The Myopia of Dystopia

The Myopia of Dystopia

Throughout human history, matters not which civilization; humanity has endeavored to attain a sociality in which one can live with freedom, enjoyment, justice, and happiness. It is human nature to see oneself in a place where it is flourishing and enjoyable, and unfortunately that is often elsewhere then where one is; after all isn't "the grass always greener on the other side" (Eng. Proverb).

Countless writers have crafted utopian worlds for the reader to consider and explore and many of those novelists don't deem the modern-day world as the "good place"(Hermon, Holman) but rather one of the indescribable atrocities of war, disease, hunger etc… A utopian world is a difficult, if not impossible, one to forge. Novels such as Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, and 1984 are dystopian novels, with often-satirical undertones within their pages. This works are allegories, sardonic depictions of our societies ills. Each work contain strong hard-hitting political messages with common themes such as the fine line that divides a utopia and a dystopia and the sharp contrast in the perception of the characters within the works and the reader.

In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, takes the individuality of the inhibitors of this world and has made happiness and enjoyment of life in to an artificial feeling with the constant presence of soma, a wonder-drug. In hope of achieving utopia, humankind plunges into dystopia though mass cloning which ultimately destroys humanity. In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, the controllers of this world try to achieve utopia but in turn reach dystopia were knowledge is gone, due to their censorship of information. In George Orwell's 1984, achieves dystopia by an inner party with...

... middle of paper ...

...ackward. Cambridge: The John Harvard Library, 1970.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine Books, 1973.

Carey, Gary, ed. Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited. Lincoln: Cliffs Notes,

1965. 6-13

Guinevera, A. "Aldous Huxley, 76-77" Heaven and Hell: The Utopian Theme in Three Novels.

New York: Continuan, 1988.

Hermon, William and Holman, C. Hugh, eds. A Hand Book to Literature. 5th ed. New York:

McMillan Publishing Company, 1986.

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial, 1989.

Orwell, George. 1984. New York: The New American Library, Inc., 1961.

Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. "Dystopia, 179", "Looking Backward, 323-324" Encyclopedia of

Utopian Literature. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1995.

White, T.H. The Once and Future King. New York: Ace Books, 1987.