The Age of Dystopia


Introduction.


Two world wars, at least a dozen revolutions, The Great Depression, the Cold War...

The Berlin Wall seems to be a universal symbol of that crazy century, in which most of us were born.

And so-when it began, people hoped they were entering the age of Utopia, while it proved to be quite the opposite. In fact the XXth century gave birth to Dystopia as a literary style... And to some extent-the style of life, when all the Utopianist theories of the XIX century showed their ugly side.

Chapter 1. H.G. Wells and the decline of Europe.



It was probably H.G. Wells who actually gave birth to dystopia, although his first (and probably, the most important) dystopian novel “The Time Machine” was written as a pamphlet, criticizing the contemporary society.

In brief the novel tells about The Time Traveler who goes to the year A.D. 802,701 ,where he finds that the society has fallen into two parts: at first he finds the peaceful little angel-like creatures, called Eloi, who have practically no dimorphism between the sexes, and who seem to spend all their time wondering around in beautiful exotic gardens doing nothing and behaving in absolutely childish way.

But as the night gets closer, the Eloi are getting more and more uncomfortable. The Time Traveler stays out at night, and thus discovers another part of the society, the terrible ape-like hominids called Morlocks, who live in the catacombs underground. The had stolen his time machine, so after a terrible fight The Time Traveler regains his device and moves further on in time, seeing the growing decay of the planet.

Let’s see why it is so vital for the topic, although it was published before the century actually began (1895), and try to figure out what basic characteristics of dystopias does it possess.

Firstly, the action develops in the future, like in most of Utopias and Dystopias (1984 in “1984”, year of our Ford 632 (AD 2540 in the Gregorian Calendar), in the “Brave New World”, the post-war future of E. Zamyatin’s “We”); secondly, it describes the society, which in its development has reached a kind of a logical completion of the features, which worried the author in the contemporary society, like in all Dystopias.

The author’s estimation of this society is also obviously negative, and his views on the future truly pessimistic. By the way, it is also quite typical that though the novel is set in the future, its target is the present time.

But basically, “The Time Machine” isn’t a dystopia in the classic understanding of this word. Moreover, I believe that this kind of a genre definition can’t give the reader an idea of what in fact the novel is.

Firstly, Wells’ character doesn’t come from the same background as the depicted society, and so he is an impartial spectator, while one the features of Dystopias is integration of the reader into the everyday life of the society either through the main character’s diary( “1984”, ”We”) or through making the narrator omniscient and omnipresent, in order to show the characters through the eyes of other characters or through the inner monologues( “Brave New World”, “ 451 Fahrenheit “ etc). Thus, Wells only postulates the problem, which in his time was really not as sharp as it proved to be later, and doesn’t show the solution; neither does he show the process of searching for the solution.

Besides, although his character never returned, we know nothing about his fate, while a character of a typical dystopia is always broken by the machine of the society in the end.

The Sleeper Awakes (originally published as When The Sleeper Wakes (1899), re-written in 1910) is another dystopian novel by H. G. Wells about a man who sleeps for two hundred and three years, waking up in a completely transformed London, where, because of compound interest on his bank accounts, he has become the richest man in the world. A fanatic socialist and author of prophetic writings, the main character awakes to see his dreams realized, and the future revealed to him in all its horrors.

This novel is a much more typical Dystopia, and the main character dies in the end, fighting for freedom and independence.

Chapter 2. The Shadow Rises from the East. E. Zamyatin.



This chapter is dedicated to one of the basic works of Dystopian genre, E. Zamyatin’s “We”.

The novel was written in 1920, but first appeared in the USA in 1952. It appeared as a parody on A. Bogdanov's utopianist novel which proposed "the destruction of human soul and ability to love" as a way to reach the “communist ideal”. The predecessors of “We” were Odoyevsky’s “City without a Name” and “Year 4330”

Let’s go through the novel and see how the structure of it can be divided into little pieces, each describing some aspect of society.

