian spy!” The level of aggression coupled with the simplicity of the remarks made would convey how even the normal people in society were indoctrinated so much that they were now denouncing even those who they know. This idea correlates with China under Mao Zedong where normal citizens would denounce those around them, even family, of crimes they did not commit so that they would be viewed as a model member of society to the regime. Thus therefore again highlighting how there wasnt actually a point in rebelling against those in power because the disruption would be so minute that the secrete police would simply make you disappear making it a hopeless attempt.

Overall, in dystopian societies people are generally seen to conform with the societal standard so they are not dealt with extreemely, however there is always one person (usually the protagonist) who, through their mannerisms, are seen to attempt to go against the dictatorial regime at the time. Both Atwood and Orwell demonstrate this effectively. Atwood effectively conveys an extreeme system that has oppressed the handmaids into loosing their identity and not allowing them to speak out. While Orwell presents a society where someone does actually speak having clear opposing opinions to the regime (Winston) but is found guilty is possibly thought to be dead at the end as a result of his resistance and rebelliousness. Therefore it is clear that both writers have been effective in how they have presented the redundance of resistance in a dystopian society.

According to Terri Chung’s Dystopian Literature Primer, we learn that a dystopia is a “futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control.” If we acknowledge, Hulu’s original series, The Handmaid’s Tale, we can come to conclusion that the type of dystopia being displayed is religious and bureaucratic control. Everyone in this society lives on by the standards within the bible. Men are superior and make every decision whereas women are objects, slaves, or housewives.

At the beginning of the first episode, we see the main character, June later named Offred, being separated from her daughter after attempting to flee from armed men. (“Offred” 00:01:15-00:04:30) In a different scene, we are introduced to Commander Fred Waterford and his wife Serena Waterford. We learn that there has been a plague of infertility where childbirth has decreased tremendously since the 1960s. This explains the idea of Handmaids. Handmaids are women who are fertile and trained by Aunts that it is their responsibility to make up for the plague of infertility. All underneath the word of God. They are taught bible scriptures almost as if to explain the brutal actions. This also explains the reason for the ceremonies involving the Commander, his mistress and the Handmaid of the house. Women dressed in blue, known as wives, are infertile and in order to have children, Commanders have sexual intercourse with their assigned Handmaid linked through the wife. Before the ceremony begins, the Commander reads a scripture from Genesis. (“Offred” 00:29:44 – 00:31:09) “And she said, behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.” (King James Version, Genesis. 30.1).

Like many dystopias, Gilead uses violence and fear to keep its people in place. A characteristic of this dystopian world is the abidance of conformity. When the new group of women are seen walking into the Red Center, Janine is the only girl that misbehaves and acts out while Aunt Lydia speaks. As a result of this action, she is taken away and later at night brought back with her right eye plucked out. Moira quotes a verse from the bible and explains its meaning. (King James Version, Matthew. 5-29) “If my right eye offends thee, pluck it out.” (“Offred” 00:21:55-00:21:60) This verse could be used as it is and even taken literally as afterwards, Janine no longer misbehaves or acts out again, and fear is brought upon the other girls. Violence is primarily shown here to make other fear of rebelling against authorities or even disrespecting them in the slightest bit.

Every person the audience is introduced to has a certain place in this society determined by the colors they wear. In our world, our social status is not shown by the colors we wear. We are judged by what we wear. For example, a homeless person in the city of Atlanta for the most part is seen in dirty, ripped clothing; mostly assumed to be at its lowest point and unstable. A person who wears designer clothing, looks clean and presentable can be judged as someone who is financially stable. A similar case relates to the people of Gilead. Wives wear blue and are known to be higher in society, married to high commanders whereas handmaids wear red and are treated less than others at times.

Another characteristic in this dystopia is dehumanization. This characteristic ranged from the Handmaids at the ceremonies to the bodies that hung in public by the wall. Women who are not Aunts or Wives are dehumanized by the regulations and rules they must follow. A Martha serves as a housekeeper. Although they do not seem to be treated as harsh as the Handmaids, they are still under Commanders. The Handmaids have their ears tagged like how cows are. The red tags could be in case they ever run away or pass up as anyone else other than a Handmaid, they are easily identified. Doctors, priests, and gay women no longer have a right to be as they are. In the first episode as the Handmaids go back home from shopping, they walk alongside the river home. Offred notices the buzzing of flies which mean something decaying is near in sight. We see the bodies of a doctor, a priest, and a ‘gender traitor” hang from beside the wall. (“Offred” 00:15:50-00:16:04) Dead bodies that are publicly displayed are signs of consequences and show what can be done to others if committed of a crime. This dehumanizes the men who are not commanders by taking away their right to practice. Citizens are constantly under surveillance. While out in public, we see various men who always carry weapons. Inside of the house, we know there is always an “Eye”, but no one identifies who it is or if there is one. If someone were to say anything, it would get reported before you know it and are brought upon a court of Commanders. This shows the constant surveillance within Gilead.

