Dystopian Society Essay

Comp atomic number 18 the dystopian societies, and the methods determinationd to create them, in The Handmaids Tale by Marg atomic number 18t Atwood, and 1984 by George Orwell (paying particular attention to the representation of grammatical gender).The futurist and oppressive themes that define a dystopian conjunction be in 1984 by George Orwell and The Handmaids Tale (THT) by Marg art Atwood. These forms of order of magnitude feature contrasting types of repressive social admit and these stories often explore the concept of humans abusing technology or the rights of people. Dystopian societies are often imagined as police states, with boundless indicant over the citizens. Although many ele handsts of a dystopian ships company back tooth be seen in The Handmaids Tale and 1984, the authors, the two novels explore the extreme oppose effects of social control through their dissimilar opinions of a dystopian society.Through the choice of the narrators gender, the authors ex plore issues of this, which underside be seen as a irradiate feature that emphasises the amount of conquering that some(prenominal) protagonists may experience even though thither is more than swelling given to a woman facing male domination. say from the1960s shows that in that respect was controversy to whether women are equal to men in name of jobs, the vote, education and their position at heart the family. In modern society women are more equal to men however, during the period that Atwood wrote THT, the Womans lighting Movement was occurring which was a political movement born in the 1960s from the second-feminism wave. All pride and dignity is taken from the women in Gilead, which is a clear form of subjugation to contendds women.One good example would include the isolation from their families and they are used as wombs that eat up no other use. Not save is she tortured by the thoughts of what could have happened to her child and husband solely in her new role, she is raped repeatedly by the Commander which proves that the female gender is less dominant compared to the men. Contrastingly, within 1984 Winston has a negative attitude towards the authoritarianism of considercapable Brother which suggests that men are more likely to k non than women. Therefore, your gender may affect the amount of anger you have towards a soulfulness/society. Winston and Julia lovers and rebels, are trying to become members of anti- political caller Brotherhood. Therefore, the fact that Winston and Offred are of contrasting genders, emphasizes the amount ofrebellion that they feel towards their dictatorships.Orwells narrator, Winston, narrates in third person whereas, Atwoods narrator, Offred, narrates in first person. 1984 is clearly a novel admonishment people that politics could eventually control everything the people do. THT is clearly a ain warning proposed by Atwood, as the authorities do not control everyone and what they believe in they only n eed the womb of the women which is the profitable part of a women illustrating the cod that the political tushnot be separated from the personal.Winston is giving the lecturer a more unbiased view because he is not as involved within the events as the reader may think. Winston comments on events that he is not involved in which gives the reader the view that Winston is an unbiased narrator. Contrastingly, Atwood clearly allowed Offred to become a first person narrator so that Atwood could become more involved in the events that happen in Gilead and to have a more intimate relationship with the reader as she drop voice her own opinion which questions her reliability as a narrator. Within the first chapter, Offred clearly uses the word we, which shows the reader that she, is restricted within the Red Centre and lacks identity.The constructions of both novels reflect a dystopian society in terms of the hierarchy of the places. Perhaps both authors have a different opinion of ho w societies will be structured in the time to come. Evidence for this is that THT is split into fifteen part nearly all of them are named iniquity. Contrastingly, in 1984 the chapters are represented as numbers and not as names which could portray Orwells vision of life within Oceania. It can be argued that Winston is not living his own life as men do in the 21st century this is because he is under commodious Brother rule and will not be able to tend as Big Brother controls everything he is thinking and doing, even though the reader gets an idea that Winston doesnt agree with this. The lack of detail and token(prenominal) description from Winston about the society could suggest that there is no moment in life and Winston has no immensity within Oceania, which is explained through the structure of the society.However, the fact that in THT the majority of the chapters are named night could give the reader an insight to how restricted women are in this society. Thefact that nigh t can generate fear to some people really shows that women were fearful of their future and they obviously do not only want to be seen as a womb to continue the next generation. On the other hand, it can be seen that Offred is more comfortable during the night as she has a mavin of liberty as she can think and imagine in her head. An example would include when Offred goes to see Nick, they speak awkwardly at first, but little by little become more comfortable with one another. Therefore, the structures of both novels that both authors have clearly thought about represent the hierarchy of the societies.THT uses hierarchy of oppression such as the Guardians, and auntys to maintain social control. The role of the aunt is to basically police the Handmaids so that they will become adapted to their new society, and the institutionalise of many incidents is purely swan on women. For example, The spectacles women used to muddle of themselves bare backs and shoulders in in the publi c eye(predicate) no wonder those things used to happen. This suggests that Aunt Lydia believes that whatever