The dystopian society depicted in We is called the One State, a glass city led by the Benefactor (in some translations also known as The Well Doer) and surrounded by a giant Green Wall to separate the citizens from nature. The story takes place after the Two Hundred Year's War, a war that wiped out all but "0.2 of the earth's population". The 200 Years War was a war over a rare substance never mentioned in the book.

The background for the novel were the two Russian revolutions, and so the society of the One State is aggressive and willing to expand, and actually this is what gives the main character the idea to start a diary-he is an engineer working on the project of “Integral”, a spaceship which is supposed to bring the culture and ideals of the One State into space, and D- 503 says that “it’s is his duty to force the inhabitants of outer space to be happy even against their will, to subdue them to the beneficent yoke”- so, he decides to send his notes to space so that the aliens could better understand what life is like in the One State, but in fact his diary is an accusing document.

Other things which are rather prophetically described in the novel and are directly linked to the soviet and not only soviet-almost any totalitarian- policy are:

The engagement of literature

“We” as a common faceless mass (“revolutionary masses” in the USSR)

The Bureau of the Guardians (OGPU, Gestapo, etc)

Annual elections of the Benefactor.( Just like in the USSR when the voting sheet had only one name in it)

“We” is a really frightening book. And the most frightening thing about it is that a lot of things which were described there later became our reality. In fact, the the 200 years war strongly reminds me of the WWII, the green wall-of the iron curtain and the policy of the state-the policy of the post-war Soviet state…

The novel had a lot of impact on the European society after having appeared in 1924.

It influenced George Orwell’s “1984” and (although he claimed that he hadn’t read it before writing his novel) obviously- O.Huxley’s “Brave New World”.

Chapter 3. Twins. O.Huxley



If “We” depicted the socialistic future, “Brave New World” is an absolutely “capitalistic” kind of dystopia.

This is a consumer society, and everything in the social structure, in the religion, in the education of children is dedicated to consummation.

There are no more families; all children are brought up in special boarding schools.

The problem of manipulating with mind is solved simply through manipulations with the embryos (and as a result- millions of twins) and through hypnopædia- a particular method of education in sleep. Short phrases are being repeated again and again each night while the children are asleep, so in their minds these phrases become an undoubted truth.

Besides, the society is genetically divided into five classes- from Alpha to Epsilon; each class has its own role and its own physical and mental characteristics.

All members of society are trained to be good consumers to keep the economy strong. All citizens are expected to be involved socially; spending time alone is discouraged and sexual promiscuity is norm. Recreational drug use has become a pillar of society and all citizens regularly swallow tablets of soma, a narcotic-tranquilizer that makes users mindlessly happy.

The protagonist of the story, John, comes from another world- a reservation in Malpais, he embodies everything that the dehumanized society of the cities lacks: he is poetical, educated, thoughtful, romantic and religious.

Being brought into the consumer society, he is amazed and enchanted, but gradually he sees all its faults and gets into a collision with it. In the end the pressure becomes more then he can bear and he commits suicide.

Chapter 4. Orwellism. George Orwell.



George Orwell is immensely important for our topic as the author of two dystopias- “Animal Farm” (1945) and “Nineteen Eighty-Four” (1949).

Animal Farm is a satirical allegory of a Totalitarian state, dealing mostly with the experience of the Soviet Union.

One day the animals on the farm revolt, and set up a kind of a republic of their own with their own philosophy-Animalism with it’s Seven Commandments, with a sort of democracy-“All the animals are equal”, with their own hymn - "Beasts of England".

At first the animals are happy and working hard, and they even win a battle against the farmers, when the last ones try to regain the farm. But gradually the things begin to go wrong: the pigs impose more and more controls on them while reserving privileges for themselves.

Many years pass, and the pigs learn to walk upright, carry whips, and wear clothes. The Seven Commandments are reduced to a single phrase: "All Animals Are Equal, But Some Animals Are More Equal than Others."

This is a disgusting picture of betrayed ideals.

As far as I am concerned, I am absolutely sure that all the novels I have already mentioned are simply nothing in comparison with George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four», which is the scariest book I've read in my life. It left the feeling of absolute emptiness.

Basically, it was inspired by the USSR and Stalin...

