Dystopia Refers to Imaginative Societies Portrayed in Fictional Stories - Essay Example

Dystopia Unlike the contemporary utopias, dystopia refers to imaginary and futuristic societies portrayed in fictional stories. The societies are both frightening and undesirable. Their key characteristics include inhumane social structures as the leaders of such societies appreciate inhumane features such as torture. Besides, they show a complete disregard to the fundamental human rights. Most of fictional authors envision such societies as a means of criticizing the modern governance with the view of preventing the materialization of such calamities. Among the iconic dystopian works is The Handmaid's Tale, a novel written by Margaret Atwood , a Canadian author. The fictional novel depicts life in the fictional futuristic society. The following discourse thematically focuses on the book in view of trying to find its relevance to human life. In order to portray the specific thematic issues in the story, the novel has a characteristic plot in which the author validates all her fictional themes. She sets the story in a post-civil war society known as the Gilead Republic. The republic lies in the modern day United States and the story begins with a military revolution that overthrows the government of the United States after an Islamic terrorist group bombs the society thus killing both the president and a section of the congress. This creates room for the radical and extremist military group to disregard the constitution. Instead, they put in place an authoritative form of governance. In fact, they change the name of the society to ‘Gilead Republic’ where they rule with an iron fist. Among the fundamental social changes that the new regime institutes is the confiscation of all the financial resources previously belonging to women. This way, the new government incapacitates women thus reversing the previous gender roles prevalent in the United States. The new government introduces a cashless society following the implementation of an electronic payment mechanism. The technology permits the government to monitor all the financial resources belonging to women thereby confiscating such. Additionally, the new government ran by the group referring to as themselves as the “Sons of Jacob” bans the employment of women. The seizure of all the finances previously belonging to women by freezing their bank accounts coupled with the ban on women employment reverses the gender roles as the new government redefines the women roles in the society. through the poor financial policies instituted by the new government, the society plunges into abject poverty as viral diseases spread through the region thus reducing the population of the previous United states (Hammer 35). The author thus narrates the story through the first person narration technique by following the life of one of the key women in the new society. Offred was an average American woman in the previous civilization; she had a respectable family with a husband and a daughter. As an upper middle class American woman, she had a respectable lifestyle and avoided the prevalent viral diseases that began spread before the collapse of the previous regime. In the new government, Offred is a concubine just as all other women in the new republic. However, unlike many others, she is health and therefore serves as a tool for reproduction. The Commander known as Fred keeps Offred as a concubine but unlike any other, he considers using her to foster his lineage. the following story is therefore of betrayals as the various characters both male and female strive to survive in the new authoritarian society. The author of the novel selects the features of the novel strategically in order to validate her claims. Among the styles she uses is the futuristic position of the novel. She understands that the issues she raises had never been experienced neither in the past nor in the present society. However, placement is a fundamental literary feature. She must place the plot in both a time and a society in order to earn some relevance to her story. She achieves this by placing the story in the future American society. The indefinite nature of the future tense thus validates all the claims she makes in the story. The collapse of the American government and the rise of the new republic build a post apocalypse American society, which several other authors have previously developed. With the futuristic approach to the story, the author earns the audacity to manipulate such literary features as the plot and the themes thereby developing the story she manages to build. Some other styles she uses include suspense and flash back among many others. Suspense refers to the restricted provision of details. This develops some anxiety in her readers a feature that maintains their interest in the story to completion. She provides brief details of both the actions and the character in the story before skipping such parts to tell other parts of the story. The technique does not only maintain readership but also sustains the conflicts in the novel. Conflict is a fundamental aspect of the story as it sustains the story to completion. The novel has various conflicts that the author addresses strategically with the aim of developing the story to completion. In doing this she incorporates flash backs as Offred among other characters refer to their previous lives both in the previous American society and at the beginning of the new political regime. The use of flashbacks is strategic as it enables the author to compares and contrasts the nature of the two societies manifested in the novel. In doing this, she compares the roles of women in the past American society and in the new regime. Using such techniques, the author manages to develop the novel with relative actions and effective presentation of the themes as she envisions them. An effective representation of the society arises from her appropriate placement of the various themes in the novel. This way, she does not only sustain the story but also communicates to her target audience. Among the themes the author portrays in the story, include violence. From the first action in the story, the author depicts a level of violence characteristic of the apocalypse. The terrorist attack targets and succeeds in the annihilation of the previous American society. The author uses such extreme violence in an attempt to validate the development of the new political regime in the Gilead Republic. The United States is the strongest economy with her citizens including women enjoying various fundamental liberties. The author must therefore validate the turn of events that results in the creation of the new authoritarian and illicit government that portrays the abject disregard to the gender rights and privileges. She achieves this by introducing the terrorist attack among other successive violent scenes in the American society. The attack kills the president and other important people in the society’s leadership. This creates a power vacuum which the movement easily occupies thus developing their unique political system. Besides the terrorist attack, the novel portrays other violent scenes and disregard to human rights as the new regimes takes over the management of the official government affairs. Through their authoritarian approach to government, they limit the human liberties by banning the employment of women and reading among other liberties humans previously enjoyed. Through such legislations, they plunge the society into complete anarchy, as people have to use unorthodox means to survive. Violence characterizes the new regime. They used violence to come into power but also face a viable potential as Offred learns of yet another underground resistance network that seeks to overthrow the Gilead Republic. This exhibits the potential of yet another violent attack as the two factions are likely to engage in power struggles most of which have resulted in the loss of lives and disregard to human rights. Amidst the anarchy that characterizes the new society, the author portrays sexual interaction as a fundamental part of the society. Among the new women roles is to serve as handmaids. They serve the men in the society as concubines. This perpetuates the perverse nature of the new society as sexual intercourse become liberal and a tool for trade among women. However, owing to the spread of various sexually transmitted diseases amidst the lack of effective medication, the situation becomes dire as people limit their sexual indulgence in order to prolong their longevity. The new government thus imposes a new regulation that limits sexual intercourse to reproduction. The decree should therefore safeguard the future of humanity by ensuring the birth of new healthy members of the society. However, Offred among other women of her type use sex a tool of trade in order to gain favors. The Commander’s wife, Joy Serena organizes Offred to sleep with her driver Nick in order to get her pregnant. In return, she offers Offred news of her daughter. This portrays the level of both perverseness and limitation of human liberties in the new society. The new regime limits sexual intercourse reserving such privileges to the powerful individuals in the society permitted to have concubines. Briefly, the author understands the need to develop a realistic story. Since her story addresses issues that are unique to the society she creates, she employs various literary features and portrays specific themes that help portrays her futuristic American society. As evident of such political times, the author portrays a unique classification in the new society using classes and castes. The African American society is referred to as the sons of Ham while Jews as the sons of Jacob. The two have specific roles and should not relate. While the African Americans are moved to the national homelands, the sons of Jacob, which form part of the ruling regime, enjoy freedom of converting to Christianity. The social discrimination manifests itself even in the reproduction patterns. The sons of Jacob prefer having sexual intercourse with the whites in order to foster their lineage. The African Americans on other hand are rejects who should limit their future generations. Work cited Hammer, S. Barbe. "The World as It Will Be? Female Satire and the Technology of Power in The Handmaid’s Tale", Modern Language Studies XX (2): 39–49, 1990. Print. Read More