Dystopian Novels – 1984, Brave New World and Never Let Me Go
Larry Christopher asked:
A “dystopia” is the opposite of a utopia -an ideal world. Both have been the subject of various novels and films. Perhaps for dramatic reasons, dystopias tend to be a little more interesting. Another related but distinct genre is the post-apocalypse world, as in life following nuclear war or a plague that wipes out most of humanity.
Dystopias, on the other hand, are about the day to day life 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 no doubt at least partly inspired by recent events in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.
1984 is a brilliant and chilling novel for several reasons. For one thing, it shows us what life would be like under a purely malevolent, all-powerful and ruthless dictatorship. As the Party leaders admit, they do not believe in anything except power. If there is a downside to this portrayal of pure tyranny, it is that it’s more than a little depressing. You finish the book with a sense that the Party is invincible.
Orwell’s novel is also famous for pointing out the role language plays in forming our thoughts and beliefs. The Party in 1984 finds that if people are thoroughly brainwashed by propaganda-filled language, they will be incapable of rebelling. Thus, they create the diabolical technique of “doublespeak.” The slogans of the Party, “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength” are examples of this. Victims are eventually brought to the point where they will believe anything, such as 2+2=5. 1984 is about the complete subjugation of the individual at the hands of a merciless 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 quite as overtly malevolent as the one in 1984, it is just as insidious in a more subtle way. It has been observed that Huxley, perhaps fortunately, turned out to have been more prophetic than Orwell in describing the kind of world that would come about in the half century or so after these books were written.
In Brave New World, people are not so much frightened or beaten into submission as lulled into a state of mindless complacency. Between the drug soma, the open sexuality and the constant diversions of popular entertainment, people do not have the time or energy to form original thoughts. Everything, including birth, has been automated; Huxley was an early prophet 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 with Brave New World. As for the “soma,” this is not so different from all the (legally prescribed) drugs given to both children and adults today to treat modern “diseases” like ADD, depression, anxiety and so forth.
In modern society, as 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 Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro. This is in some ways a more fully realized novel than even 1984 or Brave New World. For as brilliant as both of those are, the characters of both are really just there to react to their dystopian circumstances. Yet in Ishiguro’s novel, the characters are extremely well developed, to the extent that you don’t even realize you are reading a dystopian novel until a quarter or so into it. This also makes it more chilling. The sinister aspects of the society, which I won’t even specify, since in this case it would spoil it for anyone who hasn’t yet read it, are so taken for granted by everyone that no special attention is paid to them. The horror of it all gradually descends on us as we find out what’s really going on.
Aside from providing interesting backdrops for stories, dystopias have a cautionary message. Hopefully, as we read about the terrible things going on in a novel like 1984, we will be on guard against anything similar happening in our own world. For example, people speak of government surveillance as being “Orwellian.” The cautionary effect may not always work, but at least we have clues about some things to look out for.
genetic engineering
A “dystopia” is the opposite of a utopia -an ideal world. Both have been the subject of various novels and films. Perhaps for dramatic reasons, dystopias tend to be a little more interesting. Another related but distinct genre is the post-apocalypse world, as in life following nuclear war or a plague that wipes out most of humanity.
Dystopias, on the other hand, are about the day to day life 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 no doubt at least partly inspired by recent events in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.
1984 is a brilliant and chilling novel for several reasons. For one thing, it shows us what life would be like under a purely malevolent, all-powerful and ruthless dictatorship. As the Party leaders admit, they do not believe in anything except power. If there is a downside to this portrayal of pure tyranny, it is that it’s more than a little depressing. You finish the book with a sense that the Party is invincible.
Orwell’s novel is also famous for pointing out the role language plays in forming our thoughts and beliefs. The Party in 1984 finds that if people are thoroughly brainwashed by propaganda-filled language, they will be incapable of rebelling. Thus, they create the diabolical technique of “doublespeak.” The slogans of the Party, “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength” are examples of this. Victims are eventually brought to the point where they will believe anything, such as 2+2=5. 1984 is about the complete subjugation of the individual at the hands of a merciless 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 quite as overtly malevolent as the one in 1984, it is just as insidious in a more subtle way. It has been observed that Huxley, perhaps fortunately, turned out to have been more prophetic than Orwell in describing the kind of world that would come about in the half century or so after these books were written.
In Brave New World, people are not so much frightened or beaten into submission as lulled into a state of mindless complacency. Between the drug soma, the open sexuality and the constant diversions of popular entertainment, people do not have the time or energy to form original thoughts. Everything, including birth, has been automated; Huxley was an early prophet 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 with Brave New World. As for the “soma,” this is not so different from all the (legally prescribed) drugs given to both children and adults today to treat modern “diseases” like ADD, depression, anxiety and so forth.
