Dystopia

2010 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: What are characteristics that are common in dystopian worlds

Imagine living in the most undesirable society, a society where the government watches and controls everything you do, a society where you have no individual choice. It is a society where anything you think or do can be punishable by isolation, torture or even death. there is no independence, freedom and no personal thought. A society where your career and social status are chosen for you and you cannot change it. All this is happening while the government of the society is doing everything in its power to make you believe that this was the most ideal living situation for you.

The world I’m describing is a dystopia. The world dystopia goes back to the roots of the greek word dys, meaning bad, and topos, meaning world. Citizens in an dystopian society never question their government. they are either brainwashed or too scared to speak up against the injustices being performed in their society. Dystopian societies can be identified by identifying characteristics of its government by using examples from 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. These characteristics and systems of control are social restrictions, government controlled groups, use of propaganda and the altering history for government belief.

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is set in a society that seems more like a fantasy than a possible reality like we know today. In his novel, people are no longer born, but instead manufactured on an assembly line and therefore created into a caste system from which no citizen can escape. There is no emotion other than happiness. Not because all others are banned, but because there a scientifically not made within these humans. Because every citizen believes they are in paradise, they do not see the biggest fl...

... middle of paper ...

...y love in. Given the choice, I’d rather live in the dystopian society of Brave New World, at least in this world you are under the illusion you are really happy.

Dystopian societies are about control and power. Some want to create a perfect society, and therefore must have a strong hold on their citizens to make sure their emotions don't get in the way of a utopian dream Others just want absolute and complete control over the people. However, in order to completely understand the reason for a dystopian society, it is important to first to understand the purpose of government, and understand the mind of the person in control of such a terrifying society. Whether someone can understand why these societies are put into place, they can be identified by its unique characteristics like the ones found in Orwell;s 1984, Huxley’s Brave New World and Shyamalan’s The Village.

Show More
Related

  • Dystopia In The Giver, By Lowis Lowry

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    Think about a community where you can’t marry someone of your choice, you can’t choose your own job, and you can’t have your own kids. This sounds like a unbearable place to live, but there is one like this and it’s in the book The Giver by Lowis Lowry. This type of community would be considered a dystopia, even though some of the citizens think it is a utopia because they don’t need to worry about a lot of regular-to us - things in their lives. The people of the controlled community in The Giver get harsh punishments for small errors, the citizens don’t get to experience any emotions, and they kill or release innocent newchildren.

    Read More

  • The Dystopian Society Depicted in Brave New World, V for Vendetta, and Handmaid's Tale

    926 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is commonplace for individuals to envision a perfect world; a utopian reality in which the world is a paradise, with equality, happiness and ideal perfection. Unfortunately, we live in a dystopian society and our world today is far from perfection. John Savage, from Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, V, from V for Vendetta by James McTeigue and Offred, from The Handmaid’s Tale by Margret Attwood, are all characters in a dystopian society. A dystopia is the vision of a society in which conditions of life are miserable and are characterized by oppression, corruption of government, and abridgement of human rights.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451: Foreshadowing American Government in 2015

    1118 Words  | 3 Pages

    Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” Revolutionary Thomas Paine describes the government, which may seem evil at times, as a necessity for becoming a functioning society. A lot of responsibility is entrusted onto today’s government to create a safe, law based environment in which everyone can live and prosper. Although without the structure of a government to create laws and have the authority to enforce them, society itself would become chaotic. If a strong government ever became corrupt, it would have the ability to keep control on society by creating laws that limit people’s free-will. This creates a dystopian society for every person living under that government.

    Read More

  • Harrison Bergeron

    684 Words  | 2 Pages

    A society subject, that living under the total control of a Government, which thinks only about their own interest and has a society without right, without consensus, without participation in the creation of laws, and without the ability to grow through education and work.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Class Hierarchy In Brave New World

    1257 Words  | 3 Pages

    The futuristic world envisioned in Aldous Huxley’s celebrated yet controversial novel, Brave New World, was indeed as horrifying as it was compelling. When Huxley’s interpretation of the “perfect world” idolised totalitarianism through the distinction between classes – where the lower classes were exempt from the spoils of this rich, clean and advanced World State – I was disgusted. Fiction or not, to know that individuality, independence and equality can be substituted for economic gain, materialism and silencing order is disturbing. Huxley’s degrading and damaging depictions of class values are indeed scary prospects for those who understand the true underlying class hierarchy of the real world.

    Read More

  • 1984 and Brave New World

    1312 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1984, George Orwell explores the many facets of a negative utopia. Orwell seems to focus on the measures that the government takes to maintain a public of plebeians who have no personality or identity and believe that they are not unique individuals, but instead are part of a greater senseless mob of people who constantly work for a hostile and oppressive government which is involved in incessant wars. These people are taught to love. They then learn to fear their government because they believe all of the propaganda that is constantly instilled into their minds. They willing follow their government without contest for the duration of their meaningless lives. The government controls all forms of the media (thus denying the people the basic right of free speech) and use it to personify the government (known as “big brother”) .The government therefore seems omnipotent, or all knowing and always correct. Forecasts are changed from one week to the next always proving the government was correct. As was mentioned before, many of the rights that present day Westerners take for gran...