But what came out of Orwell's brain is the image of the future which one can hardly bear. There is no past, no history. There is no privacy; Big Brother is always watching you. There is no art, not even means for it. There is no thought, only slogans, which change every day. There is no love, no family, children are happy to denounce to their parents.

Individuality is destroyed with all possible means.

The world of 1984 is divided into three giant states- Ostasia, Eurasia and Oceania.

They are in a state of constant war, often changing allies.

All the countries are separated from each other, but it becomes obvious that the conditions of life are the same everywhere.

Orwell describes Oceania, which includes England, and, probably, the former British Empire, because there are fights over India. The head of the state is The Big Brother, and the state is governed by the party, which is subdivided into the inner party and the outer party. The remaining mass is called “proles” which stands for “proletariat”. Poverty dominates the country.

There are four Ministries: Ministry of Love which deals with tortures, Ministry of Peace deals with war, Ministry of Plenty deals with poverty and Ministry of Truth deals with propaganda.

Orwell led his main character, Winston, from a small inner revolt through participating in treason to a breakdown, when there is no hope left.

I believe that this book was the most influential, because it in fact showed what was really going on, simply bringing these tendencies to their logical maximum. Even now, though the nightmare never became true, most of the totalitarian states have collapsed and the remaining ones are oppressed by "public opinion», the reader feels the ice of recognition crawling up his spine as he turns the pages. This is the future we all want to escape, and still; we are terribly close to falling into it again.

Chapter 5. Ray Bradbury.



The last dystopia I’d like to discuss before summing up is “Fahrenheit 451”.

This is another view on the problem of future- the society is strictly censored, printed word is carefully destroyed by special “firemen”, whose job is to burn books where they can still be found. The novel deals with several problems of contemporary society- the censorship, the burning of boos in Nazi Germany and the nuclear war.

The society in the book is thoughtless, and so is the protagonist, Guy Montag, until suddenly a strange girl asks him a few questions about his life on which he cannot answer. Then he gradually begins to realize how empty his life is and starts to save and hide books. After a series of events, he has to run away, haunted by the police, and finds a group of people who hide in a forest. He stays with them, and finds out that each of them knows some book by heart.

The final of the novel is apocalyptic-nuclear bombs destroy the city where he had lived.

Ironically, the first edition of the book was censored.

Chapter 6. Strugatsky bros. Noon, XXII century.



Arcady and Boris Strugatsky are a very peculiar topic for discussion.

In fact, most of their novels, each of them being absolutely independent, form a kind of alternative history of the future. I say “alternative”, because their future is already our yesterday!

Anyhow, it’s a wonderful opportunity to trace the development of them as writers, gradually becoming less romantic, and more mature.

Their first novels are absolute utopias, romantic, naïve, even close to stupidity. But as the authors grew older, and their characters moved on and on in history, the world described obviously became more and more uncomfortable. Such books as “Hard to Be a God.” or “The Ugly Swans” have become recognized masterpieces of world literature. The concept of the whole series inevitably leads humanity to a crisis, when the whole human race gets divided into two unequal parts-physiologically, there’s nothing to do with it. In fact, the whole series comprises the period between one crisis of the humanity, and another.

But the most interesting part of their legacy contains the novels, which stand apart from the story of “Noon, the XXII century”

They are “The Snail on the Slope”, “The Roadside Picnic” and “The Doomed City”.

“The Roadside Picnic” was screened by Tarkovsky, who doesn’t need any introductions.

“The Doomed City” is a typical dystopia. The main character lives in some abstract City, and some abstract Experiment of an unknown aim is carried on the citizens.

He goes through many changes, to find himself back at the very start.

Chapter 7. Utopias.



At a first glance one can hardly think of a utopia which appeared in the XX century, so infamous they are. There is probably one only exception: it’s Herman Hesse’s “A Glass Bead Game”, in which the utopian part isn’t really the most important.

The setting is a fictional province of central Europe called Castalia, reserved by political decision for the life of the mind; technology and economic life are kept to a strict minimum. The scholars of Castalia are dismissive towards the 20th century, terming it the Age of the Feuilleton. Castalia is home to a monastic order of intellectuals with a twofold mission: to run boarding schools for boys (the novel is thus a detailed exploration of education and the life of the mind), and to nurture and play the Glass Bead Game.

