Dystopian novels: 1984, Brave New World and Never Let Me Go
A “dystopia” is the opposite of a utopia: an ideal world. Both have been the subject of several novels and films. Perhaps for dramatic reasons, dystopias tend to be a bit more interesting. Another related but distinct genre is the post-apocalypse world, such as life after a nuclear war or a plague that wipes out most of humanity.
Dystopias, on the other hand, are about the everyday lives of people living under tyranny or some other miserable condition. The best known example of a dystopia in literature is George Orwell’s 1984. This novel, written in 1948 (Orwell simply reversed the years), was undoubtedly inspired, at least in part, by recent events in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.
1984 is a brilliant and chilling novel for several reasons. On the one hand, it shows us what life would be like under a purely malevolent, all-powerful and ruthless dictatorship. As Party leaders admit, they believe in nothing but power. If there’s a downside to this depiction of sheer tyranny, it’s that it’s more than a little depressing. You end the book with the feeling that the Party is invincible.
Orwell’s novel is also famous for pointing out the role that language plays in shaping our thoughts and beliefs. The Party in 1984 discovers that if people are completely brainwashed with propaganda-filled language, they will be unable to rebel. Thus, they create the devilish technique of “double talk.” The Party’s slogans, “War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength” are examples of this. Victims eventually get to the point where they will believe anything, like 2+2=5. 1984 is about the complete subjugation of the individual at the hands of a ruthless regime.
The other major entry in the dystopian genre is Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. While the society portrayed in this equally brilliant novel is not as overtly malevolent as that of 1984, it is just as insidious in a more subtle way. It has been noted that Huxley, perhaps fortunately, turned out to have been more prescient than Orwell in describing the kind of world that would emerge about half a century after these books were written.
In Brave New World, people aren’t so much scared or beaten into submission as they are lulled into a state of mindless complacency. Between the soma of drugs, open sexuality, and the constant diversions of popular entertainment, people don’t have the time or energy to form original thoughts. Everything, including birth, has been automated; Huxley was one of the early prophets of genetic engineering and test-tube babies.
When you consider the way people are beholden to television and celebrity culture today, you can easily see similarities to Brave New World. As for “soma”, it’s not that different from all the (legally prescribed) drugs that are given to children and adults today to treat modern “diseases” like ADD, depression, anxiety, etc.
In modern society, like in Brave New World, no one is expected to face reality without the aid of chemical or electronic stimulants or relaxants.
A more recent worthy addition to the dystopian genre is Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go. This is, in some ways, a more complete novel than even 1984 or Brave New World. As brilliant as they both are, their characters are really there to react to their dystopian circumstances. However, in Ishiguro’s novel, the characters are extremely well developed, to the point that you don’t even realize you’re reading a dystopian novel until about a quarter of the way through. This also makes it more chilling. The sinister aspects of society, which I will not even specify, since in this case it would be spoiled for those who have not read it yet, are so taken for granted by everyone that they are not given special attention. The horror of it all gradually descends on us as we discover what is really going on.
In addition to providing interesting story settings, dystopias have a warning message. Hopefully, as we read about the terrible things that happen in a novel like 1984, we’ll be on our guard against something similar happening in our own world. For example, people talk about government surveillance as “Orwellian.” The warning effect may not always work, but at least we have clues on a few things to watch out for.