Category: Dystopia

The word “utopia” comes from Greek and means “good-place/no-place”. A utopia is an imagined society with perfect qualities. There are no problems in a utopia and all desires are met. The opposite of utopia is dystopia, but dystopias can also be failed utopias. Dystopia basically means “not-good-place”. It is very scary and undesirable. The prime characteristics of dystopia are dehumanization, oppressive governments and collapsing societies set in the future. Even though dystopias are works of fiction, they are highly influenced by real totalitarian governments, and they act as a warning for the future. Common themes we can see in dystopias are violence, chaos, advanced science and technology (often used in a wrong way) and cruel authority figures, and we can see them in A Clockwork Orange. The state of the society and the way the government tries to handle it in A Clockwork Orange, and specifically the “Ludovico Technique” is a great example to explain a dystopia and its effects on people.

A Clockwork Orange is a satirical black comedy written by Anthony Burgess, published in 1962. It is a vision of future Britain growing towards totalitarianism. The government is trying to get people into a state of obedience through behavioural psychology and social order is broken down. In several ways, A Clockwork Orange is different from the standard dystopia. Firstly, the novel depicts the society right before becoming dystopia, its steps towards totalitarianism. Secondly, the world is seen through the eyes of a teenage criminal: Alex. He is the protagonist of the story. Alex narrates his violent adventures and the authority figures trying to reform him. Alex is different from a usual dystopia protagonist because he is not just a victim of the system, he is also the result of it.

Alex is the protagonist, antihero and narrator of A Clockwork Orange. He is a teenager living in dystopian England. He assaults, rapes and steals from innocent people for fun. He is in a gang of other violent teenagers like him. All of them skip school. They drink milk spiked with drugs of their choice and go out at nights for “joyrides” in stolen cars. They pick fights with other groups, rape women and steal for their amusement. He speaks Nadsat, a argot used by teenagers created by the author Anthony Burgess. Nadsat is Russian-influenced English. Even though Alex is a sociopath with violent urges, he is an intellectual. He is aware of the fact that his actions are wrong, and if every individual in a society acted like him, there would be no order. However, he does not want to be reformed, he is content the way he is. He does not want to stop the things that give him joy just because they are wrong. Alex is the youngest member of his group, but he is the most intelligent one. So, he assignes himself as the leader of the group, which later causes some problems within the group.

Alex has a harsh approach towards the other gang members in order to keep them in line and remind them who is in charge, while showing some generosity from time to time. However, they are not happy with this. The second-in-command Georgie and the other gang members who are treated poorly by Alex start to plot against him. After breaking into a rich old woman’s house and assaulting her, his friends leave Alex to be arrested by the police. When the woman ends up dead, Alex is sentenced to 14 years in prison. In prison, he behaves really well and acts like he really wants to be reformed. The fact that he often reads the Bible also helps the chaplain that he is changed – although he only reads the parts were there is torture and violence. Alex finds out that there is a way for him to be released early, which is to undergo an experimental treatment called the Ludovico Technique. The fact that he is well-behaved and liked by the chaplain helps him manipulate the authority into accepting his request to receive the treatment.

Ludovico Technique is a form of aversion therapy intended to cure violent tendencies. Aversion therapy is a form of therapy which is actually used in real life. It is especially used on alcoholics. They are injected drugs that would make them feel sick if they consumed alcohol. That way, they are supposed to avoid alcohol consumption even after they are not given drugs anymore, because it would remind them of feeling sick. In the story, Alex is injected drugs that make him nauseous. Then, he is strapped to a chair, his eyes clamped open, he is forced to watch horrifying images including rapes and Holocaust for an extended time. As he is watching the films, he starts to feel sick from the injections. The intent here is to make Alex associate violence with feeling sick. So, whenever he has violent urges, he would not act on it to avoid feeling sick. This is an example of classical conditioning. A lot of people know of conditioning technique from Pavlov. Pavlov would ring a bell every time before giving their dogs food. In time, the dogs associated the sound of ringing bell with food. Their mouths would water at the sound of the bell, because they are expecting food following the bell. Later, Pavlov stopped giving food after the bell, and the dogs’ mouths would still water because in their mind, ringing bell equals food. In the same manner, Alex now associates violence with feeling sick. After a while Alex starts to feel sick at the thought of violence even without the drugs. After several weeks of this treatment and being tested if it worked, he is released back to the society. He is now “cured”.

However, there is also a side effect to this treatment. When Alex was watching the violent films, Beethoven was playing in the background. So, Alex also associates his beloved Ludwig Van with feeling sick.

After being released back into society, Alex feels distressed by anything even remotely related to violence. He is also rejected by his parents. Now alone and homeless, he stumbles into the house of the man who he beat up and raped his wife in front of him. Though, the man does not remember him. The man is an author and he is a revolutionary. He is against the current totalitarian government. After hearing about the treatment Alex went through, he wants to prove the government is evil using him because he wants the stop the government from getting re-elected. He forces Alex to listen to 9th Symphony by Beethoven which he associates with feeling sick. Feeling extremely distressed and miserable, Alex tries to commit suicide by jumping out of a window. The cure caused him to become depressed. He became someone who is not able to defend himself. However, he does not die, he goes into a coma, and he is admitted to a hospital. The man achieves his goal and the government receives a lot bad publicity. So, they reverse the effect of the treatment. The authority tries to make a deal with Alex. Offering a job in exchange for him acting like he is cured and content. Once again, the government is controlling. However, this time Alex has free will since the treatment is reversed.

A Clockwork Orange shows us the main characteristics of a dystopia: dehumanization and cruelty. The treatment Alex undergoes stops him from acting on his violent urges using behavioural psychology. But after the treatment, Alex is not himself anymore. With his violent urges, the treatment also stripped him of his free will. One cannot act or feel without free will, and they cannot do the things that separate them from other living beings, that makes up human. Therefore, the treatment basically turned Alex into a robot, an entity incapable of forming an opinion or doing the what they want. In a way, taking away Alex’s free will is just as bad as cutting off one of his limbs, if not worse. This is done to him to get him to obey the rules. While the readers despise Alex in the beginning of the novel, they might feel pity for him towards the end. This means the treatment was just as bad as the problem, maybe worse. Because while the Alex in the beginning was horrible, he was still human, he was himself. After the treatment, he became an empty shell of a human. This novel and its film adaptation bring out the question whether it is better to be evil by choice or forced to be good.

References

1. Wikipedia contributors. ‘A Clockwork Orange (novel).’ Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 30 Apr. 2019.
2. Wind Goodfriend Ph.D. “Classical Conditioning in “A Clockwork Orange”” Psychology Today. May 08, 2012
3. Angela Regidor. “Power, Humanity And Transformation In ‘A Clockwork Orange’” BleuMag. August 2, 2018
4. Moya, Samantha. ‘A Clockwork Orange: The Intersection Between a Dystopia and Human Nature.’ 2011

“Utopia is an illusion. Dystopia is the reality” A utopia is a fictional society or state imitating a perfect simulation. The film, The Truman Show, directed by Peter Weir demonstrates how Truman’s definition of “perfection” contrasts from Christof’s perspective. The movie teaches viewers that one man’s Utopia is another man’s Dystopia, through the defamiliarizing of common ideas, blurring the lines between what’s real versus what’s fake, and defining the layers of reality.

Everything Truman Burbank thought he knew to be normal or real is no longer familiar to him. Ever since the studio light fell from the sky, Truman has been increasingly suspicious towards his existence. Followed by his father who drowned years ago, appearing in front of him as a hobo, Lauren attempting to reveal the truth on the beach, and the news channel describing his every move on the radio. Truman is seen having a conversation with Marlon, his best friend since childhood, and explains his suspicions towards the irrational behaviour of his reality: ‘…it feels like the whole world revolves around me somehow.'(The Truman Show). In an effort to discredit Truman’s paranoia, Marlin explains, ‘It’s a lot of world for one man, Truman. Are you sure that’s not wishful thinking? You wishing you’d made something more of yourself.'(The Truman Show) . As Truman continues to do unexpected things in an effort to escape, the actors continue to dissuade him from leaving. He realizes what Christof would describe as a heaven is slowly becoming a hell and the line between what’s real and fake increasingly becomes more apparent to him.

The movie blurs the lines between fiction and reality, Truman is born, takes his first step, and grows up on Seahaven Island. Everyone he knows and interacts with is a hired actor, but his reactions towards them are genuine. When looking through his wedding album, Truman realizes that Meryl, his wife crosses her fingers during their vows, symbolizing that she doesn’t mean her feelings towards Truman. The next morning, Truman “cross[es] [his] fingers for [her].’ (The Truman Show), indicating to her that he knows what’s going on. Truman decides that he is going to fight back in a search for the truth, he sails off in an effort to find answers beyond what he sees in front of him and reaches the end of the dome, coming to the realization that he’s living a life of lies. He speaks to the creator of the television show, Christof, and asks, “Was nothing real?” (The Truman Show), Christof responds , “You were real… that’s what made you so good to watch.”(The Truman Show). Truman is left confused and questioning the falsity of his actuality. What Truman once thought was his home is now a prison. Christof tells him that the real world is full of deceit whereas in Seahaven he has paradise and nothing to fear, but Truman responds: “You never had cameras inside my head.” (The Truman Show), implying that Christof doesnt know him as well as he thinks he does. Truman has a different perspective on paradise from Christof, therefore, he opens the door, and leaves into the next layer of reality.

The film determines the layers of reality as Truman’s reality, Christof’s reality, and the viewers of the Tv shows reality, but only Christof can directly communicate with each layer. Before the interview connecting Christof to the viewers, the TruTalk Newscaster says: ‘Before we begin, I’d like to thank you on behalf of our audience for granting this exclusive interview. We know how demanding your schedule is and we all know how jealously you guard your privacy.’ (The Truman Show). It is ironic that Christof, who has broadcasted every moment of Truman’s life, avoids publicity unless completely necessary, such as when Christof reveals himself as a voice in the sky as a final effort to keep Truman inside the simulation, he says, ‘Truman, you can speak, I can hear you!’ (The Truman Show). In this moment the relationship between Truman and Christof, the symbol of christ, is apparent. God and Man. Just as God did for mankind, Christof created a world for Truman. While Christof claims he has created a worry free heaven, Truman believes he is trapped in hell.

The film educates watchers on the different perspectives on Utopia and Dystopia, through making ones typical knowledge unfamiliar to themselves, undefining the difference between reality versus fiction, and determining the 3 layers of the movies reality. Furthermore it has been made apparent that according to truman, it is better to live in a world full of deceit than to live a life of lies.

