Responsibility of Citizens in Creation and Persistence of Dystopia - Assignment Example

Running head: Dystopia RESPONSIBILITY OF CITIZENS IN CREATION AND PERSISTECE OF DYSTOPIA Goes Here al Affiliation Goes HereAbstract The paper analyses the texts Dehumanized, Borders and Nineteen Eighty-Four from the perspective of dystopian environment for which the people in the society are also responsible. The paper tries to offer arguments from the texts to unravel solutions for such dystopian environments. Introduction The term Dystopia is the antonym of the term Utopia. The term depicts a society or a community, which in some or the other way is frightened or undesirable. These kinds of dystopian societies are generally chosen as the subjects of many literature works, especially those that are focusing to the future. The general characterization of dystopia can be described by the general characterization of dehumanization – wherein he human beings are not regarded as human beings and are treated as slaves. In a dehumanized state, the people are treated very badly by the government or rather to say the state is ruled under the dictatorship of a sole ruler. There are no signs of democracy in the state and the dictator is the head of the state. A dystopian state possesses a totalitarian government, experience environmental disaster and shows others characteristics that are associated with a cataclysmic decline in society (Oxford Dictionaries, 2012). In the literature section, the topic of dystopia has been used in many sub-genres of fiction novels. The best example that can be cited here is the fiction novel 1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four – A Novel) written by George Orwell. The plot of the novel is developed under a dystopian totalitarianism environment and the novel is a symbolic ironic structure of modern class (Benets Readers Encyclopedia, 1996). Through this novel the writer tried to show how not only the government or the ruling body is responsible for the dystopian environment in the country but also the citizens of the country Oceania are equally responsible. The mentality and psychology of the citizens in creation and persistence of dystopian environment is clearly depicted in the novel. The essay will focus on the guilt of the citizens of the country how they are responsible in creating the dystopian situation. The essay also refers to two of the most appropriate literatures written on the similar situation and tries to find how these literatures are similar in describing the situation in the country and also some of the resolution to avoid dystopia in the country. The main aim of choosing the topic in many fiction novels is to address the real world issues pertaining to the society, environment, economics, politics, psychology, ethics, religion, science and technology (Aaronovitch, 2013). These issues are important to be addressed otherwise the pile on issues in these particular sectors can lead to such a condition that would create dystopia like conditions. Apart from George Orwell’s novel 1984, there have been many literatures that addressed the issue of dystopia. One of the most renowned novels is The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins. In this novel it is showed how the government of the state has created a state of fear among the people where the children from different sectors need to fight with each other to death to earn food for their community or the village. Here in the novel, it is seen that people of the village is also somehow responsible for creating dystopia like environment. They do not fight back for their rights and make the government understand about the power of masses. Instead they remain frightened and make it easy for the government to take control over them and rule like dictators. This is where the citizens made the mistake. If they would have protested like how the main characters of the story has done then the kids of each segment of the society need not to fight in the battle of existence and moreover to earn food for the entire society. 1984 Dystopia –George Orwell’s Depiction George Orwell depicts dystopia in his novel 1984 by using a futuristic setting. He has incorporated the fear of technology as the plot of dystopia like environment in his classic novel. The novel has beautifully shown how people lead a dehumanized and fearful life in the era of science and technology. The general people of the state are fearful about the new technologies that are coming up. They have the state of mind that people in power can use these new inventions against them and dictate their lives. According to the novel 1984, in a dystopia like environment, the technological and social trends have contributed significantly towards the degraded and corrupted state of oppression and deprivation. George Orwell has used vaporization and Thought Police, mixed with futuristic settings, in order to depict dystopia in the novel 1984. The work of the Thought Police is to constantly monitor thoughts of people of Oceania so that they cannot disobey the orders of Big Brother or The Party. This is perfect example of a bourgeois society wherein the established government would remain in control of every aspect of people’s lives. In this state if anybody goes against The Party, the Thought Police will vaporize the citizens and they will disappear from the state (Nineteen Eighty-four – the novel, 1949). No one will ever know where they have gone as it will be erased from the memory as well as the database. It is easy to generate fear among people with these kinds of technology and belief, which is basically impossible in reality. The main character of the novel, Winston Smith, shows the courage to go against the system and fights against The Party. He is completely aware what could be his end result for this. However, he decides to join the Brotherhood for the common good of mankind. This is the way how Orwell has placed the main character of his novel to be in disagreement with