Dystopia revision

Isolated protagonists

Gender issues

Surveillance

Winston

Offred

Jimmy/Snowman

Kathy

Alone, unable to communicate with others

Lack of speech - most of it is through her mind and is now recording alone

Before Julia he is alone,
no connection with Katherine

Still politically isolated with Julia as he wants a greater political awakening

Winston is frightened by her lack of knowledge and she sleeps while he reads her Goldstein's book

'The truth is she is my spy and I am hers'

Physically left alone with the Crakers

As a carer she is isolated from both Ruth and Tommy

She is also isolated from the rest of the world as a clone and at Hailsham

Telescreens in 1984

Guardians in Hailsham

Lack of surveillance in Oryx and Crake

Left completely alone and unable to function as a result of this

Previously there was surveillance with cameras allowing young Jimmy to spy on his father

Eyes in THT

Male role but women can be informants - 'Eyes of God watch ver the earth'

Constant suspicions with other Handmaids being spies for orthodoxy

Arrival of new technologies after the war - frightening

'Facecrime' anyone can be suspected

Surveillance state a focal point for orthodoxy

Surveillance is always needed to keep the people in check and following a dystopian regime

There for the benefit of the clones but watch and control their actions

As they get older there is little spying and they become more free - however, this is only free to die

Women in The Handmaids Tale

Given positions in a male dominated hierarchy creating discordance and infighting

Lives are determined by men and their sexuality and fertility

Contradiction of the Commander's want to make her 'life better' yet he created and crafted a society that persecutes and restricts women.

Everything that occurs has 'happened before' - very unapologetically feminist text and written after 2nd wave feminism

Atwood also commenting on the division of women in American society as her setting is crucial - many of her other novels are set in Canada

In 1984 they are treated much more equally

Julia has a position in the party and there is mentions of other women as well

Characters such as Mrs Parsons is still defined by her role as a wife and mother - still expected to produce young for the party

Lack of sexuality in women is a similarity as Katherine called sex a 'duty to the Party' and only proles are prostitutes - men still allowed to flout the rules on this account

Social class

Goldstein's book and the high, low and middle

In 1984 Goldstein describes the movement of the high low and middle classes in a cyclical pattern that always keeps the low as the low

Proletariat and inner and outer party separated into fractions by political involvement - carried on from the days before English Socialism was in power - prole man describing the Labour party

Constant need for power and O'Brien refers to power for 'the sake of power' - now even less equal as there is no interchanging in the oligarchy

Lack of political consciousness of the proles whom for Winston hold the hope' of humanity and this defines their role of squalor and position in the 'low' of society

Hierarchy within Gilead

Martha's are basically servants and are placed in this role as they are unable to reproduce - fertility determines power and status

The Handmaids have some power due to their fertility but are constrained by the 'Scriptural Precedents' of violence from the wives and the patriarchal domination of the Commanders

Never Let Me Go shows the cruelty of humanity and how they treat those different as that of lower status

If one can produce a child, they are a 'flag on the hilltop' and won't become an 'unwoman'

The clones are treated cruelly (apart from Hailsham) and those supporting their betterment of conditions tend to be of higher class - wealth confining social views

Religion and dystopia

Handmaids Tale

'God is a national resource' - God is used to control and abuse society, creates a basis for dystopia

Using 'Scriptural Precedents' to 'hit [the Handmaids]', possibly commenting on how religion, when interpreted by extremists can be used to justify violence

Religious language is used throughout between Offred and Ofglen as their sole purpose for being is defined by religious ideas of the oligarchy

The twisting of religion to better one class or gender - in this case to justify the patriarchy

Luke also seems to go along with the patriarchy and Offred knows nothing 'being taken away from him' and continues to not care until it personally impacts him with the divorce.

In NLM both men and women are clones

Both genders donate their organs and are seen as commodities by society

In 'The Year of the Flood' the Gardeners have a religion

Determines their attitude towards people, and what they eat and the positions they give to one another

Very pacifistic and is all about caring - contrast to the attitude of the Gilead oligarchy

Warfare and conflict

Creation of Oceania and constant warfare

'Atomic bomb dropped on Colchester' - creation through war and the merging of states into Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia

Written in 1947 - after 2 world wars, seems much more likely to occur at that time, readers remember the feeling of loss and suffering described (novel of warning)

The shifting of enemies and how this lack of understanding continues the ideas of orthodoxy as during the speech the enemy changes 'without breaking the syntax'

Warfare is continued without a cause and the similarity of regimes would show the problems with a system, a way to consume resources according to Goldstein who we don't even know exists

Creates an atmosphere of discontent and gives a justifiable reason for the measures put in place, a good way to command and control the population when under threat from a bigger force would look like the saviors and protectors

Handmaids Tale war against sects

War being justified by religion against other religious groups and there is also a mention of some freedom fighters - hope for Offred's escape and the downfall of the Gilead system

However, Offred mentioning the 'trade delegation' shows us the world continues on with Gilead existing - economics over morals in a capitalist society, for example Apartheid

The Testaments also shows us the Canadian attitude towards Gilead with protests against refugees and a want for peace and some complaining about the regime but little widespread calls for change.

Oryx and Crake there is no conflict

The death of all humanity and his need for survival - a planned dystopia created through disease - rather poignant!

Destruction to the environment

Oryx and Crake's environment was destroyed

The removal of humanity's influence soon creates a fast jungle

The heat of the sun is also unbearable due to global warming

Biological upgrades of humans created to withstand a destroyed environment

The Handmaids Tale - Offred describes damage

Earthquakes along the San Andreas fault

People polluting and destroying the planet

1984 has a bleak and desolate environment

The Golden country and the pastoral countryside he and Julia visit creates almost a Utopian ideal - contrasting the horrible, dead environmnet of London

Mentions of dust and the falling apart of the so called 'Victory' mansions which are much less than described

Artwork and literature in dystopia

The Crakers creation and edifice of Jimmy

Makes them appear more human, showing art to be a driver of humanity and how to separate us from those less evolved than us

Winston's mention of Shakespeare

As he becomes more 'awake' he becomes more poetic in his language

A reference back to a time of literature and creativity

The Golden Country is a place of pastoral language describing a rural idyll that is Winston's utopian fantasy

The poetic nature of Offred's inner voice

'Pleasure is an egg'

She describes a 'Tennyson' garden and the 'return of the word swoon'

She focuses on minute details to try and separate her mind through the hours of boredom

Crake plays being God through the creation of a garden and the humans he creates