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Literary Context Of Dystopian Literature

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Literary Context

Dystopian literature presents a chilling and depressing view of the future in which society itself is generally the antagonist of the story and seems to work against the protagonist’s aims and desires. Dystopian literature explores the many problems within our society and uses them to create a dark and nightmare world, in which squalor, poverty or oppression are present. It acts as a cautionary tale for readers and brings to light the many flaws in humanity, which makes it impossible for a perfect society to ever exist.

The true horrors, which compose a fictitious dystopian world, are used as a literary tool by many authors in an attempt to magnify societies issues. Their texts serve as a moralistic warning with aim to …show more content…

The part of 1984, which is so compelling and interesting, is the fact that the people are living in a dystopian world without even knowing they are. Behind the mandatory Two Minute Hate and the motivational slogans lie the thought police, torture and telescreens watching you every move. Moreover the people who do notice something and rebel against the controlling society are whisked away and dealt with, like the protagonist in this novel.

1984 is a typical dystopian novel in which Orwell explores the many issues present during the time in which he wrote this book. He successfully creates a world in which technology is vastly more sophisticated than it was during the time in which this book was written and in which fear is used as a tool to control individuals who do not conform to the social norms. The horrible and dangerous futuristic world controlled repressively by the government and the thought police is portrayed wonderfully by Orwell who is able to create the perfect dystopian realm.

George Orwell was inspired by many events, which took place throughout his life. He lived through World War I, II and part of the Cold War and therefore used these events to help create the world of 1984. However, not only was he inspired by the political issues around his time, but he was also inspired by the author Yevgeny Zamyatin who had published the book We a few years prior to when 1984 was published.

We tells the story of a

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