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...
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...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.
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.
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.
Imagine a world where everything is controlled by the government. Imagine a world where science, literature, religion, and even family, do not exist. Imagine a world where citizens are conditioned to accept this. This is exactly how the world is portrayed in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. The focus of the World State is on society as a whole rather than on individuals. Some characters from the novel have a harder time accepting the conditioning. Through these characters, we learn the true cost of a government-dominated society. In Brave New World, Huxley conveys that a totalitarian government will provide happiness and peace by abolishing individuality and free thinking.
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.
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, portrays a future society where people are no longer individuals but are controlled by the World State. The World State dominates the people by creating citizens that are content with who they are. Brave New World describes how the science of biology and psychology are manipulated so that the government can develop technologies to change the way humans think and act. The World State designs humans from conception for this society. Once the humans are within the society the state ensures all people remain happy. They program these humans to have needs and desires that will sustain a lucrative economy while not thinking of themselves as an individual. Huxley describes the Worlds State’s intent to control their society through medical intervention, happiness, and consumerism which has similarities to modern society.
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.
Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We and George Orwell’s 1984 demonstrate totalitarianism in fictional countries. Totalitarianism is a system of government that is centralized, dictatorial, and requires complete subservience to the state. A totalitarian government manipulates human consciousness by the use of propaganda that implanted dogma, that is living with the results of the Benefactor’s perspectives and Big Brothers’ theories respectively as incontrovertibly true. This overall idea of mind control over the people evinces the millennial generation which believed that will take over the world. In point of fact, people nowadays have been technologically orchestrated by those contemporary theories used by mass media. In both novels, human minds are controlled through the government's use of propaganda and conspiracy resulting in lack of freedom
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.
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.
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
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
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
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.
state controls all aspects of people’s lives. Oceania’s entire population is under totalitarian rule and is
The government sees, hears, and controls all. They believe than in order to preserve humanity, the government must take action by enforcing total domination of the people. Their freedom must be taken away because “when people have the freedom to choose, they choose wrong, every single time” (Lowry). Since dystopian environments are usually set in a postapocalyptic setting, people are more likely to allow domination due their fear of repeating history. Those oblivious are conditioned to believe that this type of oppression should be accepted because it is for the sake of humanity. “One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them” (Huxley). In Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, the CorpSeCorpse serve as a police force who are meant to protect the people and enforce laws. In this society, people are constantly being watched. Though it is never formally addressed, the people know what’s allowed and what’s not. They don’t question things and keep to themselves. "Oryx and Crake is a political examination of a society that has seemingly abandoned culpable politics in favor of an unbounded consumerism...it examines the choices of the individual caught within a corrupt political structure" (Tolan). As for Orwell’s 1984, people are also constantly being watched. “Big Brother is watching [everyone]” (Orwell). Every aspect of society is controlled by the government. The people’s thoughts, speech, and actions