the society. At the end of the novel, Orwell has beautifully created a dystopia by blending the futuristic settings with the fear of people about the technology and the disagreement of the main character with the society. The novel has won the heart of numerous readers as a literary political fiction and dystopian science fiction work of literature. The futuristic settings in the novel flawlessly depict the dystopia like environment in a state ruled by the dictators. The Guilt of the Population in Creating a Dystopian Environment In the novel 1984, George Orwell shows that in the futuristic society, in the year 1984, how people in Oceania would feel about their living under the rule of dictatorship. It is not only the government who are responsible for creating the dystopian environment in the country but also the citizens of Oceania who are equally responsible in creating the environment in the country. It is because the citizens and their thoughts and beliefs that basically made everything terrible in Oceania in the year 1984. The people of Oceania do not even want to think how the society is looking, which is not as beautiful as it pretends to look like. The citizens of Oceania do not want to think in the lines that they were brainstormed and how the process of thought crime is regarded as worst offense in the society (Howe, 1982). It is the responsibility of the citizens of the country to come out of the fear of the government and the technology. Once they come out of the fear and act as a mass it is possible to handle the dystopian citizen. It is the fear of the citizens of Oceania that acted as the catalyst of creating a dystopian situation in the country. In the novel Orwell has depicted that the citizens of Oceania are equally guilty in creating the situation. The mindset of the citizens help the government to create a thumb rule type of administration in the country, which made it easy for creating such a kind of situation. Role of the Government The government is lying to every citizen and rewriting the records in order to make the citizens feel everything is going good in the country. However, this is not the right picture that the government is showing to the citizens of Oceania. And they do not want to raise their voice against the government fearing that if they do so, they might disappear from the society and will be erased from the minds and records. This fear of technology among the citizens of Oceania has made the environment worst and the government has set their feet more firmly in every aspect of the citizen’s lives. The blame of making the situation of Oceania dehumanized, not completely, but to a greater extent goes to the citizens of Oceania. May they have raised their voice, like how the main character of the novel Winston Smith had done, the situation would not have been so bad and the dystopian environment could be avoided to a greater extent. The Situation in Oceania In that situation or environment of Oceania the free will of people of the country was basically useless or even could be regarded as non-existent. People had taken the things for granted and they were in the mindset that let the things go according to the will of the dictator. Who is going to raise their voice and get into trouble? Another fear that was persisting in their minds was the fear of Thought Police, who were always monitoring the thought process of the citizens. The not so literate citizens of Oceania were not aware that there is no any technology that can read a person’s thought process. But the fear and non-willingness among the citizens of Oceania to bring change to the environment stopped people to think for revolution, thus creating a dystopian environment in the country (Keyes, 2009). This particular aspect blended with the mindset of the people had brought down the quality of life in the country. It’s because of non-existence of free will among the citizens had given more powers to the government and it created a totalitarianism environment in the country where the government had made everybody stay under its thumb. The second fear that the citizens of Oceania were having was the fear of technology. The government rulers have created such a nuance in the country that the citizens started to fear about the technological aspects that are being used in the country. Hence instead of gladly accepting any new technological aspects they started to fear them. They were in fear that they are being watched every time by the Big Brother though large tele-screens. They were under the impression that the government had the ability and technology to control the minds, history and even their language of the people living in Oceania. This thought had always stopped them in taking any action against the government’s dictatorship and ultimately the government has pestered their thoughts and made the citizens of Oceania the puppets in their hands. These evidences and discussion clearly show that it’s not only the government but also the citizen of Oceania who are equally responsible or rather to say, guilty in creating the environment that is dystopia. Along with the oppression of Thought Police and Big Brother, people of Oceania also were not free to take any decision. They were not allowed to rebel even through their minds, which was regarded as thought crime and was the most illegal of all rebellious crimes. Because of this rule, the citizens of Oceania were fearful in going rebellious against the dictatorship of the government. Solutions Cited in Literatures for Dystopia George Orwell in his novel 1984 has not only depicted how dystopia has happened in Oceania and the responsibility of citizens as well as the government, but also has depicted how the main character has gone beyond the government and the society to rebel against and fight for the rights. The main character of the novel Winston Smith had disagreed with the society and the government and carried on his fight against the system. Though he was aware of the result that