Dystopian+Era

**Introduction**
The Age of Dystopia is a period in literature where authors would focus on the more sinister side of humanity portrayed by fiendish governments and organizations. Born from the post and pre World War II era these books are centered usually around the life of one man as he lives and eventually rebels against the terrifying worlds where they are set. This genre of fiction has reshaped political landscapes world wide as it gives us a terrifying insight into what is and what could be, terms like big brother, thought police, doublethink and newspeak are all terms that have entered into everyday vernacular because of these books. The stapes of the period come into three main authors, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, and H.G Wells have all written books which have strong resounding messages even today.

George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair)
(Above: A quote by George Orwell in his essay Pacifism and the War in 1941) (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) Born in India on June 25, 1903 to a upper middle class family, he moved at an early age back to England. He was educated there in several private schools and even had a French teacher by the name of Aldous Huxley. When he was unable to obtain a scholarship for a career in higher education so he joined the Indian Police Service in India and ended his time there in 1927 when he contracted dengue fever. Upon returning to England he began his career in writing, as a literary critic, and author. Eric Blair was a democratic socialist with a strong opposition to communism and totalitarianism, that which became the background for the political novels in the allegorical Animal Farm and in 1984.

1984 by George Orwell, Part 2 Chapter 8

media type="custom" key="14118418" (Above: "INGSOC" English Socialism is the party's philosophy in the novel 1984 below is the party's slogan "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strentgh") 'You will have heard rumours of the existence of the Brotherhood. No doubt you have formed your own picture of it. You have imagined, probably, a huge underworld of conspirators, meeting secretly in cellars, scribbling messages on walls, recognizing one another by codewords or by special movements of the hand. Nothing of the kind exists. The members of the Brotherhood have no way of recognizing one another, and it is impossible for any one member to be aware of the identity of more than a few others. Goldstein himself, if he fell into the hands of the Thought Police, could not give them a complete list of members, or any information that would lead them to a complete list. No such list exists. The Brotherhood cannot be wiped out because it is not an organization in the ordinary sense. Nothing holds it together except an idea which is indestructible. You will never have anything to sustain you, except the idea. You will get no comradeship and no encouragement. When finally you are caught, you will get no help. We never help our members. At most, when it is absolutely necessary that someone should be silenced, we are occasionally able to smuggle a razor blade into a prisoner's cell. You will have to get used to living without results and without hope. You will work for a while, you will be caught, you will confess, and then you will die. Those are the only results that you will ever see. There is no possibility that any perceptible change will happen within our own lifetime. We are the dead. Our only true life is in the future. We shall take part in it as handfuls of dust and splinters of bone. But how far away that future may be, there is no knowing. It might be a thousand years. At present nothing is possible except to extend the area of sanity little by little. We cannot act collectively. We can only spread our knowledge outwards from individual to individual, generation after generation. In the face of the Thought Police there is no other way.' Discussion Questions: 1. What kind of attitudes about the way of life in general do you think that members of the resistance group called "The Brotherhood" have? 2. If you were asked to forsake yourself, your future, the safety of everyone you love, to fight against a tyrannical government of the worst kind, that appeared to be absolutely untouchable would you? 3. The Brotherhood utilize tactics such as, bombings, assassinations, biological warfare, terrorism and other terrifying methods even against seemingly innocent people, and some would call this extreme but others say that in the face of the most oppressive, intrusive, and sadistic power ever realized in literature it is reasonable to see why these methods have been developed, where do you stand? 4. The setting of the story is incredibly bleak, where children report their parents, where the most blatent lies are accepted as truth, where life appears to begin and end in pain and suffering, would it be moral to simply concede and live out your life offering no resistence?

H.G. Wells


(21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) Born in September 21 1866 in a small county called Kentin England, Herbert George lived a lower middle-class childhood. While his father and brother had become successful for a short period of time in Cricket and in entrepreneurship they still fell into financial difficulties. He was educated at a variety of private schools and eventually he attended the university and there he began to cultivate the philosophy that would define his career and his literature. His philosophy was originally based on the teachings of Plato but he instead embraced modern philosophies such as socialism and pacifism. His most notable works are undoubtedly //War of the Worlds// and //The Time Machine// which defined him in an emerging genre of science-fiction, but he wrote the world's first dystopian novel titled //When the Sleeper Wakes// in 1910.

//When the Sleeper Wakes// or //The Sleeper Wakes// is a story about a man who finds himself years in the future after suffering from insomnia. He learns that he is a very wealthy man due to the accumulation of interest on a savings account he had set up in the past. The story begins when he awakes and realizes that he has been the fabled sleeper that has been a source of mystery and excitement during the time he was unconscious. The story's dystopian elements arise when it revealed that he has been the figure head of a totalitarian regime that has consolidated power and suppressed the under privileged masses.

Aldous Huxley


(26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) Born on July 26, 1894 in Surrey to a prominent family which shaped Aldous's early life. Spending most of his early years in his father's well-equipped laboratory, and taking after two of his brothers who were biologists. His early life was also plagued with tragedy when his mother died in 1908 he than suffered from keratitis punctata which left him blind for three years, than in 1914 his brother committed suicide at the age of 23 who was suffering from clinical depression. After regaining his sight he found a love for English Literature at Oxford. He started his teaching career at Eton where he taught the fabled Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) who said that his teaching was left something to be desired but had a fondness in the way he spoke and used words which stuck with Blair unto the advent of his writing career. Huxley's career took him to Hollywoodwhere he worked on a number of projects like Alice in Wonderland, Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre as a screen writer; he also became friends with Ray Bradbury the writer of //Fahrenheit 451//. Huxley' s experiences made deep impressions which carried over to his philosophy as well. Huxley who was pacifist and humanist he also advocated in the use of psychedelic drugs to gain enlightenment which stemmed from his beliefs in parapsychology and mysticism, all of these influences make appearances in his literature. He began his career in literature at age 17 but his most note worthy book //Brave New World// in 1932. His view on a dystopian world was one where governments would not beat the people to obey that through a scientific dictatorship and pacification of infants and adults through the use of drugs that people would learn to love their servitude to love their bars and chains. In an astounding mark of coincidence his death fell on the same day as the death of C.S Lewis and the assassination of John Kennedy.

//Brave New World// opens up to a world where children are grown not born, where you are genetically engineered to fit into a certain predetermined class of society. Where things like politics, literature, imagination, governing and worldly things in general are trivialized for most of society, instead sex, massive orgies, and drugs are the only concerns in their life. People are encouraged to take a psychedelic drug known as Soma that calms and pacifies the individual. Science and research are tools for dominating the world and the people could not love it more. (Below: a common chant sung during a event known as Orgy-Porgy which is exactly how it sounds, Ford is referring to Henry Ford who has replaced God for his industrialism and advancement of technology)

Ford, we are twelve; oh, make us one, Like drops within the Social River; Oh, make us now together run As swiftly as thy shining Flivver . . . . Orgy-porgy, Ford and fun, Kiss the girls and make them One. Boys at one with girls at peace; Orgy-porgy gives release.

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