Chapter 8. Cinema, fine art and music.



Dystopia wasn’t just a literary phenomenon; there is also a lot to say about dystopia in music, fine art and cinema.

In fact, surrealism was a respond to dystopias. Take, for instance, Salvador Dali, or Max Ernst…Or even, Picasso’s “Guernica”.

In cinema there is really a great field to explore, but I was unable to cope with such amount of information, so I simply decided to analyze one only film.

That’s “The Wall” by Alan Parker, based on the “The Wall” album by Pink Floyd.

Apart form other important problems; it has a strong dystopian element. When the main character, Pink, is overtaken by drugs, he imagines himself being a Nazi dictator, and then the images of a Nazi England follow, including such strong episodes, as the skinheads attacking a negro, and the speech of the protagonist, when he screams:

Are there any queers in the theatre tonight?
Get 'em up against the wall
There's one in the spotlight
He don't look right to me
Get him up against the wall
That one looks Jewish
and that one's a coon
Who let all this riff raff into the room
There's one smoking a joint
and another with spots
If I had my way
I'd have all of you shot!

© R. Waters, 1979.

In music, the dystopian motives have found their implementation in two concept albums by G.R. Waters- “Radio K.A.O.S”(1987) and “Amused To Death”(1992),the first dedicated to the topics of atomic bomb and tense between countries, and the second one dedicated to the destructive influence of the TV on our minds.

“Amused to Death” concept is based on the image of some aliens coming to explore our planet and finding our bodies settled around the TV set,

And then the alien anthropologists
Admitted they were still perplexed
But on eliminating every other reason
For our sad demise
They logged the explanation left
This species has amused itself to death…

Amused To Death, © Roger Waters,1992

It also raises many other problems, connected with mass-media, such as their influence on public opinion( What God Wants), the lack of will among people(The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range), the lack of sincerity… And of people not knowing what they really want (Three Wishes). The aooks. As long as people read them and remember about them, peace has a chance.

Dystopias are extremely important; they are a warning to our generation and for those who are to come, a warning not to repeat the same mistakes, if we don’t want to live in the world described.

All dystopias are very different, and all deal with different vices of the society. What we should do is never forget about the lessons, which history has given to us.

Summing up


We



1. Numbers instead of names.

Although this tradition existed in prisons long before Zamyatin’s book, I believe it is a prophetic description, for when the book was written, the global concentration camps of USSR and Germany didn’t exist yet.

2. The annual elections of the Benefactor.

It’s a well-known fact, that there was a system in USSR, when a voting poll had one only name in it.

3. The Music Plant.

The Music Plant and poetry, the examples of which are given in the book, are obviously a grotesque description of the situation, which existed in Soviet literature etc. Let us not forget, that the book was supposed to be a parody on one of those utopias, glorifying the Soviet system!

4. The Benefactor himself is a collective image of a tyrant- whether it is Stalin, who hasn’t acquired the whole power in 1920, or Hitler, who was still unknown by the time… Or anyone who followed.

5. The Green Wall is an image that reminds every reader of the Iron Curtain, or, if to develop this idea- with Berlin wall.

6. The 200 years War, although, I believe, was influenced by the experience of the WWI, is a premonition of the WWII and to some extent describes what the world might be like if the WWIII breaks.

7. To give birth to a child you had to comply with some rules. The same idea was nearly implemented in Nazi Germany, and nowadays a common situation we have in China, when you need to pay a fine if you give birth to a second child.

8. “Each number has a right on the other number” and the idea of family doesn’t exist. The same concept existed in early Soviet times.

9. The Bureau of Guardians – OGPU, Gestapo…

Brave New World



1. Soma was a hallucinogen drug, which helped people to distract from reality.

Just like in America in Europe LSD later became very popular- and still the problem of drug-addicts is one of the most actual. People want to escape from reality.

2. “Free love” ever since the Sexual revolution is actual in the modern society. In a grotesque way it is described in “BNW”.

