blog




  • Essay / Dystopia as a parody of paradise

    "When Thomas More wrote Utopia in 1515, he launched a literary genre with lasting appeal for writers who wanted not only to satirize existing evils, but also to postulate the state, a sort of golden age in the world. face of reality” (Hewitt 127) Unlike a utopian novel in which the writer intends to describe the perfect human society, a dystopia novel does exactly the opposite: it illustrates. the worst human society imaginable in an effort to convince readers to avoid any path that could lead to such societal degradation. George Orwell's 1984 is one such novel, a novel that "takes the images and ideas completely with it." which the utopian imagination had worked in the past and overturns” (Orwell does this primarily through the use of settings, themes, and characters, all of which are literal elements making it clear that 1984 is a parody of the premise). Utopian. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayThe typical utopian city, orderly, harmonious and perfect in all its facets, is represented in 1984 by a ruined and decaying London where completely dilapidated buildings lack windows. Victoria Mansions, the residence of Winston Smith, the novel's protagonist, is dilapidated and dilapidated. The elevators never work, the plumbing is extremely unreliable, and the hallways “smell like boiled cabbage and old mats” (Orwell 5). The sidewalks are littered with rubble from the bombs and the houses are infested with rats. All this is due to the mismanagement of the Party, which is the supreme authority and power of the State of Oceania. In a typical utopia, one of the main themes is a cordial relationship between society and the state, or "a balance between the will and the general good" (Hadomi 120), due to the "complete identity between the aspirations of the individual and the interests of the collective” (120). In Oceania, individuals are forced into submission and any form of personal autonomy is ruthlessly repressed. The Party controls every aspect of citizens' lives by constantly monitoring them through TV screens installed in apartments. This control can often result in punishment; therefore, “the constant surveillance of power in Oceania does not unite people, but isolates and separates them” (Fortunati 117). Moreover, in the standard utopian place, there is never “any doubt or uncertainty about the functioning of the Party.” " (117) and there is "no shadow of doubt or uncertainty as to his motivations and functions" (117). In 1984, which is "a scolding satire, like all dystopias" (Beauchamp 75) , the names of the ministries totally contradict their functions; the Ministry of Peace carries out war, the Ministry of Truth carries out propaganda and modifies historical texts, and the Ministry of Love carries out various punishments and tortures. social interaction in Oceania is based on the wrathful aspects of human nature, on "inciting hatred of the enemy without and within, whether real or imaginary" (Hadomi 122 ). In the totalitarian society of 1984, "there is ultimately no possibility of freely choosing between ethical domains" (123). Winston answers "yes" without any hesitation when asked if he is ready. to throw sulfuric acid in the face of a child in the interest of the common cause This new dystopian “morality”, or rather the distortion of all moral and ethical principles, characterizes all layers of life in Oceania. The dystopian lifestyle without freedom, privacy or morals causes Winston and Julia to view their past asan illusory dream. , hate their present and fear their future. Winston, older and more thoughtful than Julia, suffers from not having real things in this “real world”. Consequently, he lives his own utopia, creating islands of privacy (Orwell 11). Winston often retreats to “another place” in his imagination. When he and Julia first make love, he dreams of this non-existent place and "retreats into the past through his childhood memories or into the future through his dreams and visions of the Golden Land" (Hadoomi 123). Winston’s work is his “greatest pleasure in life” (Orwell 39) because it is where he also deals with the past. The Party slogan "He who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past" (31) means that the past can be "corrected" to suit the interests of the Party and, ultimately, erased from the memory of the people. . Alex Zwerdling accentuates the illusory nature of the very concept of the past in 1984: “The boundary between reality and imagination is constantly blurred in the novel, and we are often uncertain as to whether something happened” (Zwerdling 92 ). In the past, Winston must deal with the old language, the language that was spoken in Oceania before the Party began to abolish it for "its vagueness and unnecessary nuances of meaning" (Orwell 46). Winston expresses his longing for the past in his childhood memories and in his conversation with the old man at the pub. Julia's more pragmatic and resilient character reveals the harshness of the dystopian world. She hates her job and is completely content with the fact that she has had multiple affairs with her many co-workers. For her, sex is the ultimate rebellion; Julia's life is a constant struggle with the direct goal of violating every insane rule the Party has imposed on its citizens. Julia “only questioned Party teachings when they affected her own life in some way.” She was often willing to accept the official mythology, simply because the difference between truth and lies did not seem important to her” (Tentler 51). This is reflected in the scene in which Julia gives black market chocolate to Winston when they first meet. Both Winston and Julia understand that their rebellion against the Party will doom them. However, aware of Winston's prophecy "We are the dead" (Orwell 77), they still prefer to use their chance to fight rather than be "alive" and conform to the Party's expectations. Julia and Winston go to O'Brien, the leader of the Party, convinced that he is against the Party. They confuse O'Brien, the main leader of the Party, with a Liberal opponent. O'Brien's dual identity is further evidence of a dystopian distortion of reality. In utopia, any “disagreement between individuals or between individuals and the collective would be unthinkable” (Haldomi 120). In 1984, this disagreement is also impossible since there exists a “state machine capable of creating and destroying identities at will” (122). We will empty you," O'Brien tells Winston, "and then we will fill you with ourselves" (Orwell 206). If Julia and Winston had not made a fatal mistake about O'Brien, the end from 1984 would still be optimistic: there would be at least some hope for the future. However, if this novel ended in this way, it could not be considered a dystopia, as in many other cases in the novel. , it turns out that there is no ". real" O'Brien --- The Party's opponent is just an illusion. O'Brien made the most explicit statement in 1984 regarding inverted utopian values ​​when he spoke to Winston about the Party's plan for civilization It's exactly the opposite of the stupid hedonistic utopias that the old people imagined. 87-111.