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Difference between utopia and dystopia
Difference between utopia and dystopia
Similarities between dystopia and utopia
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Utopia can be defined as a place immune from inhumane treatment and absent of the hardships of society , where the population is blindfolded from fear, anxiety, and general negative aspects of human nature. A utopia can be generalized as that perfect society. This is one type of a drastic society. There is another, more appalling type of society, that of a dystopia. A Dystopia is nor a fairyland or the promised-land like the utopia is, it looks at the chaos, anarchy, rebellion and disorder of a society. As we compare these two opposite society types, there are two books that are the poster child of utopia and dystopia. Those two books are Kurt Vonnegut's "Player Piano", and Anthony Burgess's "A Clockwork Orange". In Kurt Vonnegut's "Player Piano" we follow the hero Paul Protues through his utopian society. Where in his society they have just recovered from a ten year war and now has been built up and ran completely by machines. Furthermore a super computer always controls the populations actions, it acts as a shepherd leading the sheep.
However where there are sheep there is always a ever lurking black sheep, Paul is that of a black sheep. Through his journey in this utopian society we follow his rebellion against the super computer and machines. As Paul progresses in his society it becomes less and less of a utopia on more and more of a force fed, totally governed society where there is little freewill. As we follow his expedition we can see the changing society from a utopia to what Paul perceives as a dystopia. In Anthony Burgess's "A Clockwork Orange" we observe the antagonist Alex in his blatant dystopia society. Where in his society they have high criminal activity and few police.
We follow Alex and his "droogs" as they acts like Vikings, raping, pillaging, and burning. Alex has no respect for law and order he rebels in part one of the novel . However Alex is eventually caught by the police and put in jail. In jail he is tricked to being rehabilitated to becoming a productive member of society. After this forced rehabilitation Alex is then to perceive society as a utopian society and stop being so violent. He has lost his own freewill and his identity. When ever Alex thinks of violent images he then gets sick to his stomach.
...erson of increasingly reputable morals. Now Alex wants to break away from the group and adopts more the philosophy that “Madness is rare in individuals—but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule” (Neitzsche 90).
it should be learnt that the search for „utopia‟ is a contemplative one, and can never be
Paul’s books symbolize the shadow of war that has been casted upon him through the horrid violence. Paul’s
One could describe the novel "The Chrysalids" as a dystopian novel as apposed to utopian. The town in which David and the rest of shape-thinkers live is deffinatly not a utopia as well as the new land to which they move, Sealand.
Imagine a place where everything is perfect. There is a place where there is no warfare, where all. All politics, laws, customs, and traditions are respected. A place where there is sameness among all the citizens and everyone is content and happy. This place would be considered a utopia.
This serene society greatly contradicts the one we live in. Our society is furnished with hatred and warfare, yet in return, we are given freedom and the privilege of having distinctive characters. Given the nature of human beings, our society is more idealistic to live in. Utopia is an imaginary state, which consists of people who believe they are more capable of living in a group than alone. In such a community, the welfare of the group is the primary interest compared to the comfort of individuals.
Paul believes that everyone around him is beneath him. He is convinced that he is superior to everyone else in his school and in his neighborhood. He is even condescending to his teachers, and shows an appalling amount of contempt for them, of which they are very aware.
Before they go and start the “ultra-violence” they drink milk that’s laced with drugs which makes Alex’s and his gang’s brutality even more nonchalant. At the beginning of the night the “droogs” beat a homeless man almost to death and right after they start a fight with another gang who are trying to rape a girl. After their fight they take a drive to a well-known author’s house, break in and beat the author almost to death and then raped his wife while singing “Singing in the Rain” and enjoying it. Alex’s victims are targeted because they apparently deserve it in Alex’s eyes. They beat that homeless man almost to death because he couldn’t stand to see a “slob” screaming about absolutely nothing.
Alexander Stowe is a twin, his brother is Aaron Stowe. Alex is an Unwanted, Aaron is a Wanted, and their parents are Necessaries. Alex is creative in a world where you can’t even see the entire sky, and military is the dream job for everyone and anyone. He should have been eliminated, just like all the unwanteds should have been. He instead comes upon Artimè, where he trains as a magical warrior- after a while. When he was still in basic training, and his friends were not, he got upset, he wants to be the leader, the one everyone looks up to.
The betrayal that Paul felt along with the rest of his generation, caused for them to become even more lost than they already were. They no longer knew what or whom to believe. Their parents, teachers, and government, had in many cases left them to fend for themselves. This caused the lost generation to lose their youth, and become old folks, it probably also accounts for the animalistic nature they developed. The government, and media influencing how the soldiers of one country, viewed the soldiers of another, made the animalistic nature much worse. All of the betrayal most likely also took an emotional toll on all the soldiers; even the ones who survived would not be able to forget the betrayal. The one positive thing that all the betrayal from parents, teacher, governments, and media brought though, was the strong bound in comradeship.
From the outset of the story, the reader is shown Paul's thoughts. Through this the story tells us that Paul has a very active imagination. This is shown when Pauls says, "Then,
Paul believes that he was tricked into joining the army and fighting in the war. This makes him very bitter towards the people who lied to him. This is why he lost his respect and trust towards the society. Teachers and parents were the big catalysts for the ki...
Utopia Vs. Dystopia Each person has their own vision of utopia. Utopia is an ideal state, a paradise, a land of enchantment. It has been a central part of the history of ideas in Western Civilization. Philosophers and writers continue to imagine and conceive plans for an ideal state, even today.
Materialism appears at the beginning of the story when talking about the type of life Paul and his family have. For example, D.H. Lawrence says that “although they lived in style, they felt always an anxiety in the house” (793). This example explains that even though Paul and his family
In this novel Alex shows his freedom of choice between good and evil, which is that, his superiority over the innocent and the weak. In the beginning of the novel he chooses to be evil, he shows us that by committing violence act like stealing, raping, and also murdering an innocent person which he got arrested for and put into prison for about 12 years. The amount violence he commits shows his abuse of power and his decisions toward evil. The violent acts that are described in this novel are very graphical and are intended to shock the reader but they also show that the suppression of others is wrong, because it is destructive to the natural rights of humans. Alex consistently chooses evil and violence to show his freedom of choice, ?Now I was ready for a bit of twenty-to-one . . . then I cracked this veck" pg 7. Alex beats, rapes, and robs the weak and ...