In conclusion, the types of control portrayed in The Handmaids Tale are religious and bureaucratic. Through the characteristics of conformity, surveillance, and dehumanization we see how this society associates itself with Terri Chung’s definition of a dystopia.

Dystopian novels follow a frightening downfall in society. The genre explores all types of disasters, from environmental catastrophes to government failure. Dystopias are typically used to draw attention to modern day political issues. Authors depict dystopian worlds so that a reader can draw connections between a text’s dystopia and their own modern world. The genre uses pathos to hook onto a readers sense of insecurity, to project the dangers of the dystopia into the reader’s world. This emotional approach has made the dystopian genre a tactical weapon in exploring political motives. Feminism is one of the political movements that have been followed closely in dystopian novels. Texts like Red Cloaks by Leni Zuma, The Power by Naomi Alderman, and An Excess Male by Maggie Shen King explore the dangers of a world without equality. The texts reintroduce us to the importance of the feminist movement.

Red Cloaks by Leni Zuma tells us about a world all too familiar. The text ties directly into current conservative policies. The story takes place in a society where a radical conservative party has been voted into the presidency. The new president’s first passed bill gives a fertilized egg the same rights as any citizen of the United States. Meaning at conception the fertilized egg has the rights to life and liberty. Abrotion and in vitro fertilization are now illegal. On top of this, another bill is soon passed which allows only married couples to adopt. Red Cloaks explores the life of 5 different women with these dangerous anti-women laws coming into place. Ro is a single woman in her 40s who wants a child desperately. Mattie is a young teenage girl, who is pregnant. Susan is a married mother of two tiring of her everyday life. Gin is an outsider, who lives in the woods and acts as a healer. Lastly, is Eivor Minervudottir a character is Ro’s book who is a 19th century explorer. These are five very different characters, giving the reader a wide perspective of this conservative world. From the perspective of Mattie, we can see the affects of laws that equate abortion to murder. Gin shows us the difficult decisions of healthcare professionals who must choose between their morals or the law. With Susan and Ro we see the negative effects of forcing marriage on women. The dystopian world Zuma creates is more than familiar, it’s uncomfortably possible. Red Cloaks forces us to look at the dangers of reproduction controlling laws in a different light. It reminds feminists of why fighting these conservative policies is so important. Also, it encourages pro-life supporters to look at this issue as something much larger than just abortion itself. Novels like Red Cloaks use emotional connections with characters and scenes to open the reader up to a whole new political perspective

The Power by Naomi Alderman takes a much different approach to the dystopia genre. Instead of creating a realistic future, The Power uses science fiction to project metaphorical feminist themes. Alderman’s novel explores a futuristic world where women are given the power to physically dominate men by shooting electricity from their hands. Women are becoming the dominant gender. Just as Red Cloaks did, The Power utilizes characters of all different backgrounds to explore every angle of this changing world, however Alderman uses both male and female characters to do so. The female characters allow women readers to see what it is like to have control. For example, when a man harrases a young woman in a store she can take control of the situation and zap him, instead of just hoping he will eventually leave her alone. Women readers can see what it would be like to live in a world where they no longer have to fear the male agenda. Male characters show us the dangers of power. As time passes women stop just fighting the injustices they once faced, instead they begin forcing those injustices on men. The male characters take witness to the sexist behavior that used to be forced on women. This introduces male readers to the unfair treatment women face in our current society. Alderman uses the varying perspectives in this dystopian fantasy to remind readers of the true meaning of feminism. Feminism is gender equality, not female domination.

An Excess Male by Maggie Shen King falls into the same dystopian category as Red Cloaks, but focuses on a different possible reality. Maggie Shen King focuses on China’s one-child policy, which has caused an increase in the percentage of males and, therefore, a decrease in the percentage of women. The novel explores a society where there is an excess of unmarried men, which the government has rearranged to help. In fact, now it is encouraged for multiple men to marry one woman. Due to this, the main female character, May-ling, has been raised as an object, something to be bought and sold to the unmarried men. King explores the dangers of controlling reproductive rights. In this scenario neither men nor women thrive. This novel projects a society so familiar, that it is meant to make readers uncomfortable. Just as Red Cloaks did, An Excess Male uses the sensitivity and uncomfortable nature of the novel to draw attention to a political statement.

Red Cloaks by Leni Zuma, The Power by Naomi Alderman, and An Excess Male by Maggie Shen King all show different ways in which feminist messages are sent through dystopian novels. Red Cloaks and An Excess Male project everyday realities into a future world to show the dangers of what those realties could become. On the other end of the dystopian spectrum, The Power creates an unrealistic future society that sends a feminist message with methaphorical means. Both writing tactics use storytelling and character connections to communicate with the reader. Overall, the dystopian genre allows femsinist writers a way to explore the dangers of a world without equality.