Christie Brennan May 9, 2011 Level 6 PRII Critical Essay Explorations in Dystopian Fiction: the Power of Control

During my Sophomore year of high school, I joined the journalism club which was responsible for producing the monthly newsletter. There were about ten or so of us involved, and each of us was instructed to choose a topic that our peers could relate to and be interested in. At this same time, online networking, particularly Myspace, was gaining popularity quickly as a new form of communication. As I watched these networking sites become more and more important to the people around me, I thought, thats what Ill write about. I wrote about the implications, positive and negative, that this may eventually have; we would all sacrifice the privacy our ancestors would never have dreamed of doing, and we would have an easier time meeting and staying in touch with people, but it would happen in a very impersonal and unsatisfying manner. The article was never published. I was told it was irrelevant, perhaps too controversial, and I was asked to write about the big football game coming up instead. Like that article, dystopian literature delivers a projection of the future that some may find uncomfortable to perceive as truth or face as a possible reality. This genre of fiction carries a heavy weight of responsibility that not only aims to enrich or entertain the reader, but to warn of what would happen to society, and often the world at large, if the present continued to move in its current direction. One of the most prevalent themes in dystopian literature is the issue of control by a governing force in which the people within the society are stripped of their liberties,

freedoms, and choices. In order to achieve this control, dystopian literature confronts three major issues the societys history, the peoples access to language, and perhaps most importantly, love and sexuality. By presenting the worst case scenarios in each of these factors characteristic to dystopian narratives, the reader is able to see their own life in a different and often initially frightening light, as the flaws in these alternate settings mirror those in the real world. Characters, like human beings, are shaped by experiences and memories. The things we do, the activities we partake in, from day to day are only part of who we are. The other part is the thoughts we have inside, the ones we carry with us from task to task, and the recollections we cannot escape. Without personal memories and a learned history of societys past, we cannot make proper judgments about the present and how we wish to proceed. This is the struggle present in many dystopian novels; through the destruction of memories, societies lose their freedoms and estrange themselves, making change near impossible. For example, in the Giver by Lois Lowry, Jonah, the young protagonist, is chosen to receive all of the memories of his peoples past from The Giver on his fifteenth birthday. He, and he alone, will hold on to these memories, as his society has deemed it dangerous to allow their people to collectively have access to the past. During the ceremony in which Jonah and his peers have their futures determined for them, Jonah is warned of what his task involves, The training required of you involves pain. Physical pain. He felt fear flutter within him. You have never experienced that. (Lowry 62) Jonas, a member of the community of Sameness, has been protected from lifes many

unpleasant or uncomfortable aspects, such as physical pain. However, because Jonas and the other members of Sameness have been protected from feeling pain, the citizens of this community are not experiencing the full spectrum of life. Instead, they remain content, even when there is a need for change, because they do not know another way. Everyone in Jonas community of Sameness is colorblind; there is no diversity, nor is there even the idea of diversity, except for Jonas and the Giver who can see beyond. In Susan G. Leas article on childrens literature in education, she states, In Jonas world, Sameness has resulted in the abdication of a meritocracy for a society where all aspects of the community are dictated by the dominant power, the community Elders, without challenge, question, or choice (Lea). Although the community does not face any of the harms we do today, such as crime, war, illness, or heartbreak, they also do not experience any of the aspects of life that deepen and enrich our existence. One of the best and probably the most famous examples of dystopian literature that deals with the altering of history is George Orwells 1984. Winston Smith, the main character and fallen hero of the story, starts out the novel with great bitterness and resentment towards the regime, which eventually transforms into a feeble attempt to revolt against it, but ultimately ends for him in torture and abuse, to which he is finally falls victim to the conformity of the totalitarian state and Big Brother. Through Winstons eyes and his continuous inner monologue, we are able to see the struggle that one would face in a society thats present is controlled by destroying both the past and the future. After trying to start a diary, and labeling his first entry with the date, April 4th, 1984, we are immediately able to see the confusion in Winston caused by the state,

