The genre of Dystopia
- Created by: Ursy14
- Created on: 14-09-20 21:04
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- The genre of Dystopia
- Rebellious/ isolated protagonist
- Typically emphasises the restrictions the society places upon citizens, and provide a source of conflict in the novel
- Normally fall into 2 categories
- Member of the oppressed, views a problem and sets about solving it
- Winston in 1984 - member of the outer party who grows irritated
- John the Savage in BNW - Angered at the soma and the permissive society
- Member of the elite who becomes disillusioned
- Fahrenheit 451 - Member of the burning squads has a transformation
- Member of the oppressed, views a problem and sets about solving it
- Normally make a comment on the loss of freedom or intensity of the surveillance
- Can suggest personal freedoms are vital to happiness or contentment
- Or serve to criticise the regime and exacerbate current social fears
- Notable especially in the use of narrative voice
- Environmental degradation
- Can serve to reflect new found freedom of a protagonist
- 1984 - Golden Country and Inner City antithesis comes to represent the physical strength and freedom of Winston
- Purpose can be to exaggerate the poor quality of life and the unappealing nature of the society
- Or the reverse, as a pleasant setting can be used to emphasis the illusion of a utopia
- Used in the HMT as a threat - Unwomen sent to dig up radioactive material
- Plays on the environmental fears of the 80s - Thalidomide, Agent Orange and other chemical weapons
- Can serve to reflect new found freedom of a protagonist
- Current social fears, and exaggeration
- EVERY dystopia stems from current fears and a tense social contextual climate
- Generally serves as a warning and criticism of current regimes
- HMT - played on the role of women and the 'Women of the night' marches, while providing a criticism of the extreme left feminism, which is satirical
- 1984 - Traditionally relevant to many times since its writing, as it is thought of as a warning concerning dictatorial leadership, conformity and surveillanve
- Brave New World - Growth of technology and biological advances - cloning
- Clockwork Orange - plays on fears of increased freedom and a flawed criminal justice system - anarchy etc.
- EVERY dystopia stems from current fears and a tense social contextual climate
- Dehumanisation/ Deindividualisation
- Contribution to the development of identity in any individual is highlighted, as Winston seems oppressed and lacking personality
- Similarly, although Offred has a past, her character is very deindividualised, also through her clothes and role too
- Central theme to EVERY dystopia
- Especially important in cultivating a sense of dislike and approbation in the reader
- Most notable in Clockwork Orange - Alex loses all sense of himself in prison
- An experiment in thought? - Alex a very dis-likeable character but morally we fee this is a violation of rights
- Most notable in Clockwork Orange - Alex loses all sense of himself in prison
- Especially important in cultivating a sense of dislike and approbation in the reader
- HMT and 1984 distinguishing of character via the clothes they wear and their position in the hierarchy
- 'Doubled I walk the street'
- 'A sister dipped in blood'
- 'She is my spy as I am hers'
- Contribution to the development of identity in any individual is highlighted, as Winston seems oppressed and lacking personality
- Surveillance
- Used in conjunction with the social hierarchy to create as sense of infallibility in the regime
- 1984 - Thought Police are terrifying and the use of telescreens
- Less present in the HMT - used towards the end o the novel - in to prove the strength of the relationship
- Some sense of self- inflicted troubles, imagination of the Eye on the ceiling
- Common theme as it plays often the loss of individuality in a world of data and the trust of personal information in that state
- Memory
- Used to emphasise the current status of society, normally a criticism of a small alteration
- 'Attacks of the past'
- 'Like kicks'
- Perhaps make 1984 a more political essay - less integrated character
- Criticism of the new social order which plays on current social fears - makes a successful dystopia
- Manipulation of the past used as a form of control - invasive?
- Significant difference between collective and personal memory
- Contribution to the development of identity in any individual is highlighted, as Winston seems oppressed and lacking personality
- Similarly, although Offred has a past, her character is very deindividualised, also through her clothes and role too
- Used to emphasise the current status of society, normally a criticism of a small alteration
- Love and relationships
- Emphasis of state control of individual freedoms and often a form of rebellion, which can contribute to the satire
- 1984 - Winston and Julia's relationship is a form of inconsequential rebellion, criticises the control of the state and interference in intimacy
- Significant risk to something considered primary and natural
- Distortion of reality to an extreme perhaps most notable here
- Significant risk to something considered primary and natural
- HMT - Another form of inconsequential rebellion with regard to the destruction of Gilead and power structures
- Suggests the necessity of such relationships for survival and criticises state interference
- Severely distorted in Clockwork Orange as Soma is needed as a precursor to natural love and relations
- Satire
- Less notable of dystopian features but definitely present
- Huxley uses it in the opening of Brave New World
- Less common in recent dystopia?
- Sense of lost identity and surveillance criticised though irony and trivialisation
- Maybe most prevalent in 1984 and Animal Farm - Political essays?
- Increase the awareness of authorial criticism by trivialising identity etc.
- Hierachy/ Social order
- Most dystopia use a hierarchy as a form of oppression and to create fear
- Typically in the form of an omniscient power or restrictive force
- Can be weak or strong, normally the latter to increase fears
- HMT - Particularly weak Commander - Handmaid relations - don't imply a grand force
- BUT - Omniscience of the Eyes is notable
- HMT - Particularly weak Commander - Handmaid relations - don't imply a grand force
- 1984 - So threatening as a result of the strength of O'Brien's conviction in the regime and strength of belief
- Normally rigid which is too criticised, and satirised as clothes are used to distinguish between one another's roles
- Most dystopia use a hierarchy as a form of oppression and to create fear
- Rebellious/ isolated protagonist
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