Utopianism has slowly made its way into a literary genre by authors comparable to Thomas More. More’s book, Utopia was written to show his disdain about the political corruption that happened in Europe during his life. Comparing the word “Utopia” to both a good place and no place. Although Thomas More was the “father” of Utopia, his neologism leads other authors: Gregory Claeys, Darko Suvin, and Ruth Levitas to publish their input on what a Utopia means. Since Utopia’s conception, Utopia has come to suggest a place we can solely dream about, an actual paradise. Dystopia, which is the direct contrary of Utopia, is a term used to describe a Utopian society in which matters have gone wrong. I am here to argue that the nature of Utopia is to realize the dystopian characteristics that exist in the real world.

Gregory Claeys begins his article by stating no single definition works for Utopia. Mentioning the three main components of the tradition: the literary, the communal, and the ideological. Claeys argues, “a social realist definition of Utopia which prioritizes a historical reading of the various components which comprise the Utopian tradition” (Claeys 9). Proposing the Five Languages of Utopia being literature, religion, progress, psychology, and history. While Utopia is also not exclusively literature, a branch of theology, synonym for social improvement nor a state of mind. Claeys emphasizes that although Utopia is not exclusively literary, religious, psychological and progress centered, “Utopia is not to dismiss the relevance and importance of these components to the Utopian tradition as a whole” (Claeys 10). He then furthers his argument by explaining his social aspect as, “an ideal of enhanced social order, communal cohesion and focus, achieved not by the abolition of ranks, but by the separation of wealth from power a disdain for luxury and the rejection of plutocracy”(Claeys 12). Secondly using Thomas More’s “Utopia”, Monastics, Indy Communities, Early Christianity, and Sparta as his “realistic” aspect. Claey then ends his article in that the realistic definition of Utopia, “permits us to a realizable future it is a map for avoiding undesirable outcomes” (Claeys 15). Claey has an appropriate understanding of Utopia is hard to pinpoint.

However, Darko Suvin finds it quite simple by confining himself to, “a consideration of Utopia as a literary genre”(Suvin 38). Using the Oxford English Dictionary to define why Utopia is a verbal construct. Later comparing all the definitions to each other explaining how most have “imaginary” involved. Moving on to the idea that Utopia is an estrangement. There is not a defined example of Utopia ever existing, and yet it is a perfect place. It has never existed, so we have nothing to compare it to. Suvin relates Utopia to science fiction as he believes Utopia is man-made. Strongly arguing most Utopian authors on “What is Utopia?”.

Ruth Levitas tries to not define Utopia, but help her readers understand what Utopia could be. Levitas begins her essay with her argument of Utopia being the imaginary reconstruction of society, also called the IROS method. Believing the IROS has, “an archaeological or analytical mode and an architectural or constructive mode” (Levitas 47). The IROS is a device to defamiliarize the known and create a space where the reader had the judgment on an alternative experience. Levitas writes her purpose of her writing is not to bring upon a new definition of Utopia, but to provoke people about the term. Her Archeological/analytical mode evaluates what is wrong in the current society, while the Architectural/constructive mode is hoping to find a solution. Levitas ends with how Utopia should be understood as a “method” rather than a goal (Levitas 65). Levitas examines how Utopia has been used by commentators and social theorists. Leaving the readers with the same two questions the IROS method brings, “how should we live” and “how can that be” (Levitas 66)? Those two questions bring the concept of Utopia is possible.

Experts in the field are still arguing if Utopia is possible in the real world and if a society has ever been a perfect model to prove such a claim. Claeys believes that Utopia was somewhere in, “Sparta, in primitive Christianity, in monasteries, amongst the indigenous peoples of the New World” (Claeys 13). Articulating that these societies were achievable, the problem was how to recapture the virtue once it was lost. Leading to Levitas’s IROS, which found a problem within the society, and then would come up with solutions to fix it. Adam and Eve are residing in the Garden of Eden at some point of Genesis 1-2 is an example of a Utopian lifestyle. When they first sin by consuming the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3, the World will become a dystopia. They tried to live a perfect life, but the corruption of mankind, in the end, changed the world into a dystopia (Britannica). Both Claeys and Levitas believe a Utopian society is possible. Further, Claeys and Levitas believe that dystopian societies are in place in the real world. Claeys describes dystopia as an, “asylum” or “prison”, which are a real problem. Today prisons are mostly overcrowded and full of violence (Claeys 14). Levitas mentions a huge concern for today’s society, school shootings. She writes, “a six- year old boy took a gun to school and fired it, resulting in the death of a classmate” (Levitas 63). Unfortunately, school shootings have been made into view for the public eye recently, with no actual solution making America as a form of dystopia. An example of Utopia is hard to find; however, dystopias are easily spotted. The easiest example of a dystopia would be the Holocaust. In the Holocaust, he pressured human beings to do things in the trust that it would lead to a perfect world. He brainwashed his troops into doing horrific things for the betterment of the whole world. In the end, he had almost the identical factor as every other dystopian government.

Realistic Utopias are normally a critique of the current society. Suvin argues Utopia is a verbal construct, in “man-made” books from “man-made” history (Suvin 62). Meaning that society itself creates their idea of Utopia. The society can come up with better ideas for their community or compare it to a dystopia to see where they lie on the spectrum. Utopia cannot exist without dystopia because there would be no comparison, just as there is no good without evil. Luke Martell states the first step to social change being, “Utopianism is a basis for critical assessment of the present. An idea of an ideal society is something against which we can evaluate the present” (Martell 2). Martell shows his readers where the present does not match up to what we think society should be, turning Utopian thinking into a footing for critique and change. Levitas also agrees on Utopia being a process to make a better society. The first part of her IROS method is to determine what is wrong with the present society. A “Utopian” place can quickly turn to dystopian by, “the suppression of individuality, in intolerance… and demanding perfection” (Claeys 11). You cannot create a dystopia without first finding what is making a society dystopian. Today, the Utopian spirit is far from dead.

Utopias prevent dystopian ideas. It functions as a map for avoiding undesirable outcomes. Claeys mentions, “Utopia stands for the avoidance of plutocracy, the limiting of inequality, and the management of common resources for the common good” (Claeys 15). Meaning Utopia is just a map to avoid dystopia, these are goals proven to be worth attaining and preserving. Suvin agrees that Utopia is structured like blueprints he mentions, “Utopia operates by examples and demonstrations” (Suvin 37). Suvin and Claey both relate to Utopias preventing dystopias. Utopianism is an ideal future that drives change away from the present to something different. Something that supports criticism, idealism and a wish for a better world can help social change.

The purpose of having Utopia is to make our world better. To find what dystopian characteristics we have in our societies, so we can fix it. Gregory Claeys, Darko Suvin, and Ruth Levitas all have different ideas on what Utopia means, however they all acknowledge the dystopian aspects of daily life. One purpose of having dystopia literature is being able to relatable to the audience. The genre of Utopia has an emotional effect on people and how they feel about the world and on different issues they face. A Utopia can be a blueprint for an ideal society in the future or a different place, preventing a dystopia. Too detailed or rigid a plan may not allow us to adapt to unforeseen circumstances or allow collective democratic determination of how society should be organized. But if we are to change to a better society it is important to have some idea of what that would be like and how it would operate in a way that would make it better than current society. Otherwise, large-scale change is a big risk. Having a plan also stops people misusing a political idea in the future because the society we should have has not been set out, as it could be said happened in so-called communist societies.

Works cited

1. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Garden of Eden.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/topic/Garden-of-Eden.
2. Gregory Claeys, “The Five Languages of Utopia: Their Respective Advantages and Deficiencies With a Plea for Prioritising Social Realism”, Cercles 30 (2013): 9-16.
3. Levitas, Ruth. Utopia as Method: The Imaginary Reconstitution of Society. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014
4. Martell, Luke. Utopianism and social change: Materialism, Conflict, and Pluralism, Capital and Class “Https://Pdfs.semanticscholar.org/46e4/ddfc84cb97387a25d99be09d37b0746579fa.Pdf.”.
5. Suvin, Darko, Positions and Suppositions in Science Fiction (London: Macmillan 1988)
6. Wilborne, Brian, “From Dystopia to Utopia: Nazi Euthanasia/Eugenics and Their Re-Emergence.” Quadrant Online from Dystopia to Utopia Nazi Euthanasiaeugenics and Their Reemergence Comments, https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2012/09/from-dystopia-to-Utopia-nazi-euthanasia-eugenics-and-their-re-emergence/.

Dystopia is a sub-genre that is central to British literary history. It pairs itself with the British cynicism and creates a richly bleak outlook on the future world that British cinema has identified and created some of its most influential films from. It is an unspoken subtext that Britain’s have this pre-existing psychology, but as literary forms have evolved over the hundreds of years of creating dystopian fiction, the mode of cinema has allowed the sub-genre to explore views of the future very self-consciously, staying culturally relevant in one hand whilst also referencing the literary founders of dystopia in Britain, as many of their core concepts remain true to this day.

“Dystopian narrative is largely the product of the terrors of the twentieth century. A hundred years of exploitation, repression, state violence, war, genocide, disease, famine, ecocide, depression, debt, and the steady depletion of humanity through the buying and selling of everyday life” (Moylan, 2000, 11).

The examples in this essay evaluate dystopian themes at three vastly different points in the timeline of British dystopia and how they have evolved. Firstly, Orwell’s totalitarian ‘1984’ (1984), recreated by Radford, although I will treat the film as a post-war perspective on the future as Orwell intended; Kubrick’s cold war comic, ‘Dr Strangelove: Or how I learned to stop worrying and Love the Bomb’ (1964); and Boyle’s ‘28 Days Later’ (2002) as a contemporary comparison.

‘1984’ quickly establishes the power divide in the film between those working for the Party of INGSOC (translated as English Socialism) and those who are true members of the Party during the act of the Two Minutes Hate. Radford focuses on the emotional anguish in the faces of the crowd but does not allow them to break the fourth wall – this is role is reserved for the face of Big Brother. He creates the hierarchy in the space with the powerful gaze, followed by the party leaders and then the workers, like Winston and Julia. Radford also uses this image in a way that Briton’s have identified with propaganda in the past, using the same sepia tint, facial structure and eye contact as the infamous ‘Your Country Needs YOU’ poster, to create the same sense of anxiety in the audience as there is in the characters. ‘Big Brother is watching you’ is the most fundamental concept in the text and relies on technology advancing and being harnessed to control the social masses. Individuals lose their privacy to ensure they are following the ideology of the party. This persistency ensures they do not physically violate policy, but also influences them psychologically. It is a technological panopticon which Foucault argues creates social paranoia and increases compliance as a result. (Foucault, 1977). With this social paranoia, INGSOC can prevent thought crime and create a society where the mind is in the party, not in the people. In ‘1984’ free thought is classed as Berry’s interpretation of Global Thinking. She argues that “Global thinking can only do to the globe what a space satellite does to it: reduce it, make a bauble out of it.” She explains how the only true global thinkers have led multinational corporations and “done so by means of simplification too extreme and oppressive to merit the name of thought.” (Neuman, 1991, 346/347) Orwell see’s the party of INGSOC as global thinkers enforcing their ideology, and through their manipulation, they constrain thought to the point that any form of free, let alone global thought, is classed as a crime.