He sat back. A sense of complete helplessness had descended upon him. To begin with, he did not know with any certainty that this was 1984. It must be around about that date, since he was fairly sure that his age was thirty-nine, and he believed that he had been born in 1944 or 1945; but it was never possible nowadays to pin down any date within a year or two. (Nineteen Eighty-Four 7) Here, the reader is able to see the extent to which the people of Oceania are brainwashed and confused. They do not even know the truth about the most simple of things, such as the date. If there are no concrete facts for a society to rely on, it is also impossible to organize together because of the lack of a common thread, something the Party is well aware of in 1984. Winston, even though he is open to the real truth of his society, cannot even be free inside his mind because as Orwell himself concluded, no one (especially not an intellectual) could be free who was also isolated and lonely. So dependent are we on others for stimulation and encouragement that it is almost impossible to think without talking (Steinhoff 150). Although Winston is able to acknowledge the doubt he has, he is unable to fully confront it because the society in which he lives does not allow for questioning, and without the proper memory or historical background to understand the past, he cannot be sure that his doubts are valid or reasonable. Edward Said, a Palestinian American literary theorist and Professor of English at Columbia University, states that, Memory and its representations touch very significantly upon the questions of identity, of nationalism, of power and authority (Bouet 2). The representation of history and how that affects ones memory greatly affects an individuals sense of oneself and sense of place. Without the proper knowledge of the past, one cannot make informed conclusions

about their present, and therefore the future to them is not exciting nor is it something to look forward to, but just more time passing, while they remain indifferent to their current circumstances. According to Winston, the proles of 1984 are the only real hope that his society has to reclaim its dignity and overcome its listlessness. However, because they have been so brainwashed to think that things were always this way and always will be this way, its almost impossible to imagine any kind of real revolution taking place. Winston observes this on one of his walks, But if there was any hope, it lay in the proles. You had to cling on to that. When you put it in words it sounded reasonable; it was when you looked at the human beings passing you on the pavement that it became an act of faith. (Nineteen Eighty-Four 86) Said explains that memory should be something that sits inertly there for each person to possess and contain (Bouet 3). Memory should be valued and shared among a population, not restricted to a few. Winston, who works for the Ministry of Truth, participates in altering history, which is what leads to his questioning of the Party. He comes to realizes that he, and the rest of the proles, have had their thoughts greatly manipulated through propaganda, false traditions, newspeak, and double-think. However, because the proles do not connect or communicate with one another without being watched, ultimately, Winstons journey to enlighten himself ends before he can see any of his ideas come into fruition. Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451, like 1984 and the Giver, takes place in a dystopian society where the peoples history and memories have been greatly distorted. Guy Montag, the

protagonist, is a fireman in charge of burning books, but his profession is soon brought into question by a young girl named Clarisse. They walked still farther and the girl said, Is it true that long ago firemen put fires out instead of going to start them? No. Houses have always been fireproof, take my word for it. Strange. I heard once that a long time ago houses used to burn by accident and they needed firemen to stop the flames. (Bradbury 8) Montag is unclear of his history and of the forces acting upon him, because as he states, this is the way things have always been. Clarisse, on the other hand, is able to see how his ability to think and perceive the world around him has been diluted and contained by outside forces working against him. Jack Zipes, in his essay Mass Degradation of Humanity, explains Clarisse infers that his consciousness has been stunted by the two-hundred-foot-long billboards, the parlour walls, races, and fun parks, all of which she avoids because they prevent her from being alone with her own thoughts (Zipes 185). Montags society is full of distractions, limitless technology, a constant in-pouring of an aggressively controlled media, and no books that allow any of the population to see things in a different light. As a result, its people are quiet, thoughtless, and without the competence to rebel; like their history, they have forgotten they can. To retain ones own memory and history is essential to understanding the direction or purpose of humanity, but without language, it would be impossible to articulate those thoughts. The control of language by the government, like the control of history, is a prevalent theme in dystopian literature. Words shape our thoughts and the way we see the world around us in ways both subtle and extreme; euphemisms like passed on can replace the more

