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It's simplest to describe a dystopia as a sort of anti-Utopia, that is, the opposite of our perfect world. Now, in our utopia, there's no war, disease, crime, and everything else that makes us upset. Also, we the humans are in control of our own lives, we are superior beings after all. Except for in heaven (our afterlife Utopia), where god is in control, but let's not get into religion, yet.
So if our Utopia is human controlled, then it seems fair that our dystopia is controlled by some other beings. Like advanced apes (Planet of the Apes), upper class humans (George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley's.
Brave New World) or maybe artificially intelligent robots (The Matrix and Terminator Series).
Throw in the fact that these advanced being have enslaved the human race and you've got yourself quite a dystopia.
It almost seems that we love the idea of a dystopia. Almost all of the popular science fiction texts are concerned with it. And those that aren't complete dystopias still aren't showing technology as making earth a better world. Why though does our own destruction fascinate us so much? Is it because the end of the world feels so close to home? Like it is definitely possible. Even before the sci fi genre even really existed, Nostradamus was predicting a gloomy demise. Is it because the bible ends with the apocalypse? Or with all the destruction in the world, have we always envisioned us destroying ourselves? Which leaves us with the next thought. Is it a warning?.
The book, 1984, was written in 1948. Just after the terrors of world war two, and as the communist states where rising in power. Many believe that it was actually a warning about oppressive governments, such as communism.
Then what is The Matrix warning us of? The most obvious answer is technology. That one-day we would destroy ourselves. And this is a reasonable fear. We have gotten to the point where we rely on computers to do and keep storage of virtually anything important, say banking.
Charles Dicken's Bleak Houses "Ms. ... This shows that even the main characters know that she doesn't care about her own children, just about whatever new crusade she can take up. ... The earliest example we see of this is with Miss Flite. ... It's a world of indifference to the suffering of children. ... But mostly, it's the real world of Charles Dickens, and not a book. ...
Charles Dickens worked with many complicated ideas and it is shown in Bleak House in more than one instance. ... It is an attack on the city, and Bleak House did very well in attacking London and what transpired within its walls in terms of government and social ideas. ... Bleak House can be placed under the title of "urban gothic", and this opening passage has all the qualities of the classic Gothic forms, only updated for the times. ... Setting, in these types of novels, is integral to the story, and the same goes for Bleak House, which is why this opening passage is so important. ...
To Kill a Mockingbird is essentially a bleak novel Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is a comprehensive, tragic and overwhelming novel, but it is not essentially bleak. ... Many things happen during the novel that may make it seem to be bleak. ... The responsibility is placed on the reader because of feelings of guilt and sadness for Tom's death; it makes the reader want to change the world due to Maycomb's mistakes. ... When Tom Robinson dies To Kill a Mockingbird takes on a whole new level. ... Harper Lee uses this guilt to inflict a responsibility onto the reader; she mak...
Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World both explore the concept In the Wild through different forms. Both present a dystopian future with a bleak vision of the world. ... In complete contrast to Blade Runner, Brave New World presents to us an ordered, immaculately clean, sterile environment. ... Soma is a drug administered to the masses of Brave New World, which is considered an "impenetrable wall between the actual universe and their minds. ... Huxley's character, Mond, reflects the Deckard character of Blade Runner for Brave New World who is also ...
Stylistic Analysis of a Passage from "Bleak House" In this selection from the "Bleak House", Mr. Dickens effectively uses cohesion, independent clauses, and lexical sets to set up his story. This passage flows very smoothly with his transitions from one sentence to another. Throughout the first p...
In order to counter the unreality of Ibsen and the bleakness of Chekhov, John M. Synge has chosen a seemingly unbelievable story to create his realist masterpiece, The Playboy of the Western World. ... Yet, as Synge identifies himself in the preface, these elements in combination are extremely effective in showing the life of the peasantry; more so than any bleak or so-called "real" story (in the manner of Ibsen) could. The problem with showing the peasant class in a bleak manner is that, by virtue of their position, the audience knows their life is bleak in terms of money. ... But the happ...
Certainly such a voice is largely excluded from those of Bleak House. ... His influence certainly touches elements of Bleak House. ... That they lack this intergration makes their potential to take their revenge from the world that has bread them all the more poignant. ... Their perception of the world, shaped by their experience, has been one in which they have learnt the hunted, hounded persistently to "move on". ... (Morris, 1991: 95) However, as a result of this failure Jo often percieves the world as harsh and unwelcoming. ...
Brave New World Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwells's Nineteen Eighty-four are the most influential futuristic novels of the 20th century (Firchow 83). ... In his forward to the 1946 edition of Brave New World, Mr. ... The essay Brave New World Revisited was written by Aldous Huxley in 1958- twenty- seven years after the publication of Brave New World. ... In Brave New World Revisited he describes himself as less optimistic than he was when writing Brave New World in 1931. ... One of the slogans the citizens of the World State are conditioned with is: "Fine to thi...
MacLeod1 Brave New World Literary Essay Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is a futuristic story of a dystopian society that has rid itself of instability through science and politics, as well as the sacrifice of certain cultural values. Although the concept of this new world seems ideal, the author portrays it cynically. ... The new world revolves around the main elements of capitalist consumerism and the economy. ... The secularism of the new world is depicted contemptuously. ... The new world is based on a utopian philosophy. ...