Dystopianissm In The Handmaid's Tale
The doctrine that all societies have a fear of social breakdown has led to the common desire in Literature to construct idyllic and prosperous societies. Manifestly, these ideas have also been of great interest to Atwood and Huxley as seen with their novels The Handmaid's Tale and Brave New Word. This is closely related to concepts of utopia and dystopia. Utopianism, coined by Thomas More in 1551 etymologically equates to nowhere; this was semantically ameliorated however, to any perfect place by 1610s. Dystopianism, coined by J.S. Mill in 1868 refers to an antithesis of utopia, usually characterised by oppressive social control such as an authoritarian or totalitarian government. These concepts are omnipresent in both novels.
On the surface, …show more content…
Atwood also critically conveys the over-simplified and minimalistic lifestyle enforced upon women through the use of symbolic functional objects such as the “chair, table, and lamp”. Correspondingly, Atwood utilises setting to a large degree to explore women’s role in society. This can be seen with the artificial description of the street "like a museum, or a street in a model town". Here, the use of short sentences and abrupt punctuation conveys the removal of emotion and function of women from society. Supporting this view, is the descriptions of the “lawns tidy and façades are gracious”, which amplify the eerily homogeneous appearance and behavior women were expected to aspire …show more content…
Huxley satirizes the significance of science within the World State, through humanities indiscriminate belief in progress and science being under heavy scrutiny. In essence, Huxley measures how far science can stretch without being immoral and comes to the conclusion that science does not have the power to save humanity successfully. This seen through the supremacy and emphasis placed on eugenics, whereby “everyone belongs to everyone”. It therefore becomes clear that the cost of the World State's motto, ‘Community, Identity, Stability’ is clearly a society devoid of emotions, love, beauty and real relationships. The impact of 2,000 million standardised citizens being “hatched” to their predestined roles, is essentially enabling social decay to be an unstoppable force. Here, Huxley’s uses scientific extremism as an element of dystopia, which he discretely
On the surface, …show more content…
Atwood also critically conveys the over-simplified and minimalistic lifestyle enforced upon women through the use of symbolic functional objects such as the “chair, table, and lamp”. Correspondingly, Atwood utilises setting to a large degree to explore women’s role in society. This can be seen with the artificial description of the street "like a museum, or a street in a model town". Here, the use of short sentences and abrupt punctuation conveys the removal of emotion and function of women from society. Supporting this view, is the descriptions of the “lawns tidy and façades are gracious”, which amplify the eerily homogeneous appearance and behavior women were expected to aspire …show more content…
Huxley satirizes the significance of science within the World State, through humanities indiscriminate belief in progress and science being under heavy scrutiny. In essence, Huxley measures how far science can stretch without being immoral and comes to the conclusion that science does not have the power to save humanity successfully. This seen through the supremacy and emphasis placed on eugenics, whereby “everyone belongs to everyone”. It therefore becomes clear that the cost of the World State's motto, ‘Community, Identity, Stability’ is clearly a society devoid of emotions, love, beauty and real relationships. The impact of 2,000 million standardised citizens being “hatched” to their predestined roles, is essentially enabling social decay to be an unstoppable force. Here, Huxley’s uses scientific extremism as an element of dystopia, which he discretely