finite word of death so that the circumstance is easier to deal with, while calling the act passed by congress under George Bush in the month following the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Patriot Act, has the ability to manipulate a populations thinking on the matter entirely. The word patriot is defined as a person who loves and supports their country, and to use this word to pass laws that infringe on our own liberties and privacies, such as phone tapping without reasonable suspicion, is contradictory and misleading. Like the above example, in Orwells 1984, words are used to symbolize the opposite of what they mean in order to control the society. The three slogans of the party show this, and they are described as being written in white elegant lettering when they appear on the structures of buildings. The slogans are, War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength (Orwell 4). These slogans remove the ability to discuss the most complex issues and are instead stated as fact to which the people are expected to believe or will be severely punished and tortured. Orwell, in his essay titled Politics and The English Language, states that Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits, one can think more clearly and to think clearly is a necessary first step towards political regeneration. (All Art is Propoganda, 271) One of the bad habits that is later explained in his essay is the use of clichs, which spread like infections and are used not to reveal ones own authentic thoughts, but are only repetitious and remove the possibility of language being a transformative tool. In order for our speech or our writing to be an agent of change, the words spoken or wrote must come from the heart and soul of its author. Otherwise, what is communicated serves no functional purpose,

similar to the slogans created by the Party that its people repeat, but do not fully understand. In Ayn Rands Anthem, the protagonist, Equality 7-2521, is a part of a collectivist society where everyone is supposed to strive to be like everyone else. Throughout the novel, when Equality 7-2521 speaks, he refers to himself as we. He is driven, however, by a desire to acquire his own individuality and eventually leaves this society behind. When he does, he stumbles upon an abandoned house, which happens to be filled with tons of books, and learns the word I for the first time. As he comes to understand the history of men, he questions how his society evolved into what it did, and why. He says, It was a long story, and the spirit which moved it was the spirit of mans freedom. But what is freedom? Freedom from what? There is nothing to take a mans freedom away from him, save other men. To be free, a man must be free of his brothers. That is freedom. (Rand, 101) Until this point in the story, the narrators language is very dry, confused, and lacking the ability to properly articulate himself and his ideas. However, once he comes in contact with books and begins to read, he is able to think more clearly for himself and develop his thoughts fully, which then have the potential to cause action, and change. Like the journey of Equality 7-2521, Jonas, the protagonist of the Giver also comes to better understand his own humanity and the world around him by learning new words, which he is instructed to do as the towns Receiver of Memory. In this society, words have become so diluted that they hold almost no meaning at all. One night, after Jonas learns the word love, he decides to ask his parents if they love him. After asking, he gets scolded for not using precision

of language and his mother goes on to say, Your father means that you used a very generalized word, so meaningless that its become almost obsolete (Lowry 127). Jonas, knowing that there is nothing meaningless about the word love because he and he alone carries the memory of it with him, eventually lies to his parents and caves to their beliefs instead of his own. This destruction of words in the Giver is similar to forms of censorship today, which is said to be done for protection, but is really shaping our thoughts on what is right and what is wrong. Language is essential to individuality and positive growth within societies, and without access to it, the society is stifled and will remain ordinary, frozen, and without the vibrancy that an extended vocabulary lends. When a totalitarian society controls language and history, its effects on individuality and prosperity are enormous, but in order for the government to gain full access to these massive tools of repression, they also have to take away humanitys need to love one another. Without love, there is a true emptiness within us all, and given the chance, a totalitarian government will do all it can to fill that hole. In 1984, Winston falls for a woman named Julia, who is not suppressed sexually like the rest of the members of the Party, and has actually slept with numerous of them. Acting upon her own desires makes her rebellious and full of corruption, something that Winston finds greatly attractive. This is, ironically, because the Party has suppressed him to the point that anything outside of their control now seems intriguing and desirable. Unlike Winston, Julia understands the affects of this Puritanical way of life (Parascandola). It was not merely that the sex instinct created a world of its own which was outside the Partys control and which therefore had to be destroyed if possible.