3. The Fordian Church remind the reader of the realities of the Church Of England, but in a satirical way. Also don’t forget all that comes, like saying “Ford” instead of “Lord”, (A.F) like (A.D.) etc.

4. Synthetic music and cinema- obviously forestalls the mass-production and the pop-art.

5. The names of all the characters and places ironically remind the reader of historical personalities and particular places in London.

Animal Farm.



Here is an extremely interesting article, which I strongly recommend to anyone, interested in the topic.

“Animal Farm” was written as an allegory, describing the revolution in Russia. In the figures of the animals one can easily recognize either well-known historical figures (Old Major, Napoleon, and Snowball) or collective images (Boxer, Mollie, Benjamin) .

1. When the animals throw Mr. Jones away, it’s clearly an allusion of the Russian Revolution of 1917.

2. The owners of the surrounding farms disagree to accept the revolt on the Animal Farm-just like the western countries didn’t admit the existence of the USSR.

3. Napoleon's removal of Snowball is like Stalin’s removal of Leon Trotsky.

4. After Old Major dies, his skull is placed on display on a tree stump, just like Lenin in his Mausoleum.

5. Boxer's motto, "Napoleon is always right" is strikingly similar to «Il Duce ha sempre ragione» ("Mussolini is always right"), a chant used to hail Benito Mussolini during his rule of Italy from 1922 to 1943.

6. During the rise of Napoleon, he ordered the collection of all the hens' eggs. In an act of defiance, the hens destroyed their eggs rather than give them to Napoleon. During Stalin's collectivization period in the early 1930s, many Ukrainian peasants burned their crops and farms rather than handing them over to the government.

7. The mass executions, held by the pigs, remind of the mass execution for the faults, which didn’t exist.

8. Napoleon works with Mr. Frederick, who eventually betrays Animal Farm and destroys the windmill. Though Animal Farm repels the human attack, many animals are wounded and killed. This is similar to Stalin’s Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany in 1939, which was later betrayed in 1941 when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union.

9. The dogs may be an allegory to the NKVD.

10. When Napoleon and Snowball argue about how Animal Farm should be ruled--Napoleon favored the harvest, Snowball favored getting other farms (countries) to rebel. This is similar to Stalin wanting "Socialism in one country" and Trotsky's theory of "Permanent Revolution."

11. The term "four legs good, two legs bad" could be symbolic for the simplification of the April Theses, for workers to understand it better.

12. Napoleon once creates and awards himself with the Order of the Green Banner, a reference to the Soviet Union's Order of the Red Banner.

Other dystopias:



My reader may be surprised that I don’t make a detailed analysis of “1984”. The key to the answer lies in the word “detailed”. I don’t want to do slapdash, while the complete list of all allusions will simply require another work of the same length as I had already written, so I’ll just mention some basic features of other dystopias, which are about to become our reality.

Firstly, many of them (1984, Brave New World, 451 Fahrenheit, Amused to Death) are connected with the theme of TV, two of them even making it the central image.

The problem is still actual nowadays, with TV, as any mass-media, in fact being a sort of a chewing gum (sic!) for brain, a curtain by which people try to hide their thoughtlessness.

The problem I have actually mentioned, but still common to all dystopias is the problem of the most destructive World War. Isn’t it what worries us all, especially now, with the upheaval of world terrorism and conflict with Iran connected with nuclear weapons.

Another typical and actual problem is the problem of censorship and the problem of mass-media, which is brightly described in all the dystopias I have mentioned.

Summary & conclusions



All the dystopias under analysis have prophetic elements. Also, what makes difference from simple Sci-Fi, is a strong satirical element in each of them.

The topicality of dystopias can’t be overestimated, because the conditions we live in can easily lead us to one of the terrible worlds which are described in these books. As long as people read them and remember about them, peace has a chance.

Dystopias are extremely important; they are a warning to our generation and for those who are to come, a warning not to repeat the same mistakes, if we don’t want to live in the world described.

All dystopias are very different, and all deal with different vices of the society. What we should do is never forget about the lessons, which history has given to us.

Back to the main page