Psychological control was their true desire and the entire life the individuals lived was to ensure this control: fabrication of history, manipulation of language, castration in the Anti-Sex League and more. Orwell took the view on life post-war and analysed how it could develop over time. Following the war and his time at the Ministry of Information, he saw a lack of trust between those in power and those in the position of consumption. He became highly aware of how the public were being manipulated so easily through the use of basic propaganda, therefore with the advancements in technology and media output, a totalitarian society seemed only inevitable to form. For a dystopia to exist, it must have a utopian opposite. For every inhalation, there is an exhalation and for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. For every ounce of hatred the people have for Big Brother and their oppressive society, INCSOC falls more in love with the power they have of their subjects psychology. The more the people finally surrender to loving Big Brother, the more empowered the party feels. Maus argues that ‘critics have often succumbed to the temptation of the overwhelmingly binary ‘us vs them’ reasoning that defined the conflict” (Wheeler, 2005, 3). Although simple and binary, it must be at the core to divide the two opposing views, otherwise there could be no opposition.

In ‘Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb’, the Cold war acts as the dividing factor with America and Russia being the binary opposites. However, it is not as simple in terms of conflict as ‘1984’ due to the nature of the threat in the narrative. “The signs are that by the mid-1960s, despite (or perhaps because of) the Cuban missile crisis, many people were learning to live with the threat of nuclear annihilation” (Shaw, 2001, 140). Although Russia and America have opposing views, Kubrick does not allow the just this opposition to be the threat. The Mutually Assured Destruction scheme is a mutual threat – appropriately abbreviated to MAD. Public discourse during this era sub-textualized the bomb and as a result it gained an allegorized status which Kubrick magnified to influential people having sexual desires regarding the power and possibilities of the bomb. Although American-born, Kubrick approaches the absurdity of cold war with a fundamentally British comedic approach. His characterization is central to the comedy but also to the dystopia. General Jack Ripper personifies America’s military machismo gone wrong but is also a clear homage to a famous section of British history. Kubrick ironically portrays Ripper, a person capable of executing the world’s most powerful military strategy, Plan R, are also worried that the fluoridation of their water is a “Commie” scheme that has resulted in his “loss of essence”. The sexually charged, macho nature continues with ‘General Turgidson’ who is introduced prior a sexual encounter with his secretary. Turgidson remains turgid and carries that energy into the War Room and excitedly suggests to “launch an all-out and coordinated attack” on Russia and America would “stand a damn good chance catching ‘em with their pants down.” The supposed voice of reason is President Merkin Muffley. As the name suggests, his role is to ‘cover-up’ the mistakes of his subordinates, doing so in a comedically delicate and domestic way with Russian President, Dmitri. Finally, we have Dr Strangelove. He satirises the world’s perception on American stupidity as a Nazi Scientist leading the nuclear plan of America, wearing nothing but a glove and a pair of semi-tinted spectacles to conceal his identity. As argued with “1984”, the man-made apocalypse is dystopian for the rest of the world is his utopia: “a ratio of ten females to each” with the women being selected on “cross-section of necessary skills” in underground in mine sites—an idea so exciting that the Dr cannot resist but heil the sky at his sexual excitement where his castrated body expresses itself. His excitement continues to grow until the sensation becomes so great, he regains the ability to stand in a climax where life on earth as we know it is destroyed to the sound track of Vera Lynn. Kubrick hyperbolizes the sensations the status of the bomb through Dr Strangelove’s sequence in the ending of the film. The bomb did as much to create the mainstream culture of the Cold War as it did to create the counterculture. As this was all behind closed doors, the public could only speculate whether life was in the hands of the machismo-driven and clinically insane. Kubrick is criticising the discourse that glamorised the bomb through his ironic portrayal of how humankind could have been destroyed.

Danny Boyle’s ‘28 Days later’ stays true to convention by choosing a dystopian theme relevant to the present audience. Released during the scares of the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001, Virus-culture was highly prevalent. As a result, identification with the crisis, when used in conjunction with the iconic city of London, is dramatically increased. Boyle uses the dystopian convention of binary conflict between the infected and the humans, but also uses sub-conflicts that play more of an important role in the narrative message than the infected story-line. Being the most contemporary example, it is also the most reflexive on the genre of dystopia. The salvation of the soldier’s turns out to be of equal danger to the protagonists. “I promised them women” Major West explains. As the rape culture is established, Jim naturally goes against his plan and chaos ensues. During this moment, conflict is at its furthest with the infected and it its greatest with the soldiers in the closed environment. The boundaries between safety and danger are at its most blurred, Jim is pistol-whipped and falls unconscious. Trust between all parties is broken and they point their guns at each other in an Animal Farm-like manner “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” (Orwell, 1989, 118). Boyle is conscious of this and is challenging the perception Maus stated previously with simple binary opposition. He layers secondary conflict within the main narrative to highlight that the loudest and most pronounced threat is not always the most dangerous. Kubrick also creates this within ‘Dr Strangelove’ as the primary threat is the bomb, but the true danger is the people in charge. Sat at the round table in the war room, with the likes of Turgidson and Ripper in orchestrating military procedure, Dmitri with his doomsday machine and a sex-fuelled Nazi Scientist leading the nuclear plan, Kubrick is suggesting that we should not worry about the bomb because of its threat to life, but worry about those in charge of the weaponry who are using it to stoke the fires of their ego’s.

British dystopia in cinema remains largely the same as the Orwellian texts that bought it into the mainstream. “British cinema would be defined in terms of already established discourses of Britishness, by turning in on itself, on its own history and cultural formation” (Higson, 1989, 42). The same is happening to the sub-genre of dystopia: the binary opposition is still the core, but it is cultural themes that influence the dystopia that change. It will continue to evolve is tandem with popular culture but seems it will keep a firm handle of the successful foundations that the British writers establishes many years ago.

Religious ideas have manipulated societies for centuries and existed as covert supremacy, dictating the actions executed by humanity. Religious discrimination is not a prehistoric phenomenon, with modern-day occurrences such as antisemitism and the holocaust, predominantly initiated by faith. Islamophobia is amplified issues emerging from terrorism and Islamic radicalism and extremism, as well as recent terrorist attacks. This has initiated stereotypical ideals and xenophobia, particularly in western nations. The commencement of Muslim bans/Travel bans has further augmented the religious bias. This societal issue is exhibited in this novella, by the reverse principle that humanity is identical, and nobody is superior or enhanced. By eliminating diversity, individuals, therefore, have no faith and god is prohibited, since they epitomize a supernatural being, hence it is regarded as unethical in this civilization. This may be branded as a nature of religious discrimination, by restricting access to belief. Kurt Vonnegut’s tale Harrison Bergeron incorporates communist ethics as well as totalitarianism. The presence of equality, enforced by the mandatory attire of handicaps which alters the intelligence, attractiveness, athleticism of citizens, ensuring the indistinguishability of society, correlated with characterizations of communism. ‘The year was 2081 and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way.’.The sovereign leader encompasses virtues concurrent with those of dictators. The dystopian government strives to restrict and manipulate the thoughts of its citizens, exemplifies the totalitarian aspect of this tale

Kurt Vonnegut’s novella ‘Harrison Bergeron’ was written in a historic era of cataclysm, due to the ongoing civil rights movement and the aversion to communism. The context in which the tale was inscribed has a notable influence on the publication. Equality, Marxism and Christianity are themes scrutinized throughout the text and embedded in the story, which are predominantly in divergence to conventional American ideologies at the time. The fictional dystopia incorporates imagery of god to exhibit Harrison Bergeron as a sacrifice to save society from their detrimental bonds of egalitarianism, which can be paralleled to the concept that Jesus Christ died so our sins may be forgiven. These themes portrayed in the text are customary for the cold war era, primarily based on the rivalry between the USSR and Western Nations such as the United States. These issues expressed in the novel; are conventional of the time period it was written, and how the precedent ideals still exist today.

The tale commences with ‘The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.’ This excerpt encompasses the prominent themes of the novella; Egalitarianism and Fascism. The suppressive notion of a totalitarian government penetrates the composition. Figuratively Vonnegut depicts the enforcer of constitutional equality as the ‘United States Handicapper General’, the term handicap bestows the audience with an effective literary metaphor. The expression ‘Handicapper General’ evokes the concept of that social uniformity has become radical and excessive, that citizens in this dystopian nation are compelled to be ‘Handicapped’, if they possess distinctive and exceptional physical and intellectual attributes. The novelist has inverted the veracity of how contemporary society allocates exclusive compensations to handicapped/disabled individuals. The perception of egalitarianism morphs into a futuristic nightmare scenario that has vast implications for society. Hence, this extract reinforces Vonnegut’s secondary theme of totalitarianism. The dystopian government strives to vehemently restrict the thoughts of its citizens; therefore, wise individuals are prohibited to formulate opinions or think critically. These measures defend and uphold the sovereignty and dominance of the government, via trepidation around expressing aversions regarding the communist state. Manipulation of the media is customary in authoritative nations and is vital for total domination. Moreover, the author is indirectly implying that the influence of the media sways the public and reality. Harrison Bergeron is illustrated as a criminal by authorities, however, he only desired to be liberated from torment. The solitary ‘Crime’ he committed was that he was physically and intellectually diverse to the remainder of society. Alternatively, the news bulletin concerning Harrison Bergeron exposes how the mass media in modern society circulates misinformation and propaganda. The futuristic tale comprises aspects and themes of present issues regarding dictatorship and freedom of speech. Anticommunist ideals are still exceedingly relevant in modern-day society, verifying that the novelist was accurate in his predictions of the future.