In modern society, as 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 Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro. This is in some ways a more fully realized novel than even 1984 or Brave New World. For as brilliant as both of those are, the characters of both are really just there to react to their dystopian circumstances. Yet in Ishiguro’s novel, the characters are extremely well developed, to the extent that you don’t even realize you are reading a dystopian novel until a quarter or so into it. This also makes it more chilling. The sinister aspects of the society, which I won’t even specify, since in this case it would spoil it for anyone who hasn’t yet read it, are so taken for granted by everyone that no special attention is paid to them. The horror of it all gradually descends on us as we find out what’s really going on.
Aside from providing interesting backdrops for stories, dystopias have a cautionary message. Hopefully, as we read about the terrible things going on in a novel like 1984, we will be on guard against anything similar happening in our own world. For example, people speak of government surveillance as being “Orwellian.” The cautionary effect may not always work, but at least we have clues about some things to look out for.
genetic engineering
Want to Live an Extra Million Years?
What kinds of organisms are ideally suited for genetic engineering research and why?
meeeeeeeee asked:
What kinds of organisms are ideally suited for genetic engineering research and why?
Genetic Assessment
What kinds of organisms are ideally suited for genetic engineering research and why?
Genetic Assessment
Want to Live an Extra Million Years?
Is Genetic Engineering Good for the Environment?
ForaTv asked:
Complete video at: fora.tv Pamela Ronald explains how genetic engineering can be used in place of more harmful farming practices. She describes how genetically modified cotton is used to reduce pesticide use and improve biodiversity. —– Pamela Ronald and Raoul Adamchak present “Organically Grown and Genetically Engineered: The Food of the Future” as part of The Long Now Foundation’s Seminars About Long-term Thinking. They explore how genetic engineering can work with organic growing …
Genetic Exam
Want to Live an Extra Million Years?
No More Teary Onion, Thanks to Genetic Engineering
James Wachai asked:
The blog, Rael the Prophet, reports on an article in the UK Telegraph about a research on a genetically engineered tear-free onion being collaboratively conducted by researchers from Japan and the New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food Research. We’re all aware how teary an onion can be if mishandled when chopping. To men and women who spend considerable amounts of time cooking, this, definitely is news worth celebrating.
In addition to ridding onion of the gene that causes teary effects on our eyes, these researchers promise that this new variety will be sweeter and healthier.
What an exciting research? Indeed, it has generated quite a buzz. The journal Onion World, in its December edition, has featured this work, which is being piloted by Dr. Colin Eady. The popular environmental blog Environmental Grafita gleefully proclaims, GM onions means no more tears, with sarcasm:
Anti-GMO activists may soon be tearing up after a New Zealand company announced the development of a genetically modified tear free onion.
I can’t also wait to see their [anti-biotech activists] reactions. Instead of inserting a foreign gene into the onion, which has been the practice in crop genetic engineering, researchers in this project will be working to suppress the gene that makes onions teary.
The key is not to introduce a foreign gene but to silence one using a phenomenon called RNA interference. By stopping sulphur compounds from being converted to the tearing agent and redirecting them into compounds responsible for flavour and health, the process could even improve the onion.
So, which direction will the debate on safety of this new onion variety take? We’re always told there’s no guarantee of safety of genes inserted into crops such as corn, cotton, or soya. Will the anti-biotech groups now claim removing a gene from a crop, and onion onion for that matter, will compromise human health and the environment? Let’s wait for the debate to start.
Genetic Exam
The blog, Rael the Prophet, reports on an article in the UK Telegraph about a research on a genetically engineered tear-free onion being collaboratively conducted by researchers from Japan and the New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food Research. We’re all aware how teary an onion can be if mishandled when chopping. To men and women who spend considerable amounts of time cooking, this, definitely is news worth celebrating.
In addition to ridding onion of the gene that causes teary effects on our eyes, these researchers promise that this new variety will be sweeter and healthier.
What an exciting research? Indeed, it has generated quite a buzz. The journal Onion World, in its December edition, has featured this work, which is being piloted by Dr. Colin Eady. The popular environmental blog Environmental Grafita gleefully proclaims, GM onions means no more tears, with sarcasm:
Anti-GMO activists may soon be tearing up after a New Zealand company announced the development of a genetically modified tear free onion.
I can’t also wait to see their [anti-biotech activists] reactions. Instead of inserting a foreign gene into the onion, which has been the practice in crop genetic engineering, researchers in this project will be working to suppress the gene that makes onions teary.
The key is not to introduce a foreign gene but to silence one using a phenomenon called RNA interference. By stopping sulphur compounds from being converted to the tearing agent and redirecting them into compounds responsible for flavour and health, the process could even improve the onion.
So, which direction will the debate on safety of this new onion variety take? We’re always told there’s no guarantee of safety of genes inserted into crops such as corn, cotton, or soya. Will the anti-biotech groups now claim removing a gene from a crop, and onion onion for that matter, will compromise human health and the environment? Let’s wait for the debate to start.
Genetic Exam
Want to Live an Extra Million Years?
