What Is The Similarities Between 1984 And The Hunger Games

Are we living in a world similar to that of the dystopian society depicted in George Orwell’s popular novel 1984? Are we constantly being watched? Are our thoughts being influenced by the media around us? There has been a significant spike in sales of the novel over the last month (Freytas-Tamura). The question now becomes why. Maybe our society is becoming more and more like 1984 every day. While the United States has biased media and oppressive surveillance like 1984, it also has striking differences.

One of the most popular themes in novels today involve dystopian societies and many of these books share many characteristics. Both novels include an overpowering government that does not allow basic freedoms to its citizens and when crimes are committed, the punishments have no regulations controlling them. The society in The Hunger Games and 1984 both use a bird as a symbol of freedom, monitor citizens via telescreens and divides their society into groups that work together to benefit the government.

Mankind today has many sources predict that the future is likely headed into a world of tyranny, controlled by technology and secretive authorities playing us like marionettes. In the novels 1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, it explains the stories of two middle aged men, Guy Montag and Winston Smith, who live in dystopian societies where stupidity is conventional and knowledge is a crime. Bradbury teaches his audience that books are extremely vital for knowledge, while Orwell shows how technology and the manipulation of perception can easily be used to brainwash others into believing almost anything. While the high forces attempt to hypnotize everyone, the heroes of the story share similar fates, escape it and realize that the controlling forces in their society are performing an eradication of intelligence and freedom in order to manipulate mankind and they make a stand to fight for the truth.

In 2008 Suzanne Collins published a book that took the world by storm with 23 million copies sold as of 2012. Why did the novel get so much attention? Was it a new story that people had never heard before, or maybe just a retelling of an old tale that excited young readers with its action contents? The ancient Greek myth of is retold in the contemporary story of The Hunger Games as Katniss’ trail at the games is a modern rendition of Theseus’ battle with the minotaur, and both characters are defined by their success.

The novel Fahrenheit 451 and Hunger Games have many things in common about their storylines and many other things. One big detail they have in common is that they are both dystopian fiction. Dystopian fiction is when you are relating to something that is bad or unpleasant. These are examples of dystopian fiction because they both have information, independent thought and freedom that is restricted; the citizens are perceived to be under constant surveillance; and the citizens conform to uniform expectations, individuality and dissent are bad.

‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ and ‘Fahrenheit 451’ are both dystopian novels published just after the end of the Second World War. ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ by George Orwell is set in ‘Airstrip One’; the ‘future’ England, which has become a totalitarian government that persecutes all individualism and independent thinking as ‘thoughtcrime’. ‘Fahrenheit 451’ by Ray Bradbury however, is set in a future American society where books are outlawed and any found are burned. Both novels explore how governments can oppress their citizens by propaganda, such as the Big Brother posters everywhere, which are meant to give the citizens a feeling of protection, and also denying them the right to knowledge and individualism.

Dystopian societies are a recurring theme among the works of many authors. It is difficult to predict the future, but authors such as Ray Bradbury and H.G. Wells have speculated possible scenarios for what lies ahead. Fahrenheit 451 and “Usher II” by Ray Bradbury and “The Country of the Blind” by H.G. Wells all depict events that result in chaos because of abuse of power and control. The three main characters of these compositions: Montag, Stendahl, and Nuñez are very similar yet greatly unique in many ways; they have controversial values, beliefs, philosophies, different views on society’s laws and they receive different consequences for their actions in the end.

Several conflicting frames of mind have played defining roles in shaping humanity throughout the twentieth century. Philosophical optimism of a bright future held by humanity in general was taken advantage of by the promise of a better life through sacrifice of individuality to the state. In the books Brave New World, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451 clear opposition to these subtle entrapments was voiced in similarly convincing ways. They first all established, to varying degrees of balance, the atmosphere and seductiveness of the “utopia” and the fear of the consequences of acting in the non-prescribed way through character development. A single character is alienated because of their inability to conform – often in protest to the forced

Dystopian novels, defined as a novel genre centered around corrupted government control, usually have similar patterns in their main plots. 1984 by George Orwell is about a government known as “The Party”. which controls every aspect of everyone’s lives, Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. is about a man who rises above the government’s control, which is in pace to make everyone totally equal, and Idiocracy, directed by Mike Judge, is about a man with average intelligence, who travels 500 years into the future to discover that he is the smartest man in the world. The one thing that all of these dystopian novels have in common is that the plot centers on the corruption of the control regarding the elites of the societies portrayed in the

Throughout history, some of the most popular novels have been about dystopian futures, where an all-powerful government has total control over its citizens and abuses its powers. Two of the most popular and well-known novels are the recent Hunger Games series and 1984, which was written soon after World War II ended. Both follow similar themes, showing a government of the few ruling over its people with unlimited power, and pulling all rights from the citizens they are meant to protect. There are several similarities and differences between these political systems, however, dealing with control over the people, how the government uses its citizens, and the political structures themselves.

How do the writers of the Hunger Games and 1984 use their first chapter to introduce ideas of a dystopian society?

The novel Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins and the motion picture In Time; both are societies that are run in a totalitarian dictatorship where the state has complete control over every aspect of their citizens. For instance, in Panem the government is firmly sits in the Capitol which holds all the power and wealth within the society as well as In Time, New Greenwich is the wealthiest time zone controlling all the other time zones, both giving the impression of a giant corporation is running the societies. Since the inequality in both the novel and film, their economy enables their government to have all the authority over their citizens, the politics within hunger games which is controlled by dictator president snow. Whereas In Time, it appears to be more of an oligarchy where all those in power instead of just one person controlling the aspect within their society.

With dystopia being a present theme in both George Orwell’s, 1984 and Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, both titles share similarities and contrasts to one another. Even though these books were written decades apart, they share similarities in the government control and the presence of poverty in the settings. But, both books contradict one another as futuristic settings are viewed differently depending on when the books are written, as well as the remembrance of past struggles in the societies. The seeds of a dystopian theme are found in 1984 and The Hunger Games, presenting similarities and differences from in both books, even though the books were written decades a part.

I would like to scrutinize the genre of dystopian speculative fiction between two worlds: Western dystopian fiction and that of Middle Eastern. In addition to Kafkaesque. The attached list comprises crucial oeuvres in the field. More importantly, this study will cover several themes including dystopian futurism, surrealism, violence, suppression, surveillance, abuse of power, the absurdities of a totalitarian government, torture and the human rights violations.

Discuss in which ways and how far the dystopian elements in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games echo those in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four