Dystopia context and links

• Utopia


  Novel by Thomas Moore (1516)
• Utopia summary


  Presents many themes such as wealth, power, slavery, and causes of injustice. The overarching theme throughout the book is the ideal nature of a Utopian society. In Utopia, there is no greed, corruption, or power struggles due to the fact that there is no money or private property.

  Moore believed that a utopian society will never be achieved
• A Modest Proposal


  Satire essay by Jonathan Swift (1729)
• A Modest Proposal summary

  Satirical, proposes that the country improve poverty in Ireland by butchering the children of the Irish poor and selling them as food to wealthy English landlords. Swift's proposal is a savage comment on England's legal and economic exploitation of Ireland.
• Phyllis Schlafly (1950s)


  American conservative activist, author, and anti-feminist spokesperson for the national conservative movement.

  Character of Serena Joy in THT is inspired by her
• Ustopia

  Atwood - "Ustopia is a world I made up by combining utopia and dystopia - the imagined perfect society and its opposite - because, in my view, each contains a latent version of the other. In addition to being, almost always, a mapped location, Ustopia is also a state of mind, as is every place in literature of whatever kind."

  So utopia is dystopia and vice versa
• The Time Machine


  H.G. Wells, 1895
• The Time Machine summary

  Revolves around a Victorian gentleman and his theories about time travel. To prove them, he builds a machine and travels 800,000 years into the future where he befriends a group of people, the Eloi, who are descended from modern human beings.

  Darwinism model of evolution, natural selection.

  Current class structure should be destroyed before mankind ends up destroying itself and the planet around it
• The Time Machine - message

  Current class structure should be destroyed before mankind ends up destroying itself and the planet around it

  Illustrates consequences of unchecked industrialisation

  Ends very ambiguously, as we do not know what happens to the Time Traveller (which timeline he stays in).

  Can be considered as a hopeful ending, as the future is shown to still have gratitude and tenderness, and there's a possibility the time traveller liked staying in the future so stayed

  Or the ending can be considered hopeless, as we have seen the problems of the future
• The War of the Worlds

  H.G. Wells, 1898
• The War of the Worlds summary

  Martian invasion on Earth

  (Contextually - fear of invasion from outsiders/aliens/sci-fi)

  However, in the end, the Martians lose to the humans, due to them being exposed to all the disease and bacteria on Earth. The Martians thought they could win with technology and strength, but the humans have evolved on planet earth for so long, that they were not prone to all the diseases like the aliens.
• War of the Worlds message

  a story of survival. On a deeper level, the Narrator wants life to continue as usual and for his belief in the superiority of humans to remain intact along with society and its social structures and hierarchies.
• Brave New World


  Huxley 1931
• Brave New World summary

  The novel examines a futuristic society, called the World State, that revolves around science and efficiency. In this society, emotions and individuality are conditioned out of children at a young age, and there are no lasting relationships because "every one belongs to every one else"

  Ending : protagonist (John) kills himself because of all the guilt he feels when he's performed a 'sinful' act not permitted in the World State (shows the absolute control of this society)
• Brave New World message

  Criticising reliance and belief in technology that the West had in between the world wars - dangers of technology

  Also, Huxley uses Henry Ford as a god-like figure to further advance the themes of mass production and consumption, and to show how the World State prioritises those things over its citizens's individuality and personal happiness
• Fahrenheit 451


  Ray Bradbury 1953
• Farenheit 451 summary


  In a future society where books are forbidden, Guy Montag, a "fireman" whose job is the burning of books, takes a book and is seduced by reading. In order to keep people distracted from asking questions about the book burnings and rebelling, the state bothers people with overstimulating and meaningless content and danger

  Ending : Montag has made it out of the city, the city was bombed and kills everyone inside, he's upset bc his wife was in the city at the time, but he also feels hopeful for the future as the city is destroyed.
• Fahrenheit 451 message


  The main idea of Fahrenheit 451 is censorship and how the government uses this power to control the populace.

  Also, this book highlights the importance of history and learning from the past, as to not make the same mistakes again. Also talks about the importance of free thought and human connection
• A Clockwork Orange


  Anthony Burgess (1962)
• A Clockwork Orange summary

  Totalitarian society

  The first-person account of a juvenile delinquent (Alex) who undergoes state-sponsored psychological rehabilitation for his aberrant behaviour.
• Clockwork Orange message


  The importance of evil as well as good in human nature is a fundamental theme. Alex is despicable because he gives free rein to his violent impulses, but that sense of freedom is also what makes him human. Unlike so many of the adult characters in the book, he, at least, seems exuberantly alive.
• The Children of Men

  P.D James, 1992
• The Children of Men message

  Explores the themes of hope and faith in the face of overwhelming futility and despair. Describes what happens when society is unable to reproduce, using male infertility to explain this problem.
• Make room, make room

  Harry Harrison

  Written in 1966, set in 1999
• Make room, make room summary

  explores trends in the proportion of world resources used by the US and other countries compared to population growth, depicting a world where the global population is seven billion people, plagued with overcrowding, resource shortages and a crumbling infrastructure.

  Doesn't;t need happily. Population keeps growing with no end in sight.
• The Machine Stops


  Forster , 1909
• The Machine Stops summary

  a future where people live underground in isolated cells, never seeing one another and communicating only by audio and visual devices. In this world, original thought and direct observation are discouraged

  Ending : everyone living underground dies due to a cataclysmic collapse (but the protagonists mother and son do embrace during this, kinda tragic but shows there's still love)
• The Machine Stops message

  A warning to mankind about the growing dependence on technology

  However, this message is very unguided as the future presented is very extreme and unlikely
• Never let me go

  Kazuo Ishiguro, 2005
• Never let me go summary

  Children are cloned and raised as organ donors
• The Drowned World


  J.G. Ballard, 1962
• The Drowned World summary

  A post-apocalyptic future in which global warming, caused by increased solar radiation, has rendered uninhabitable much of the surface of the Earth. Set during 2145, the novel follows a biologist (Dr Robert Kerans) and his team is scientists as they confront a surreal cityscape populated by giant iguanas, alligators, and endless swarms of malarial insects. Nature has stalled all but a few remains of human civilisation
• Oryx and Crake


  Atwood, 2003
• Oryx and Crake summary

  Snowman is a survivor of a man-made pandemic that has wiped out most of humanity

  Ending leaves the reader feeling conflicted, with both optimism and despair , as in the opening chapters of the novel
• Oryx and Crake message

  To acknowledge the value and integrity of nature and to try and establish an equal relationship with nature, as this will mean human can develop harmoniously with nature
• The Chrysalids


  John Wyndham 1955
• The Chrysalids summary


  Post-apocalyptic world struggling to recover from a devastating global catastrophe

  All mental and physical abnormalities are ritualistically purged. After being outed as telepathic, David and his friends must flee

  Ending : David and his friends have finally reached a place where they are accepted for who they really are. They need not dissemble or hide their true gifts any more as they have found a community where others like themselves live and which they can be a part of.
• The Chrysalids messages


  Written not long after World War II and in the midst of the Cold War, the book looks at what might happen in a world that has been irreparably damaged by nuclear warfare.

  Also, the book argues that even within societies that are morally corrupt, individuals have the power and responsibility to make their own moral choices.
• Time between WW1 and WW2

  Height of an era of technological optimism in the West
• Why I Write' 1947 Orwell essay

  Orwell stated that he writes, among other reasons, from the "desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other peoples' idea of the kind of society that they should strive after."