could lead him into trouble, but still he raised his voice against the wrong and fought for his rights. The attitude of Winston Smith shows that the only solution to avoid dystopia is by raising the voice against the system and brings a change to the society. It was obvious that Winston Smith experienced resistance from the society in his action but he did not stop and went ahead and joined the Brotherhood for the common good of mankind. Another renowned literature where the dystopian environment and solutions for the same is depicted very clearly is Mark Slouka’s essay Dehumanized: When math and science rule the school. In his essay, Mark Slouka has argued that in the American schools, the humanities have lost out to math and science, which does not signify well for the democratic future of the country. Mark Slouka has made a valid point in his essay that the framework in which we calculate the value of our things has become more economistic. It also holds good for our thrust towards education and our love towards the language (Slouka, 2009). When we calculate aspects in our life, we look more towards how cost-effective it is rather that how useful or fair it is for our well-being. This interpretive mindset emerges as the dominant outlook in taking a decision and ultimately it has a negative effect. With this valid point, Slouka has made an unwarranted leap of logic. He associates the dominance of the economistic framework of preferring math and science to quantification. The solution he provides is the association of qualitative values like fairness, ethics and justice with humanities. This has set up a plot for conflict between the cultures with arts and humanities on one side, and with math and science on the other. According to Slouka, the conflict can be avoided if there is equal possibility to teach humanities along with math and science (as termed by Slouka). According to him, it is a conflict between good and poor teaching. The solution here is to enhance the quality of teaching so that people can think fairly. Hence, Slouka indirectly appeals to the students of United States to select qualitative studies instead of the beeline students are presently making for quantitative fields of study such as math and science. Dystopia emerges when there is lack of uniformity. Be it in the social fabric, or be it in college level fields of study. Another literary masterpiece in this segment that can be called out here is a short story named “Borders” written by Thomas King. In this short story, Thomas King has beautifully showed the survival of the inner character of a person amidst a true problem of acceptance and non-acceptance (King, 1998). Throughout the story, the mother has showed how she is continually uses her determination and cultural pride. In the story we can see the effect of the political problems on the life of common people. The minority groups of North America are not being treated fairly and are deprived of their rights of democracy. The ill-treatment has led to the dystopia like environment in the country. As a result, the minority citizens of North America do not raise their voice and fight for their rights. The main character, the mother of the young boy, is not willing to label herself neither American nor Canadian. Instead she calls herself “Blackfoot”. This is the way she chooses to demonstrate her gratification in the Native American roots. This is one of the ways that Thomas King has depicted in his literature by which the dystopia-like situation can be curbed in the country by treating the people in North America fairly and equally irrespective of caste, creed, sexual orientation, age, race, religion, gender, age and disability. The author suggests that the dystopia like situation can be curbed with acceptance for where people come from and who they are; which can be a major value addition to the North American society. Hence from the literature such as Mark Slouka’s essay Dehumanized, Borders written by Thomas King and Nineteen Eighty-Four written by George Orwell, it is evident that a step taken by one person against a dystopian environment (such as Winston in Nineteen Eighty-Four, the minority woman from Borders, or a young college student of the United States), can start a chain reaction among others, which can eventually bring about an end to dystopia. Conclusion Dystopia is depicted as the cautionary tales to make people aware how the situation can go worse if they do not react to the situation. There have been few literature works seen in this essay that has depicted the dystopian situation in the society. Whether it is George Orwell or Mark Slouka or Thomas King – they all have depicted the dystopian situation very well. And not only the situation but also the solution how it the situation can be avoided. The best dystopias are not didactic creeds. It is evident that the best dystopias do not draw their power from the societal or political points that they are making. The best dystopia basically speaks to the deeper meanings of the term itself, which is regarded as a small part of the teeming civilization and of course it is to be for the humans. References Aaronovitch, D. (2013). "1984: George Orwells Road to Dystopia". BBC News Magazine (United Kingdom: The BBC). [Retrieved March 31, 2014]. Benets Readers Encyclopedia (1996) Fourth Edition. New York: HarperCollins. p. 734. George Orwell (2013). Nineteen Eighty-Four, London: Penguin Press Howe, I. (1982). Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four : Text, Sources, Criticism. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. (pp. 290–3). King, T. (1998). “Borders.” The Harbrace Anthology of Short Fiction. Ed. Jon C. Stott et al. Toronto: Harbrace. 1163-71. Keyes, R. (2009). I Love It When You Talk Retro. St Martins. p. 222. Oxford Dictionaries (2012). "Definition of Dystopia", Oxford: Oxford University Press. Slouka, M. (2009). Dehumanized: When Math and Science Rule the School. Harper’s Magazine. September Issue. Read More