A Dystopian Society in “1984” and “harrison Bergeron”

A Dystopian Society in “1984” and “Harrison Bergeron”

The most crucial problem of utopian literature in the twentieth century is the problem of the effectiveness of the dysfunction of the utopia, which, in general, leads to the appearance of dystopia. The works of dystopia are permeated with a sense of universal pessimism and disbelief in humanity, depicting the terrible consequences of technology, which criticize the traditional utopian and socialist ideas about the future of society and express the openly anti-communist views of the authors. In this way, one of the fundamental concepts of utopia - equality - has become fundamentally different in such works as "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and "1984" by George Orwell, where human relations have ceased to be equal in view of the human potential in a totalitarian regime. The dystopia in these two works is growing and changing but also remains within the genre, pointing out the possible absurdity of the future.

Dystopia is intended to reflect the terrible consequences of ill-advised actions when they are introduced into life, without denying the existence of utopian ideals. The fear of the bourgeoisie against communism and socialism, which embodied the main ideas of the utopians, was expressed in anti-utopia but also was already reactionary. The most important feature not only of Orwell's novel but also of all works of the dystopia of the first half of the twentieth century is the spatial-temporal recognition, which marks the transition from the traditionally utopian abstract image of the ideal state to the realization of modernity and satirically hyperbolized generalization nature. Compared with the works of this genre, "1984" is the most structured anti-utopian hint of loss of freedom and equality. Rationalization of personality in totalitarianism is practically impossible. Orwell sees a slightly different result of the progress of human history. After the events of the 1st and 2nd World War, the use of nuclear weapons, the death of many millions of people, Orwell's work looks like an adequate continuation of this horror. Negative utopias (dystopias) express the emotion of hopelessness in the modern society, while utopias contain the feeling of hope in the yearly world (Gottlieb). Equality and its embodiment in society are completely different from modern ideas of democracy. The author leads to the era of runaway and complete alienation, in which a person turns into an addition to the process of production and consumption.

"1984" describes a bureaucratized society, in which an individual is only a number, losing all of its individuality. The person is transmitted through a mixture of boundless terror and ideological and psychological control. However, the primary tool for transforming a person into an automaton is the use of mass hypnosis, which allows the state to control everything without direct terror. Despite these differences, there is one common issue in these two works. This question concerns a philosophical, anthropological, psychological and, to some extent, religious plan. Can the human nature be changed so that a person will forget about his/her desire for freedom, dignity, honesty, love? Can a person forget that he/she is a person? Can dynamism respond to the oppression of basic human needs and be an attempt to change the inhuman society in humankind? Orwell and Vonnegut do not occupy the mere position of psychological relativism, which is popular among social scientists today. They claim that a person has an intense desire for love, justice, truth, solidarity, and in this regard, they are significantly different from relativists.