Novelist Kurt Vonnegut’s science fiction feature encompasses abundant themes of religion and faith. Notions of god are utilized throughout the entire composition, predominantly involving the ideal that the protagonist must exist as a martyr, to save humanity from their bonds of equality, equivalent to Christian beliefs. Vonnegut litters the composition with references to ‘our heavenly father’. The term god is employed repetitively to reinforce the Christ imagery, likewise, alludes to individuals deeming Harrison as a savior. The author differentiates the evolution from an image of the protagonist upon the television by to the legitimate entity by expressing ‘a living breathing Harrison’. ‘Ballerinas, technicians, musicians and announcers cowered on their knees before him, expecting to die’. The impression of ‘cowering’ visualizes worshiping in fear. Furthermore, Vonnegut illustrates Harrison as a marvelous creature, ‘awed Thor, the god of thunder’. ‘Not only abandon the laws of the land, gravity, and motion but a god ?’The deeds of the male protagonist are misperceiving and nonsensical unless he is destined to be slain.

The novelist labels Harrison as a rational intellect, that not even the regime could adequately handicap. If the protagonist merely aspired to conquest the government, logically gone directly to the administration headquarters. However, Harrison elected to intentionally proceed to go to a television studio, where he could expose a glimpse of existence minus handicaps. Recognizing that the government would subsequently pursue and exterminate him. The sacrifice is another justification of the Christ-like depiction throughout this volume. Recently religion has become a center-stage issue, instigating immense commotion and conflict, and this aspect of the science fiction story relates to contemporary complications.

This science fiction novel explores the imminent future and what that may possess. Kurt Vonnegut further demonstrates that the future is still indistinct and vague, however, the morals and ethics denoted in this short story is very relevant to modern society. This is upsetting as anything may transpire, and humanity may momentarily find itself dealing with an immense issue, comparable to something exhibited in the text. Totalitarian states and religious discrimination is an enemy of the United States, and what this nation has and what we have fought against for centuries, is this is our future?

1. Zoe Gainer New York Times Book Review Analyst ($14.99). To order a copy go to nytimesbuy.org/books

“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.”

DYSTOPIA

The oxford dictionary defines dystopia as ‘an imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post- apocalypti.’

A dystopian society is an imagined society where people will be living in a constant fear of stepping out of the line. All of their actions will be monitored periodically with no space for privacy. A group of powerful elites would dominate all and leave people in utmost despair and poverty. Family and relationships is a question mark with no possible future. A society where massacre, terrorism and natural disasters exist every day. In the dystopian world the people are controlled via various means such as by a corporation or media or by bureaucracy and ruthless governance or by technology where robots and machines dominate and dehumanise the world or by religious control through dictatorship. One feels very trapped and struggle to escape from these various negative aspects while being exposed to such dystopian set up.

Dystopia in movies are a very mundane wonder of unimagined kind, always leading to new beginnings with hope and desperation. In reality this has never been reported in the history but was always left to our imagination. The movie metropolis largely emphasises the technological modernity and how a city is being viewed as a machine itself. The movies exposes the prejudice between the upper class and the working class by portraying a dark world below dominated by machines and humans working nothing but like robots whereas the masters live in luxury high above. In the movie the destruction of the tower of Babel exposit that, in order to achieve the utopian desire, dystopian destruction must be achieved and infuses the fear of an approaching destructive apocalyptic end that maybe generated from the present urban environment.

On the contrary, the recently released science fiction movie ,”Her” depicts vision for the future city( Los Angeles) where everything seems to be homogenised. The plot though revolves around the hero and his romantic relationship with his computer, in the background the future city, Los Angeles is portrayed with a skyline sprawling with high raised buildings as that in Shangai and there is a discernible lack of cars but a large number of spacious and efficient subways, trains and pedestrian pathways is seen. There is also a plausible question of the presence of underclass people working invisibly, who could be the reason behind the perfectly functioning future city. Whichever it is, it is evident from watching that the movie that it is seen as a “dystopia of gentrification” which because the city is portrayed as a glowing element with effective elimination of the prevailing prejudice.

Such destructions and visions in movies is more of a revelation whereas when considering the incidents that took place in real life, it is awfully shocking. The history of any city is valued in respect to the preserved heritages which marks the greatness of a city. Such an obvious thing was in controversy when architect Rem Khoolhas proposed the idea of laundering and liberating the city by demolishing the old buildings and creating empty spaces for planners to design new buildings in the city of Paris. Fortunately this was not implemented but left most of the preservationist in terror. But such a thing was actually taking place in the city of Mexico where buildings older than twenty five years were pulled down mercilessly to build the so called futuristic city. Tlatelolco housing complex by architect Mario Pani was criticised tremendously after the two terrifying incidents, the student massacre followed by the earth quake which revealed the misery of Mexico marking dystopia. Though initially the building was appreciated for its design and construction around the pyramid and a church holding historical values, which is why it came to be known as ‘ the plaza of three cultures’- the pyramid , church and the housing complex depicting the Aztec ruins , the Spaniards and the modern mixed Mexicans respectively. Later after its collapse it was found to be a poorly constructed one resulting in the death of numerous people. Actions like this in the two most iconic cities, Paris and Mexico , one known for its history and the later known for its ever changing construction leaves everyone with the question as to which is utopia and which is dystopia.

“As if utopia were nothing more than the premonition of totalitarianism and totalitarianism the tragic execution of the utopian dream ” – Frederic Rouvillios

Not just movies and failures of design construction but paintings also describe the characteristics of dystopia in urban life. Tokai ( meaning – metropolis ) is one such painting by the artist Miura Shun that depicted the social modernism post war in urban Tokyo in a very disconcerting way. The painting portrays a couple in the centre in which the girl is dressed in a western outfit that reveals her genitalia and is leaning next to an animal like man pointing his snake like walking stick towards her genitalia with a chaotic background depicting demolishing factories , workers and furious clouds above. This painting attempted to describe the state of modern Tokyo influenced by the western culture post war which shows that the people in Japan considered speed and sensation to be modernism. Thus such aesthetics of modernity and cultural disorientation, distorted the character of the city and infused the fear of social vulnerability in the minds of the people, which cannot be more evident in the case of Iwanosaka where the murder of infants that were considered to be illegitimate, spread the terror of death of humanity.

“The growing sense that the processes guaranteeing cultural reproduction were in danger of disappearing altogether” – Harry Harootunian “A function through which the public may vicariously live out its desires or fantasies, which are prohibited by society” – Deborah S. Reisinger

Tokyo’s darkness has been witnessed in both reel and real life. Incidents such as the nuclear bombings, tidal waves and earthquakes over the years have left the people of japan in total despair, which seems to be likely the reason for filming movies like Godzilla, mothra , rodan and blade runner and also for the numerous futuristic tv series and comic books. The unimaginable dystopian fantasies in movies as a result of the traumatic incidents in japan post war also proves that japan is always doing better after every disaster and this is been portrayed in the movies by new beginnings after total decline of the city.

“The Japanese in moments of stress if not habitually, regard life as the period of complete insecurity that it is ; and the truth of this observation is graphically illustrated in a land yearly ravaged by typhoons, a country where the very earth quakes daily”- Donald Richie

Similarly, Delhi the capital city of India has faced and is still facing numerous destructing incidents making it quite a unfavourable city to live in, except for the elite class people. For other than politics and plan, Delhi is exposed to crime, traffic, congestion, pollution and also slum explosion due to migration and biased design solutions. A part of the mega city faces standard upward growth resulting in the present day modern life and as an important hub for trade, business and politics while the other side of the city majorly consisting of low class people face decline and poverty on daily basis and thus this inability to balance the lives of people leads to what is known as dystopia in urbanism.

“For the first time, there is a feeling of collapse here, the sense that this capital city once a way station for Mogul armies, later an exhibition for British town planning by Sir Edwin Lutyens – is finally being overwhelmed by people and traffic and the final crumbling of fragile and inadequate public services” – the New York times , 1993

Having the above incidents in mind, decentralisation of a city is what is seen as a more sensible design solution to the collapse of great cities, inspite of its own limitations. Frank Lyod wright’s notion of the broadacre city is an example of the above. By fragmenting and distributing the social, economic and environmental aspects throughout the landscape, one can possibly reduce the causes that lead to the end of the city. Wright’s idea about connecting the fragmented parts via a network of automobile highways, rails and communications would define the so called new city. This idea with its limitation might also lead to the disappearing of cities itself.

At first cities created ‘urban experience’ to increase the concentration of people and trade while now the desire for ‘urban experience’ has created the dense cities growing at an inhuman scale. American cities attempted to follow this is idea of connecting the town and the village via highways, making decentralisation possible, which was then largely promoted by mass production of suburban houses, industrial and office parks and shopping centres , attracting people to spread and move along the edges of the regions. It is also equally important to consider the abandoned inner cities which are nothing but the twentieth century ruins. Thus maintaining a great diversity in every aspects within the boundary is vital for implementing urbanism everywhere.

Technology today, has reached an immense level of development in comparison to the other phenomenal innovations. It is quickly taking over the humans and has become the most influential part in our lives. Architect Liam Young states this enormous amount of technological dominance through three animations which represents the corporate dystopia. The first animation shows how cities would be immersed in the glowing logos of corporates such as Samsung and how such corporates are capable of controlling the real estate developments and thus create a world where people are less physically connected to each other. This seems to be a very fearful notion because it’s disturbingly a plausible idea.

The second animation represents a multicultural city in the sea which acts as the free trade zones that outsource and support big corporations based in land. This city which has no national identity and is completely devoid of rules, regulations and taxes, forces us to think of the plight of how the borders might look in the future. The final animation depicts the dark and invisible element in our daily lives which is nothing but our own digital and or virtual identity stored in our phones, tabs and or laptops. This city which is completely run by machines, claims to be the most modern and futuristic form of evolution. This city which contains all our informations has very little or no notion of physical connection to our lives. The irony is that, cities these days are being designed to sustain more of the technology such as designing wi-fi weather systems rather than creating an actual environment for the people.

Songdo, south of Seoul in South Korea can be stated as an example for the above with very less hesitation. This city is under a colossal social experiment, building a place where technology is the only things that prevails. Unlike the other modern city developments, this one is built from the scratch and costs over forty billion dollars. The use of sensors into everything from managing traffic flow to collecting garbage by constructing houses with built in IoT controls is not only interesting but also very intimidating. People have already began to call this project as ‘eerily quiet’ which is most likely to result in the abandonment of this exclusive experiment and might end up as nothing more than museum with outdated technology in the future.

Another obvious example of real life dystopia prevailing amongst us are ‘slums’. Nothing can more effortlessly convey the characteristics of dystopia in urbanisms than slums, where people suffer on a daily basis and have no access to the fundamental needs such food, water, health , energy use or transportation. Recently a lot of proposal are being aimed at the popular slum in Dharavi, Mumbai in India. This slum consists of about one million people living and working. What looked like the promising proposal, by architect Hugon is now being largely criticised for its insensitive design approach consisting of a multi storey apartment which looks like a vertical slum and not a solution. The design provides housing only for the registered people but many of the people in the slum are not registered by the government. This will only lead to the displacement of people again, resulting in the formations of new slums across the city. The project did not pay much attention to the plight of the people who will be left to scatter. Cases like this makes it look like the architects and urban designers are primarily responsible for either creating dystopia (as in this case) or to prevent its formation in the present urban environment.