What was more important was that sexual privation induced hysteria, which was desirable because it could be transformed into war fever and leader worship. (Nineteen Eighty-Four 133) The suppression caused by the Party on its peoples natural, basic instincts does not cause those desires to disappear or dissipate, but to only be directed elsewhere, and in this case, into the love of Big Brother. Similarly, Margaret Atwoods The Handmaids Tale, tells the story of a Handmaid named Offred, whose only purpose in life is to serve her Commander by reproducing for him and his wife. Like 1984, the assaults on the individuality of the protagonists reinforce in both (Winston, and Offred) the desperate need to make contact (Feuer). Gilead, the totalitarian government that has taken over where the United States of America used to lie, completely suppresses and controls each and every one of its women and what they do with their own bodies. This can be seen here by Offred, as she tries to explain the events that take place between her and the Commander. I do not say making love, because this is not what he's doing. Copulating too would be inaccurate, because it would imply two people and only one is involved. Nor does rape cover it: nothing is going on here that I haven't signed up for. There wasn't a lot of choice but there was some, and this is what I chose. (Atwood) Offred and the other handmaids have been deprived of their self-respect and dignity, and some, like Offred, under this kind of male authoritative control, have even come to believe that they played a part and were to blame for the way their society functions. However, like Winston,

Offred too is looking for love, as it is only through her affair with Nick and her companionship with the other handmaids that she re-finds her own self-desires (Feuer). Unlike the citizens of 1984 and The Handmaids Tale, the people of Aldous Huxleys Brave New World are encouraged to have as much sex as possible, with as many people as they want, and are constantly titillated by drugs like Soma, movies that appeal to the senses called feelies, and brainwashing slogans that insist on consumerism as a way of life. Instead of using sexual repression to control their society, the World State uses distractions to keep the people feeling happy constantly and like they belong to one another. Mustapha Mond explains the problem love can bring, saying it made the world mad and wicked, he states What with mothers and lovers, what with the prohibitions they were not conditioned to obey, what with the temptations and the lonely remorses, what with all the diseases and the endless isolating pain, what with the uncertainties and the poverty-they were forced to feel strongly (Huxley 47). The focus, in Huxleys society, is founded on ridding of any and all uncomfortable aspects of life, but in doing so, its citizens are being turned into human machines, needed only for production and consumption. Leon Kass, in his article entitled Preventing a Brave New World, published in The New Republic Online, states, At long last, mankind has succeeded in eliminating disease, aggression, war, anxiety, suffering, guilt, envy, and grief. But this victory comes at the heavy price of homogenization, mediocrity, trivial pursuits, shallow attachments, debased tastes, spurious contentment, and souls without loves or longings (Kass). A soul without love or longing is without purpose, and without a purpose, a totalitarian government can fill their population with its own agenda, which in the case of Brave New World is to perpetuate capitalism through a consumer driven society.

Although the characters are allowed to act out their own sexual desires in Brave New World, these desires ultimately lead them nowhere, as they can never develop into anything stronger or more fulfilling. The characters, even the ones who experience the feeling of love, never have a way to define it since they have been brainwashed to believe, loves as good as Soma (Huxley 153). In the society of Brave New World, love is superficial and meaningless. Lenina, one of the main female protagonists, falls deeply for John, the savage, who has come into their society from the outside. Unfortunately, she can only think of love on a physical level in the way she has been conditioned; even though her feelings run much deeper, they will never be seen to fruition because she cannot understand what it is she has experienced (Firchow). Whether it be through the control of language, of history, or of love and a persons sexuality, Dystopian literature shows that if the people of a nation or society let a governing force make decisions or choices for them, the results can be futile to their individuality and basic needs as a human being. Fortunately, for us, these warnings have not yet been fully culminated, and in the present, if we take heed to the nightmarish visions of the future presented by these authors, like Orwell and Huxley, we can take back control of what is rightfully ours. As Patrick Reilly states in his critical review of 1984, the text is summoning us to a struggle that is not yet lost. It is we, here and now, who will decide that outcome: Winstons future fate depends upon our present action (Reilly). If we can take a look at our present situations for what they really are and speak up, whether it be writing about it, as I have chose to do in numerous ways, from that first article in high school on the effects of social networking to the dystopian fiction I create today, or to go out on the front lines, like all the activists who rally against what is popular, or at the least, to commit oneself to staying educated and aware, then humanity can still be in control of their fate.

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