    Read More

  • Brave New World Analysis

    1241 Words  | 3 Pages

    Like many other dystopian societies the World State is under disguise of being utopian. The governments control on one is so great that individuals of this society are conditioned and brainwashed into an emotionless feeling of happiness. This type of ruling is a complete dictatorship society, where everything is being manipulated according to the wishes of each Controller. The Controllers decide on the rules and laws to make sure everyone is happy. To the Controllers and their caste, the world one lives in is the ideal perfection where there is no room for acceptance of individuality. With individuality comes threat to those who rule. These threats are then sent away to a lonely island where they study their interest without harming the good of society.

    Read More

  • Comparing Moore's Nineteen Eighty-Four, V For Vendetta

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    In many novels, authors display dystopian societies as chaotic worlds with war and poverty, but dystopian societies are much more than just that. Many governments will use anything it has to have control of its citizens. In the novels Nineteen Eighty-Four, V for Vendetta, and The Hunger Games, the government uses propaganda, fear, brainwashing, and many other forceful tactics to control its citizens. Currently, the United States government is even implementing some of its own dystopian-like devices such as; cyber pills. An oppressive government will do whatever necessary to gain or keep control of its citizens.

    Read More

  • How Is Power Shown In The Novel 1984

    594 Words  | 2 Pages

    A person who has achieved absolute power in society has complete control over his subjects. In the novel 1984, the government that controls Oceania has complete influence over its people. It controls what they hear every day, and can control the past. If the modern world today was to be compared to that of 1984 one thing would be certain: the more technology the public has, the harder it is to control its reality. However, when the public does not have access to technology, the governing body is able to indoctrinate its people. 1984 exemplifies the thin line between advanced democratic and dystopian societies.

    Read More

  • Brave New World Theme Analysis

    1557 Words  | 4 Pages

    "'God isn't compatible with machinery and scientific medicine and universal happiness.'" So says Mustapha Mond, the World Controller for Western Europe in Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World. In doing so, he highlights a major theme in this story of a Utopian society. Although the people in this modernized world enjoy no disease, effects of old age, war, poverty, social unrest, or any other infirmities or discomforts, Huxley asks 'is the price they pay really worth the benefits?' This novel shows that when you must give up religion, high art, true science, and other foundations of modern life in place of a sort of unending happiness, it is not worth the sacrifice.

    Read More

  • Brave New World Identity Quotes

    1474 Words  | 3 Pages

    Huxley’s Brave New World is a dystopia. The world state is full of all the things one could ever want: happiness, security, sex. Yet still the world state would be the most horrible place to live in. Brave New World is a satirical novel exaggerating but also illuminating the truth. The reader becomes aware of the similarities between the World State and our current world and in the ways they differ. The novel makes the reader do more than just compare the real world to the world state; it made me aware of some essential things constituting being human. We need to have the full capacity and range to think and feel for ourselves to be able to orient ourselves and create an identity. Moreover, faults, natural processes, as well as books are what

    Read More

  • A Dystopian Society In Michael Pollen's Novel, Short Story Or Film

    968 Words  | 2 Pages

    Society in Dystopian Literature is seen as a utopia. The society believes that regardless of the costs if rules and procedures are followed it is for the greater good. In 1984 a society in a place called Oceania is seen as Utopia. The Citizens of this Utopian society live in extreme poverty under its government and are under constant surveillance. In Harris Bergeron society is also seen as a utopia. The society is made to where everyone is

    Read More

  • Divergent By Veronica Roth: Faction Over Blood

    668 Words  | 2 Pages

    Too much government control can be frightening according to the novel Divergent by Veronica Roth. Government fears Divergents because everything and anything is possible when dealing with one. It can mean living life fearlessly or it can mean living life in complete fear of whether or not the government finds out what faction a person fits into, if any. A utopian society seems like perfection to some people, however a perfect society can also cause damage by eliminating free will. The government in Divergent, prides itself on stealing people's identity to create an identity that is satisfying to them. That is wrong on so many levels. The Dauntless faction is surrounded

    Read More

  • Humanity in Brave New World

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    For years, authors and philosophers have satirized the “perfect” society to incite change. In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley describes a so-called utopian society in which everyone is happy. This society is a “controlled environment where technology has essentially [expunged] suffering” (“Brave New World”). A member of this society never needs to be inconvenienced by emotion, “And if anything should go wrong, there's soma” (Huxley 220). Citizens spend their lives sleeping with as many people as they please, taking soma to dull any unpleasant thoughts that arise, and happily working in the jobs they were conditioned to want. They are genetically altered and conditioned to be averse to socially destructive things, like nature and families. They are trained to enjoy things that are socially beneficial: “'That is the secret of happiness and virtue – liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their inescapable social destiny'” (Huxley 16). Citizens operate more like machinery, and less like humans. Humanity is defined as “the quality of being human” (“Humanity”). To some, humanity refers to the aspects that define a human: love, compassion and emotions. Huxley satirizes humanity by dehumanizing the citizens in the Brave New World society.

    Read More

  • Brave New World And 1984 Comparison Essay

    1452 Words  | 3 Pages

    They’re watching and listening to your every word, creating society from a test tube, taking away your freedom, liberty and rights to have emotion. This is what it is like to live in the dystopian societies created in the novels 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. The society in 1984 has a totalitarian government. The society in Brave New World has a more liberal government. Both novels have a protagonist that disagrees with the way their society is being governed. Both authors create a society which breaks down typical family bonds. The two dystopian societies may seem opposite in the way they are governed because of the amount personal freedom, but they have multiple commonalities.

    Read More

More about Dystopia

Open Document