Apart from this another major disturbing yet innovative factor is how the transport is being portrayed in the future cities. Flying cars and alien ships are not be missed while watching science fictional movies. With the increasing advancement in technology it seems likely that we are not far from riding one of those flying pods in the near future. This also forces us to imagine a future where the traffic would be in the air with less or no cars but only the public form of transport making commuting the most simplest thing. In reality this has been achieved at the policy level where government authorities are contemplating between authorising the concept of driverless cars which will bring about a drastic change in the urban transport and people are trying to make this possible due to its efficiency in reducing the green houses gases, traffic congestion and eliminate energy exploitation and but also has its own ethical implications.

Therefore dystopia in urbanism is already existing and is being extraordinarily revealed in the futuristic movies and novels and paintings with towering skyscrapers and flying machines. This should be considered as a warning though possible damage is already done. Climate change, population explosion, pollution, terrorist activities and alien invasion are telling us to work towards a better future and to help clear the existing damages. It is also very evident that the architects and urban planners are very much responsible for this. Shaping our cities without exploiting the past or the present will lead to achieving a utopian desire where the imagined place is a possibility for coexisting with the nature and not machines.

Bibliography

1. Prakash, G. (2010). Noir Urbanisms: Dystopic Images of the Modern City. New Jersey: Princeton University Press
2. Fishman, R. (1998). Beyond Utopia: Urbanism after the end of Cities
3. Gault, M. (2013). Proposed vertical slum looks like a dystopian movie
4. Haridy, R. (2018). Science fiction cities: how our future visions influence the cities we build
5. Rawn, E. (2015). Corporate Dystopia: Liam Young Imagines a World in which Tech Companies Own our Cities. ArchDaily
6. Roberts, J. (2017). The future of flying cars: science fact or science fiction?
7. Lippert, J. (2018). Only Carpools can keep the Driverless Future from Becoming a Nightmare.
8. Grimsley, S. Characteristics of a Dystopian Society

The Evolution of American Literature

American literature has been transforming since the early settlers came in to colonize the contemporary New England. Back then, deeply believing American authors were writing works which were about the consequences of witchcraft and Salem rituals. At that point there was a problem with practicing dark magic by witches and witch hunters were cruelly executing them by being set on fire. The only acceptable religion was Christianity, consequently many books were associated with Christian motifs, encouraging to obey the Great God. American literature has some of the greatest literal eras. Inter alia, there is the Colonial Period circled by the founding of Jamestown. This period was monumental, religious and started the beginning of publishing of many works that inspired future generations. There is the Revolutionary Period. This era was mainly dominate by political dissertations. “The Declaration of Independence” was created by the Founding Fathers. The next period considered as the greatest is the American Renaissance, which is also considered as Romantic Period and named as the “Age of Transcendentalism”. At that times the American Criticism was launched. I should be noted that The Beat Generation period played an important role, because the confessional poetry that was dominating, contributed to rebellion against the system is USA. And finally there is the Contemporary Period. One of the Fantasy subgenres of this period caught my attention and it’s called dystopia.

The origins and the development of the genre

The rise of literary dystopias, including the 1st use of the term , occurs in the late 19th century, coinciding with industrialization and automatisation. The term “dystopia” was first used in the late 19th century to describe the opposite of utopia. As Sargent points out- dystopian elements can be found in a variety of other categories linked to utopia, such as “flawed utopia” or “critical utopia” [flawed utopia] fits two categories of works. The first is more numerous and shows the ultimately dystopian nature of apparent perfection. Within this subset, a common trope is to demonstrate that the reason/perfection of computers/machines is anti-human. The other category, which is the focus of this essay, poses the fundamental dilemma of what cost we are willing to pay or require others to pay to achieve a good life.” (403)

The author claims that such dystopian tropes which show the “dystopian nature of apparent perfection” And are linked to a certain fear of mechanical or computerized (i.e, non-human, or de-humanized perfection would only be possible in the industrial environment.

Dystopia is qualifying as one of the fictional subgenres. It’s a fictional universe with society. It describes a far in the future reality which is dominated by toxic and other such extreme things as natural disasters and cataclysms, mastering diseases, poverty, toxic government and strict social division. It is perfect from the perspective due to maintained bureaucractic, moral, technological and totalitarian control. There is no independence or individuality. Citizens, are under constant surveillance. What is more usually, in a dystopian society there’s a concept or a particular God worshipped Dystopia is a negative term and is opposed to utopia. While the second term has only positive features, because it’s about the perfect world with a peaceful society and prevailing equal rights. One of main features of dystopia is often a modern hi-tech world presented as a result of technological progression. But as promising it sounds it is quite the opposite. Technologies are mentioned in a pejorative overtone as a harmful and damaging contributing to the slow destruction of the world and the mankind.

Dystopia itself recaptures rather alarming images. People associate it with ancient Greek myths and Bible’s Holy John’s Apocalypse. When we think about dystopia, the things that come to our minds are : destroyed buildings, dead bodies lying on the streets, remains of the city everywhere. The surroundings clearly scream one word “convulsion!”. There is no legislations anymore, there’s total disorder. The word dystopia derives from two Greek words, dus and topos meaning a diseased, bad, faulty, or unfavourable place. The word ‘dystopia’ is the antonym of ‘utopia’ which has a positive meaning and it is something that people imagine as a paradise or a good place.

Science’s role in shaping dystopia

Overall, it has been proven that science played a huge role in the modern turn from utopia to dystopia. Some writers such as Jonathan Swift have already were been warning of the potential dangers especially spiritual of excessive entrust on scientific and technological methods of thought and problem solving. During the XIX century, , Bacon envisaged that many technological Improvements and achievements will be developed. But it was quite easy to say that all these achievements will have negative effects on the mankind. At the end of the XIX century there has been mauled a symbol of technology and science meaning human’s limitation and weakness.

Another great example of dystopian thinking is Nietzsche’s philosophy. He revolutionized the modern change to skepticism. Nietzsche says that there is no final truth and there should be the other science that would heep the strangenesss, excluding all the things needed to be expalinatory in logical way. Having analyzed some of the dystopian fiction works he mocks the advanced technology and the treating the life’s enhancements as Gods or even worshipping. When it comes to Freud, he includes a skeptical decripyion of society and it really well resembles the books of fiction genre – dystopia

Freud explain that human’s can be happy brcause the do not followling the rules. Even realizing some paternal strategies can’t allow them to achieve the desirable happiness. First of all- the overwhelming power of nature and the not eternal durability of human body. It is the undoubltful fact that we can not do much about it despite the technological improvements- nature is too powerful and humans are not gods, who can decide about the legacy .Generally, dystopian fictions contain facts that are the most relatable to the modern world’s problems and society.

Differences between the utopia and dystopia

When it comes to the difference between utopia an dystopia, utopianism is based on a critique of the ‘deficiencies of the present,’ while dystopian thinking relies on a critique of perceived ‘deficiencies in the future’ What is more, the times of dystopian novels is usually far-in-the future and usually differs from the author’s time set. Predominantly, dystopian fictions are concrete and within reach.

Usually, the plot is set in an unrevealed location. Furthermore, M.K Booker says that there could be observed some techniques in works about Dystopia. The main one is defamiliarization. Defamiliarization means that the critique is based on the fictional, non-existing setting. Dystopian works are very relevant to the modern world’s issues. The probems that are talked about are- society, politics. Some of them can definitely be considered inevitable. Booker says : “defamiliarization reminds him of the alienation effect of Bertolt Brecht in the way it denies this difference and links the emergence of new perspectives on literary themes to specific social and political issues in the real world. In this sense, dystopian fiction also resembles science fiction, a genre with which it is often associated.”

The relation between Dystopia and Science Fiction

One recalls, for example, Darko Suvin’s useful emphasis on ‘cognitive estrangement’ as the central strategy of science fiction (Metamorphoses 3-15).14 Clearly there is a great deal of overlap between dystopian fiction and science fiction, and many texts belong to both categories. But in general dystopian fiction differs from science fiction in the specificity of its attention to social and political critique. In this sense, dystopian fiction is more like the projects of social and cultural critics like Nietzsche, Freud, Bakhtin, Adorno, Foucault, Habermas, and many others. Indeed, a major thrust of this study is the exploration of dialogues between dystopian fiction and the work of such critics.

Struggles in defining dystopia

When it comes to the terminology, post-apocalypticism is considered as an obscure period of American literature. This science fiction area classifies as a minor sub-genre. There have always been struggles in defining post-apocalyptic/apocalyptic literature.

According to the Apocalypse group of the Society of Biblical Literature, apocalyptic genre has been defined as literature which is being revealed by an every-day person to others telling that the reality is short-term and it involves supernatural features. The Apocalypse motif derives from the well-know fear of the end of the world that has always been there for centuries. The reason why it has become very profiting is that it derives from illogical assumptions which are linked to the cause of many inspirations.

It should be pointed out that the concept of the world ending it really old and had been revolving since a very long time. It probably will be revolving in the future.

About modern dystopia

There is one of the defining features of modern dystopia is secrecy there is something about these societies that cannot be admitted, something inhabitants are not supposed to know (Brave New World by Huxley) There is also a loose narrative formula five features of the experience of liminality as outlined by van Gennap on Turner. Protagonist’s separation from the structure of his society leading to isolation or denial od the claims of others. Narrator must pass a forbidden boundary, a portal which marks the end of the world and the beginning of the new (world?) “If dystopia always sets us a riddle, its authors normally make sure that it’s one we can solve”

When utopia is glorifying all technological inventions and improvements, quite the opposite applies to dystopia. Dystopia is focusing on the bad results of completely relying on technology.

Rosenbaum claims that technology spoils relations between people. Addictiveness to such inventions as computers, tablets and social decrease the amount of time spent with relatives and isolating from society. He also says that it is shrinking the economy. For example, nowadays in order to get something translated, they do it online. Before the Internet when someone needed an music album, they would just go to the store, and now every type of software content can be downloaded online. This is way the economical level is being ruined.

Nature is being neglected. People are isolated from the natural part of the world.

American authors on Dystopian sub-genre

There is this misconception connected to dystopia. As Ruth Levitas said. This term is used equally with dystopian works. But the truth is that Dystopias are not necessarily fictional in form. Neither natural disasters such as the earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclonic storms are things that are considered as fictional or not really. Quite the opposite. The word ‘dystopian’ hints a future where the disarray and destruction abounds. (Ruth Levitas, The Concept of Utopia (Syracuse University Press, 1990), p. 195.)

