Dystopian Society In The Grapes Of Wrath By Albert Camus

Albert Camus once said “the only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion". This quote is exemplified in various examples in our society most notably through Martin Luther King and Gandhi who used civil disobedience as a way to rebel. Both of these figures were in state of living in an unfree world which resulted in them to revolting and speaking up. When one thinks of an unfree world they usually think of a place that is distressing. A place where everything is undesirable and dreadful. This is the basis of dystopian society as it is an imagined state or place in which everything is unpleasant. Often dystopia is used in literature to exaggerate current trends and political
When we think of a utopian world more often than not an imagined place where everything is desirable and perfect is thought of. This is essentially used as a deception to influence people's beliefs about a condition. The novel portrayed how this is a characteristic of dystopia. An example of this characteristic in the novel was a passage that states “A woman who had boasted to me about Nova Scotia on her own bottom found herself so hungry and cold that she placed her x mark on indenture papers, giving up her freedom"(Hill, 454). Prior to when the slaves arrived in Nova Scotia the British government portrayed it to be a perfect utopian world where they would be granted freedom, equality and land which they so desperately desired. The slaves thought of this as the perfect opportunity to escape from the dystopian society that they lived in. Be that as it may what they didn’t know was that after reaching Nova Scotia they would struggle to survive as portrayed by the example above. Consequently this example portrays how this characteristics fits into dystopia. Even though the slaves moved to Nova Scotia they are still under a control by the government which is due to the fact that they depend on the British to give them land and jobs. This shows that the government uses an illusion of utopian society as a way to get what they want
The natural world refers to society before the impact of dystopia. Furthermore the banishment or distrust alludes to the change in the natural world caused by the impacts of dystopia. For instance this characteristic was portrayed in the novel in the following passage “I heard Alassane say that in two days we would be arriving at the village of Kassam a place where slaves were sold. When we get there, Alassane said, I will sell the woman"(Hill, 612). Basically Aminata had arrived back in Africa and was travelling with Alassane who promised to take her to her village in exchange for rum. But Alassane deceived her and really just wanted to sell her. This example portrays how the natural world is banished and distrusted as it seems that people with power regardless of their skin color are controlling others which was not the case in the natural world. In this case the natural world is society in Africa before they were influenced by the slave traders which is essentially when Aminata was young. The Natural world consisted of all of the Africans living in harmony when there was no African slave captors. But this Natural society was later distrusted as seen in this example as the British slave traders influenced the more powerful Africans to help them in capturing slaves. This essentially corrupted them as now they see their own people as a