it was that women suffered in the former society, it due to their own behaviour. This way of irresponsible minds in THT is a more understated way compared to the means the Party uses in 1984, in which the direction and control is displayed more apparent. Wilson is obviously assured of the presidency surveillance that he is exposed to the Telescreens are noticeable and their purposes are evident.This guarantees that people will abide by the governments rules, being aware that there will be a consequence if they dont chase they fear the potential punishment which scares them into submission. Therefore, the methods of control that Atwood uses are perhaps more subtle contrastingly the surveillance is more obvious within 1984. The Aunts arguably are a more subconscious method of maintaining power. By bound the essentials to the women in the Gilead society, women of the futur e are warned of the oppression they may face and in the long run need to avoid.A completely differing method used by the undemocratic government in 1984 is surveillance used by the party maintaining the oppression over Oceania by using Telescreens. The party use this constant surveillance to maintain social control and ensure that the party can control and eliminate any form of uprising. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU is a constant reminder to the society that every action takenis watched and that Oceania has no form of discretion. As a result, the lack of privacy in 1984 allows the party to maintain control over the peoples actions and thoughts which increases the extent of power.The dictatorships in both THT and 1984 restrict the protagonists memory so that what they gyp whilst being overpowered is what they believe to be right. Winstons memories are less stalk compared to Offreds, and they are also more direct. Offreds memories of the past are staggered but she has irregular fla sh backs of her daughter and her former partner, Luke. She has flash backs of fleeing across the couch into Canada, but they were caught and separated from one another, and Offred has seen neither her husband nor her daughter since.However, Winstons memories are unclear as they were destroyed due to the revolution. The dystopian government and oppressive society created a void in his mind. Perhaps the authors put the impact of the memories into the novels so that the reader gets an impression that memory in a dystopian society reflects freedom. The more Offred and Winston imagine their past, the more they are able to think about the previous amount of freedom which would lead them to rebel. both(prenominal) societies restrict individuality which leads to both protagonists rebelling this is because of the impact of being under oppression. In THT the totalitarian state is portrayed as negative by the reader because Offred is isolated from society and left powerless. This leads to Off red having rebellious outbursts even though she is denied freedom of speech. During testifying all of the Handmaids shout at Janine her fault, her fault, her fault and she did, she did, she did. The importance of all of the Handmaids shouting in monotonous tone represents the lack of individuality.Furthermore, the repeat represents the whining auto-response expected by the women in the Gilead society. Contrastingly, Winston shows aggressive hatred towards Goldstein and everyone present in the room. He and other people have a hideous apotheosis of fear and vindictiveness and a desire to kill. This expresses the importance of Big Brother and shows how he has turned all of the characters into inhumane people. The delivery that Orwell uses is wretched but creates an animal-like view of Winston which tells the reader that he will always be under Big Brother control, expressing awarning of the future. Unlike sorrow felt by Offred, Winston feeds off hatred which distinguishes the two p rotagonists and the severity of the state control in both novels.The exploitation of language and use of propaganda features prominently in both novels. The establishments use language to endure control over the inhabitants to change peoples thought process. Within THT, the authorities use one-sided playscript quote to condition the handmaids to conforming and to ensure there is no form of rebellion. Offreds analytical nature is represented as she knows that these Bible quotes are distorted. Its from the Bible, or so they said. Offred also acknowledges these are forms of propaganda to ensure that the dystopian society is fully in play. The use of propaganda in Nazi Germany (1933-45) had a dramatic affect in changing the publics opinion in favour of Nazi policies, including total war.This is similar to Offred as she knows that the Bible quotes are publicized to ensure the women generalise their only purpose, to reproduce, however, she still prays even though she doesnt agree with it. However, in 1984 the system of Newspeak is used to shorten the way of speech and it is the specific language used in their newspapers. This suited the totalitarian regime of the Party, whose aim was to reserve subversive thought crime and speech impossible. Thus Newspeak is possibly an exploit by Orwell to describe a deliberate intent to exploit this degeneracy with the aim of oppressing its speakers.To conclude, the ways in which THT and 1984 reflect a dystopian society are through the structures of the novels and the language the author uses to represent the characters personalities. Atwood mainly focuses on the structure of her novel which emphasises the unstructured dystopian society, by sectioning the chapters into significant parts whereas, most novels simply have chapters. George Orwell aims to show the reader the structure of a dystopian society by using simple sentences and placing more power on Big Brother the reader gets an insight into how powerful a policing syst em can be in a dystopian society and ultimately warns them of the future.BibliographyAQA English Literature B A2 Nelson Thrones1984 George OrwellThe Handmaids Tale Margaret Atwood