It is hard to determine what is distinctive about dystopian notion. There are many variations of that literal genre. Part of them are not really specific and contain only the talks and monologues of main protagonists. Where another part of dystopian novels have richly constructed world, character about what we learn a lot since the beginning.

Dystopia deals with problems of: dominating poverty, the struggle to control the society by the government. Dystopia is a result of the excess usage of goods in utopia. “”Dystopia was the ‘form specifically concentrating on the alienating effects of science and technology’. It aimed ‘to critique the scientific world view which stimulated its Utopian predecessors and upon which Utopia, “the dream of reason”, was built’. (Alexandra Aldridge, The Scientific World-View inDystopia (UMI Research Press, 1978), pp. 1, 79.)””

The portrayal of a tragic hero in dystopian fiction

Utopia is opposed to dystopian fiction a genre that describes a society characterized by not only occasional errors in the execution of justice, but machinery for the deliberate miscarriage of justice. There are visible parallels between the tragic hero and protagonist of dystopian fiction. It could be observed that things are as they are- unrelenting and absurd

Also, the next imperative thing in his matter are trials and retributions. Gottlieb suggests that there’s a significant structural- thematic connection but also a difference between tragedy and modern dystopian fiction Trials and retribution also take pride of place in dystopian fiction For example- In Zamiatin’s “We”. Orwell’s “Nineteen-Eight-Four”, and Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” the narrative is “framed” by two trials.

There’s a significant difference between the role of trial and punishment in tragedy and dystopian fiction In dystopian fiction the protagonist’s trials results not in the post-ponement but in the denial of justice, its deliberate miscarriage. the central character with whom we tried to identify is an individual courageous enough to stand up against an elite ruling through a semi-divine leader, who is responsible for the enslavement of the population, for a deliberate conspiracy against the welfare of his own people The dystopian ruler makes sure that the protagonist’s revolt is defeated and his name erased from the memory of the enslaved, benumbed population. When it comes to the massage of Dystopian satire it has primarily social one, a didactic intent to address the Ideal Readers Moral Sense and reason as it applies to our place in society Satire makes a more direct appeal to rational thought-process than does tragedy and the readers catharsis must be appropriate to the cerebral nature of the genre

“We still have a freedom to shape the future according to our higher understanding and choice” (czyj to cytat jest?) Such a distancing mechanism between the protagonist and the reader maey take a variety of forms but is equally important in all dystopian novels that follow the classical western culture.

Apocalypse in American Culture

Lately in U.S culture there seem to be an increasing number of films, books set in post-apocalyptic. After thirty years, thankfully for the domination of catastrophcism, which is a utopian subgenre has transformed into a dystopian/utopian mix, or even forming into a complete dystopian. Among successful movies, best-selling books of fictions , the future has been considered eventually as post-apocalyptic. The plot or action is set in the time that is not revealed to the reader where the world had been thorugh natural disasters, social collapse, damage caused by excessiveness of use of high-technology, dominated by people in hunger who are struggling to survive.

Nevertheless, Buell points out that there’s a major difference between previous apocalyptic works. First of all- the used to be very bad and not well-known . Now everybody are familiar with it, because it is mainstream. Also, Buell adds that: “[…] the new wave post-apocalypse has lost its all predecessors impact as critical-prophetic intervention into social debate.” Apocalypse has become an every-day setting/background for books and movies, because it suited well for TV-shows, action-movies and also young adult and children’s fiction. Nowadays, apocalyptic background are created in order to interest and to entertain people around the world, but not to create awareness of the possible consequences technological revolutions.

Questioning Dystopia

Generally speaking dystopian literature which in context is an portrayal of a place which is away and place is even worse and differs from the actual presence. Although it is possible to perceive dystopia as an futuristic universe satire. Quite the opposite applies to utopia, because aiming towards parody. Another crucial thing it that- narrated utopian literary works may be interpreted in a dystopian fashion. For example, part of B.F. Skinner’s “Walden Two” after analyzing this work from different perspective- such world presented might not be such a perfect place to live.

According to D. Suvin- utopian fiction can be relative only to the author’s view point based on the “radically different principle “Eutopian, “radically more perfect” or dystopian “radically less perfect (ibid.:188) He also describes utopian fiction as “both independent aunt and a dependent daughter of sf” There have always been existing a link between between post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction and it sparkled debates about another genre bounds. Curtis says that there is a combination of subgenres: “post-apocalyptic fiction exists at a genre crossroads between science fiction, horror and utopia/dystopia” (cytat )

Curtis is also adding that it should be allowed to say that among dystopian, post-apocalyptic and utopian post- apocalyptic the first mentioned is the one that this gaining more popularity and thriving. There are some differences between these subgenres, to wit- some of the text are more ranking as a science-fiction. For example some of them are “Blade Runner”, “The Matrix”, barely defined as science fiction – for example “Never Let Me Go” and “Lord of the Flies”

The post-apocalyptic era was influenced by the technological development and mechanism since the 1980s. Technology- robots, computers and nanotechnology were getting rid of the borders between the living ones- people, animals and in addition some other living forms. What is more, humans show affinity towards connecting with these technological inventions to made everything smarter and easier for the overall welfare of humanity to co-exist,

According to Jacques Ellul, he proves that the humanity was forced to live and be surrounded everywhere by technology. Post-apocalyptic and dystopian universes are dominated by dystopian-technologies pessimistic atmosphere indirectly. It also contains satirical subtext. The worst part is that exclusively a a human and the technology, but a human within technology, All of the sudden some books such as Philip K. Dick’s “Ubik” started to be a possible case scenerious describing in-the-future t happen high-tech realities. Technological catastrophism became a dominant part. The prominency of vast dystopian risk made people aware. Climate change also played a role in human’s fears of the plausible upcoming apocalypse. These all circumstances contributed to the issue of many works.

The increasing popularity of young adults dystopian novels

Dystopian fiction has been written specifically for young adults since at least the 1970s.

The reason why this type of subgenre fiction is getting more and more popular is that the young audience is used to fast progress of science and technology. Moreover, this kind of fiction makes them conscious about the development of machines and technology. Lastly, it educated the young readers who are starting to function in the world on their own, trying to achieve autonomy. There is a discrepancy between old dystopian fiction and the newer one. The later one contains a huge amount of ideas about liberty.

In the beginning of the 20th century something unanticipated occurred. Harry Potter series started the phase for reading. Despite the other rivals such as video games and TV-shows, reading was re-invented among young people. There started to be a need for more young adult novels similar to the famous Harry Potter series.

Alex Campbell in the article for the Guardian created this theory, that the reason why young adult dystopia became so popular than ever before. The answer could be- social media. It is something that is able to monitor its users to great extent. Due to visible parallels between the watching “Big Brother” from Nineteen-Eighty-Four and the nowadays phenomenon known as the Internet and its vast spectrum of possibilities. We sort of might consider current times as dystopian.

Eventually, Campbell sums up that the number of factors redounding to the final success, at the end of the day what means the most is a good and pleasant read. A great serve of entertainment.

(Sparafrazować) Earlier dystopian writing used to have more focus on single minded stories of survival. This saw a rapid change in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in New York City which brought a new focus on both personal and social change. Stories like The Hunger Games follow suit with the sort of dark, dystopian setting that young readers have come to expect. The YA genre of books would usually serve educational rather than entertaining purposes. These type of stories evolved, however, especially after World War II, from moral stories to more entertaining ones. This so called “dystopian misuse of science” is an important ingredient for many YA novels. Laura Miller claims that in novels such as

The Hunger Games the focus is on the struggles of relatable teenage characters: “Dystopian fiction may be the only genre written for children that’s routinely less didactic than its adult counterpart.” Another factor in the success of YA dystopian literature is the portrayal of adults being indoctrinated, while teenagers are often the ones who see the world for what it truly is

Comparing the different novels

Dystopian literature for teenagers became incredibly popular around the world in the 2000s, following the release of Suzanne Collin’s The Hunger Games, which broke all sorts of records. Even though parents might have felt concerned over its grim themes, including the drastic effects of global warming, gene splicing and children fighting among themselves for survival, it has nevertheless been welcomed as the successor of wizards and vampires, namely Harry Potter and Twilight.

The three listed novels, The Hunger Games, The Handmaid’s Tale and Nineteen Eighty-Four are dystopian novels which draw inspiration from prior works. Notably, The Handmaid’s Tale draws heavy inspiration from Nineteen Eighty-Four, which comes as no surprise as it was written that year although published in 1985, while also focusing on the suppression of women in a dystopian society.

Summing up, dystopia is, simply put, defined as the opposite of a utopian society in which everything is largely better than the normal world we know. Literature written about dystopian societies tends to serve as certain warning manuals for people, in order to prevent them from creating this sort of society. Utopian literature has been different in this regard.72A very recurrent theme in many dystopian novels is a focus on the consequences of ignoring environmental issues, along with other factors like plagues, a third World War or more.

These types of stories have been well received and relatively popular throughout the 20th century. Their overall popularity has increased greatly during the past three decades. Younger readers were no exceptions when it came to Such anxieties and would therefore be drawn to stories that explored such ideas. Studies have shown that there are, in fact, a lot of factors that make dystopian literature appealing to younger generations, such as recent generations growing up with a rapid technological and scientific progress and the novels’ capability of providing their readers with a chance to reflect upon themselves.

Works Cited

1. Mathews, Richard. Fantasy: The Liberation of Imagination. Routledge: New York, 2002.
2. Mullich, David. “The Complete List of Film Changes for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.” The One Ring. Access: 12 Feb. 2017.
3. Otto, Rudolf. The Idea of the Holy. An Inquiry into the Non-rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine and its Relation to the Rational. Trans. John W. Harvey. London: Oxford University Press, 1923.
4. “Paradoxa Interview with Peter Beagle.” April 1999. Peter Beagle. Access: 9 May 2016.

The story Jon by George Saunders revolves around the main character’s experience in a dystopian world as it is written in first person limited. The main character’s name is Randy, however he insists that people call him Jon, because that was the name that his mother gave him before she supposedly died. Jon lives in a government facility with other children his same age isolated from the world. However this facility is seen as the perfect place to be by Jon, because the outside world is filled with poverty and the country had gone through a “nuclear war”. After learning that one of his friends managed to sneak in the girl’s side of the facility and had sexual intercourse with one of the girls, yet he was not punished by his Coordinators even though it was against the rules. Jon was inspired to do the same, so one night he sneaks into the girl’s side of the facility and does it to the girl he loves called Carolyn. They fall in love and get married and Carolyn is pregnant.They are excited that one day, they are going to have a child, but soon after this his friend’s child had died.

This causes them to question whether they should be in this facility fearing that the same thing might happen to their child. However, moving out of facility presents challenges and a change of lifestyle that Jon is not yet ready to face. Carolyn however, insists that they should no matter what leave the facility. So Jon is faced with the dilemma of choosing whether he should stay, leaving her behind in the “scary” world all alone or if he should go with her. Jon’s dilemma has major significance. In a way Saunders writes this as an allegory, comparing our world to the dystopia in the story, criticizing our society. More specifically, what led Jon to abandon her in the first place is similar to what many people in our society put materialistic things over the people they love. One of the main reasons Jon wants to stay, is because the facility provides them “Brand-name” clothing as well as other commercialized items. This may seem weird especially because if Jon were to move out of the facility, he would have to face poverty, hunger, danger, “risk of significantly reduced postoperative” (59), a hole in his neck and much more. Yet he is more concerned about losing the materialistic items that is given to him by the facility. He also believes that this will be his best argument to convince Carolyn to stay in the facility. As the story progresses, Carolyn makes the decision that she will leave the facility to find a better place for her soon born child. Pressured by Jon’s Coordinators as well as the fear of what’s outside, Jon leaves Carolyn to be alone. During his time in the facility without her, Jon is concerned as to if she is ok but at the same time Jon is happy in the facility. Enjoying the items that they provide him. Further proving Saunders’ point that people sometimes put their materialistic wants over the people that matter most to them.

As the story progresses, Jon reflects on whether he made the right choice of leaving Carolyn on her own. He starts regretting his decision more and more, eventually he does what he knows is right and he goes up to his Coordinators and requests to leave the facility. Although he is allowed to do this, his Coordinators admittedly are not happy with Jon’s new opinion. They try everything in their power to stop Jon and convince him to stay. His Coordinators first insist that this decision should require more thought. They also admit that Jon is of great importance to them. This still does not change Jon’s belief that he should be together with his wife. So his Coordinators remind him of his only memory of his mother, this surprises Jon as he had no idea that his Coordinators even knew about his one memory of his mother. Previously when Jon had visited this memory, it made him feel closer to the facility and made him feel better about his decision to stay. However his Coordinators reveal to Jon that this memory of his mother was just a fabrication by the facility. So they show him footage of his real mom, showing him his mother struggling with poverty and how Jon lived as a baby. Ironically this only brings Jon closer to the conclusion that he should leave the facility. Jon was presented with life changing information that would convince the average person to discontinue the desire to stay as well as scare-tactics used by the Coordinators to stop him from leaving. Yet Jon is persistent and he claims that he is ready to leave right away and reunite with his wife. Jon’s new decision can be seen as another representation of our society by Saunders. Jon had every reason to stay, but his love towards Carolyn is what drove him to leave the facility. Saunders is showing that people who really love each other are ready to sacrifice everything they have to be together. Explaining a better side of human tendencies in our society.

Dystopia

To fully understand the notion of dystopia, the term utopia needs to be well comprehended as many attempts to define it are to be found throughout a vast number of works. General public tends to use to word as a synonym for ”non-existing”, which can-not be entirely marked as correct. To interpret the word correctly in the literary field, it is crucial to see it in its original context.

In the 16th century, Sir Thomas More wrote a book called Utopia in which the so called term was introduced by a fictional traveler as an island, which was literally shaped to perfection by the native people led by general Utopus.

“To accomplish this he ordered a deep channel to be dug, fifteen miles long; and that the natives might not think he treated them like slaves, he not only forced the inhabitants, but also his own soldiers, to labour in carrying it on. As he set a vast number of men to work, he, beyond all men’s expectations, brought it to a speedy conclusion. And his neighbors, who at first laughed at the folly of the undertaking, no sooner saw it brought to perfection than they were struck with admiration and terror” (More 1516).

According to this short excerpt it is possible to say that the word Utopia signifies a perfect realm or reality to live in. Furthermore, by taking into account the Greek origin of the word (Greek ”ou” and ”topos, meaning ”not place”) it is safe to say that Utopia signifies ”a non-existing perfect microcosm”. Therefore, by adding the prefix ”dys” we get ”a non-existing bad microcosm”. Such definition suggests that every human can have his own personal concept of dystopia, as everyones fears are likely to be different. In literature however, dystopia has established a number of features and formulas which make the concept narrower than a plain definition, to the point where it can be considered a genre. [1: Utopia. (2006, April 03). Retrieved from http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/21cc/utopia/utopia.html] [2: Trahair, R. C. (1999). Utopias and utopians: An historical dictionary.]

The first traceable use of the word dystopia comes from John Stuart Mill, a British philosopher and politician, who used it in the following part of his parlamentary speech in 1868. Mill played wih the word “Utopia” to create its direct opposite in order to criticize the solution of the Irish Land Question and mark it as “the grand economical, as well as moral, evil of Ireland” (Mill, 1846-1847). He called the opposing side dystopian to note that the proposal of cottier-tenant system would be impracticable, and to practice it in its current form would not serve any good. That is to say, it could be very much harmful, which proved to be true as it produced fatal results which led to vast segmentation of land and to soaring rents, which was not limited in any way.

“It is, perhaps, too complimentary to call them Utopians, they ought rather to be called dys-topians, or cacotopians. What is commonly called Utopian is something too good to be practicable; but what they appear to favour is too bad to be practicable” (Mill, 1868).

The dystopian genre began to drag attraction in the beginning of the 20th century thanks to a number of influential factors. The first factor would be all new philosophical ideas, as the dystopian fiction ruminated upon a series of developments in thought which came into being in nineteenth century and were connected to works written by Marx, Darwin or Clausius. Connecting dystopian fiction with these works resulted in ruthless political and social regimes which seek to reach perfection in works such as Nineteen-Eighty-Four or Brave New World.

The second factor would be the rapid technological improvement, which resulted in the second industrial revolution, introducing inventions such as electric generator, which led to electric light bulb, electric chair and later, television. However, among those inventions were also technologies such as chemical weapons. On the topic of technology in Dystopia topic, Beauchamp comments that dystopian novel is a “uniquely modern form of fiction whose emergence parallels, reflects, and warns against the growing potentialities of modern technology.” (Beauchamp, 1986)

By overlapping these two factors, we got works such as R.U.R. by Karel Čapek, where the key attribute would be the government of robots. Among other significant examples are Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, where humanity is at large influenced by cloning and chemicals to remain in a state of happiness, and Nineteen-Eighty-Four by George Orwell, where society is monitored by big screens and influenced by Newspeak concepts such as Double-Think or Face-Crime. However, the two factors have also overlapped in reality, which led to the World Wars.

The world wars changed the way people perceived the world and the human. As Moylan suggests, it is plausible that: “Dystopian narrative is largely the product of the terrors of the twentieth century. A hundred years of exploitation, repression, state violence, war, genocide, disease, famine, ecocide, depression, debt, and the steady depletion of humanity through the buying and selling of everyday life provided more than enough fertile ground for this fictive underside of the utopian imagination.” (Moylan, 2018)

As a vast amount of people were witnesses to destruction in large scale, the loss of faith regarding human nature, God and general good was inevitable. However, the sole concept of ”the inevitable” might have been what actually sparked the rise of dystopian literature. The need to find a way to avoid horrors of those past events in future resulted in books such as ”Nineteen-Eighty-Four”, in which the society is watched every second of their lives in order to maintain control and discipline which should ultimately exclude any opportunity for revolutionary acts that could lead to conflict. “The poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move.’ The face always appears with the phrase Big Brother is watching you“ (Orwell 1949).

Common Dystopian Features

One of the most notable features which can be found throughout the spectrum of novels regarded as dystopian would be the one of surveillance. It exists in most of dystopian settings in order to keep the regime safe and unopposed, as it is considered to be perfect just as it is. On this topic, Foucault comments that “the perfect disciplinary apparatus would make it possible for a single gaze to see everything constantly … a perfect eye that nothing would escape.”However in dystopian novels such as “Nineteen-Eighty-Four” surveillance serves as means of oppression, as its protagonist claimed that: “It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself – anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide.” (Orwell, 1949)

As perfect as this supposed regime may be, many authors before have correctly noted, that there always has to exist a critical eye of opposition, which will look at every move of government in order to keep its acts righteous and fair. Althusser supports this notion by claiming that a society, which will be able to realize that it needs to create individuals, who will believe that the importance of keeping government and society in question is crucial, will remain a successful one.

This concept of criticism has also already been addressed in 1849 by H. D. Thoreau, who similarly as Althusser claimed that: “If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth- certainly the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn.“ (Thoreau, 1849)

Along with this quote, Thoreau suggests that “government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient.” What he meant was that if a government is an unjust one, common people should break its laws in order to reveal its errors and force the regime towards its objectively better version. While this notion of social criticism is still important today, it is also one of the frequent features of the dystopian genre, alongside with surveillance.

By seeing the notion of criticism and surveillance side by side it is difficult not to see a conflict. On one side we have an individual who makes it his duty to criticize and object upon the acts of government, while on the other side there is a government which uses its omnipresent surveillance and other oppressive instruments to erase any signs of critique or rebellion in order to keep itself perfect. While both of these concepts might be trying to look out to for greater good, none of them are entirely correct, as they would need to cooperate in order to properly work towards a better social environment. In dystopian novels, these two notions are often realized by individual characters or groups of them, and this conflict is one of the main highlights of the novels’ plotlines.

Another very important aspect seen within most of dystopian novels is oppression. Taking the definition of the word “Dystopia” into account, oppressive environment does serve the purpose of creating an extremely unpleasant setting very well. According to Deutsch, oppression by definition “is the experience of repeated, widespread, systemic injustice. It need not be extreme and involve the legal system.” However, the oppression in most of dystopian novels does not only involve the legal and governmental system, but it is very often its outcome. Examples of such oppression can be found in “Nineteen-Eighty-Four, where concepts such as facecrime are created, or in “Hunger Games”, where the government is “taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch — this is the Capitol’s way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy.” (Collins, 2008) [13: Deutsch, Morton. ‘The Nature and Origins of Oppression.’ Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: March 2005]

The trend of control, discipline and surveillance has stayed with the dystopian genre to present days. However, unlike the dystopia of the 19th century, today’s dystopian novels mostly present an alternative version of a real setting placed in future with the main differentiating aspect being a corrupt and wicked government or an event which ultimately led or might have led to the devastation of the world. A work with such a setting could be also called post-apocalyptic. It is noted that today’s dystopian novels do not explicitly limit themselves to these themes, however most of them circle around these notions with addition of concepts of loss, clear social differentiation and exploration of love. This thesis explores the occurrences of these notions in following chapters which address specific works.

Examples of the first mentioned type of setting would be the ”Hunger Games” trilogy which takes place in “Panem”, the country that rose up out of the ashes of a place that was once called North America” (Collins, 2008), or the ”Divergent” series which are set in a future version of Chicago. A valid representation of the second mentioned type of setting would be ”The Scorch Trials” by James Dashner, which takes place in ”The Scorch” which “is the given name for what was originally Earth’s equator”.

Regarding the characters, it is quite difficult to unambiguously categorize them under certain attributes as they vary in age, sex, social interactions and nature. Therefore, this thesis addresses each character individually in chapters exploring the specific works in order to find common aspects.

In order to understand how dystopia is becoming the leading genre of Young Adults Literature in the 21st century, it is of vital importance to properly understand the term of Young Adults literature. Then it is necessary to map the works that were released under this label since the year 2000, to analyze their common aspects and, in a way, measure their success not only in the literary field, but possibly in other fields like film industry and pop culture.

Introduction to the Dystopian World of ‘Harrison Bergeron’

One would expect that having their son taken away and being wanted by the government would leave an impact on them, but not in Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s world of Harrison Bergeron. In Harrison Bergeron, society functions by full equality, meaning in every aspect, everyone is equal and no one is better than another. In today’s society, equality is something that is fought so hard for, but Vonnegut uses the dystopian world of Harrison Bergeron to comment about the negatives consequences and flaws of a world that lives in full equality and as well as the impact of mass media and how it desensitizes people today. Vonnegut communicates the idea of equality failing people by showing the events and dynamics within the Bergeron family.

The Dehumanizing Effects of Forced Equality

From the beginning, Vonnegut introduces the setting of the world. Vonnegut establishes that it is a dystopia. This takes place in the future of the year 2081 in the United States, where everyone is monitored by the Handicapper General. Another way that this fits into being a dystopia is that there are cruel punishments and fines for defying laws. For example, the story states, “Two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every ball I took out.” This is an example of a cruel punishment set in this world to keep people from defying the laws. Not only is it cruel, but it’s dehumanizing, which leads to another reason for how the story is dystopian. People with above-average have to wear handicaps to limit things that they are better in, which is dehumanizing because it forcefully takes away people’s qualities, mostly qualities where they were naturally born with. People in this society are constantly forced to limit themselves so that everyone is equal. Even though it’s meant to be fair, it brings in the idea that it is not fair because people that are above-average have to suffer living with handicaps in order to make the average be maintained. By creating this dystopia Vonnegut is able to criticize the flaws of the possible world of equality and demonstrate these flaws.

Imagery of Suffering: The Struggle Against Handicaps

Vonnegut also uses imagery to continue to depict the dehumanizing circumstances that the citizens have to live in. Throughout the story, there is a pattern of Vonnegut using imagery mostly to show the audience the dehumanizing handicaps. George like other above-average people in this society has to live with handicaps. For George, he has to live with weights to limit his strength and signal sending headphones that block his thoughts. These handicaps are only a few of the many that these characters would have to face. When Vonnegut describes these handicaps they are detailed visuals. For example, when it comes to describing the handicaps seen on the ballerinas it says, “They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked…” and when it came to describing George’s handicaps it says, “… forty-seven pounds of birdshot in a canvas bag, which was padlocked around George’s neck.” These descriptions emphasize the struggles that the above-average suffers within this society. It’s how Vonnegut is telling the audience that there’s something wrong here. It questions if the idea of equality for all is possible because even though people are all the same here, it’s not equal that in order to achieve this that some have to live with handicaps. Visuals are also used to show the consequences of pain that George and the ballerinas have to face, “It was such a doozy that George was white and trembling, and tears stood on the rims of his red eyes.” From these visuals, it shows where the idea of equality for all falls short. People’s abilities are being limited, playing into the idea of a dystopian world. It shows that people are being tortured due to equality, an idea that is supposed to be positive.

Figurative Language: The Pain and Beauty of Rebellion

The story also uses figurative language to paint the suffering of the handicapped. The use of this figurative language adds emphasis to the horrible circumstances of the handicaps like the imagery does. When George usually starts to think, his thoughts get intruded by the loud signals of the headphones he wears, “His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm.” This simile illustrates that people can’t even think on their own because of the handicaps. They can’t have free thought because they are constantly being interfered with a loud signal. When people aren’t allowed to think on their own or have complex thoughts, it is limiting, adding to why this is a dystopian universe. No one is allowed to go above average, continuously limited by the handicaps that the government monitors. But not only do the figurative language paints the negatives of handicaps, but the freeing possibilities without them. During the dance scene between Harrison and the Ballerina, it was shown to be beautiful. They are dancing with an “explosion of joy and grace” and looking like “They leaped like a deer on the moon.” This use of language is the only time Vonnegut describes things in a positive light, the time that people are rebelling. Even though they’re breaking the law, it’s beautiful and free. This only adds on to the message that equality is limiting while when things are different and embraced for it, beauty will grow out of it.

Symbolism in ‘Harrison Bergeron’: Rebellion, Media, and Distraction

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. uses symbolism throughout his story in order to compare it to mass media and the discrepancies of full equality. Harrison Bergeron is a symbol himself, he’s a symbol for rebellion and being above average. In this, he is a symbol of freedom. Although this world is equal, no one is free in it, no one is allowed to strive for more due to the laws of the land. But Harrison Bergeron neglects this and embraces his better qualities even though it was brief. He wasn’t afraid to break the law like everyone else that is conditioned to. Harrison is a symbol that challenges the idea of equality. Harrison challenges the government ideas and is a very small minority willing to do so, which is meant to be seen as a threat to society. Another symbol is the television, this is how the Bergerons are getting their news and entertainment, a reflection of today’s mass media. In today’s world, people get everything they know through computers, phones, and televisions. How the Bergerons react to news is symbolic of how people digest news today, easy to move on from traumatic events because of how desensitized people have become. Vonnegut is trying to demonstrate how this dystopian world for equality has desensitized people’s minds, which is a comment on how in today’s society people are desensitized to violence in the world. Mass media has a great impact on the way people think and even though it educates people there are negatives influences from it, and that’s violence being shown so often will negatively impact the growing minds by desensitizing it (Mughal). This reflects how the Bergerons are so desensitized because of their society that they barely even remember or react to their son’s death on television. Due to the equality laws, Hazel is the average for everyone, which is a low bar and George has to stoop himself down to her level making them both being unable to comprehend and process the information they intake. How Hazel forgets the traumatic event so easily is a reflection of how people today are able to move on from horrible news and world events easily because of the fast paced news cycle of media. Even with that said the channel their watching is also a reflection of how media controls their society. There’s probably only one channel that they only have in this universe which also works to limit personal opinions and differentiating ideas (Joodaki). Also, the ballerinas are a symbol of distractions. They symbolize entertainment and the distractions media gives people, reflective of real-life as well. To avoid seeing the horrors of the world we distract ourselves with entertainment (Solnit). This is the role that the ballerinas play for the Bergerons, they are merely just a distraction from the suffering. A distraction from having to think about the lives they live.

Dialogue and Character Dynamics: Unveiling Societal Flaws

One of the biggest ways that Vonnegut shows how the people in the story suffer because of the equality laws is through dialogue. In the dialogue that’s held by Geroge and Hazel throughout the story, it reveals and tells a lot to the readers about the society the Bergerons lives in. The image of equality making the world perfect quickly falls apart as the conversation between the two continues. Not only is the truth about this world reveal, but also about the characters. Through the dialogue, you could see that Hazel is flat in comparison to George. It is shown that George makes attempts to thinking on his own but fails to do so due to the signals that interferes with his thoughts.When George is shown to have greater depth than Hazel is when he starts to think about the possibilities that dancers shouldn’t be handicapped and when he thought about his son on television, but none of those thoughts lasted because of the pain he’s in. His memories and thoughts are limited to being as long as Hazel’s in this society, constantly suffering for being born with more. Even when Hazel notice his suffering she’s intrigued in the sounds he hears, “‘I’d think it would be real interesting, hearing all the different sounds,’ said Hazel a little envious.” This reveals the mindset that the society has. Instead of being worried she’s more envious of her husband’s pain. People are so bored of being equal in this world that they start to think about the pain that they can cause or bring upon themselves. Even when she begins to worry for George, she tries to convince him to letting some lead balls loose but he is reluctant because of the consequences. The consequences in this world are so high that people are willing to suffer than cheat the system. The equality is managed and run by the force of fear instead of willingness, which continues to depict the flaws and failures of the idea. In this conversation, it can be concluded that George and Hazel barely remember their son. When Harrison got killed on live television, Hazel couldn’t even recall the event and easily move on from it. This event of seeing their child killed broadcasted on live television would’ve been a traumatic experience, but they moved on like it was nothing in their casual conversation. This really shows the horrors of full equality, Vonnegut is exploring the idea that equality in every aspect is a flaw goal to reach for. It shows how desensitize people have become due to the influence of their government. Lastly, how Harrison uses his dialogue is very different from everyone else. Harrison speaks highly of himself, calling himself an “emperor.” It’s reflective of how monarchs would talk. This is used to reflect how Harrison is supposed to represent a negative in their society. He’s supposed to remind the reader of the “dark ages” that George mentioned. Even though Harrison speaks like this he symbolizes the opposite and is freedom, despite the fact that the society might see him as chaotic and insane for defying the laws.

Conclusion: The Failures of Absolute Equality in ‘Harrison Bergeron’

Harrison Bergeron is a dystopia based on equality. It’s a world where Vonnegut gets the audience questions the theory of full equality. With this dystopian Vonnegut is able to display the negatives of operation on full equality and the flaws of its idea. By doing so he uses the dystopian world, imagery, figurative language, symbolism, and dialogue to display his discontent with the idea of full equality in society.

Works cited

1. Joodaki, Abdol Hossein, & Hamideh Mahdiany. ‘Equality versus Freedom in ‘‘Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut: A Study of Dystopian Setting.’ International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature [Online], 2.4 (2013): 70-73. Web. 1 Nov. 2019
2. Mughal, M. A. “Mass Media and Its Influence on Society.” Think Research Expose, http://thedailyjournalist.com/pen-and-pad/mass-media-and-its-influence-on-society/.
3. Solnit, Rebecca. “American Dystopia More Reality than Fiction.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 1 May 2012, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-dystopia-more-reality-than-fiction/.