Utopian Societies Essay Research Paper 1A Utopian

Utopian Societies Essay, Research Paper

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A Utopian Society is based on the idea that all governmental tactics, laws, and social conditions are ideal to perfection. The relationship between authority and citizen coincide creating endless stability. Any abrupt disagreement regarding a radical idea can shift the equilibrium off balance, causing the population to become a threat to officials that could lead to a revolutionary plan. In the novels A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess and 1984 by George Orwell, both authors discuss the power and ability the governments hold to preserve order over their citizens. In both situations, the authorities go to great lengths in hope to reach Utopianism by the process of spying, monitoring, and brainwashing civilians. The amount of corruption lurking beneath the soil is greater than all the peacefulness found in a Utopian society. Although these societies make an attempt to annihilate the evil, there will always be characters like Alex and Winston Smith who poison the system with their extreme beliefs, violent outbreaks, and thoughtless crimes. Alex, a selfish adolescent, cares only about his desire to inflict pain and damage to his neighbors and his surroundings. And Winston is a curious man forced to obey a culture that discriminates, oppresses, and desensitizes his knowledge of the past political structure. Characteristically, both Alex and Winston share a trait that leads to the collapse of tranquility, in turn, causing the government to take action and rehabilitate the individual responsible for the legible crime. Government officials manipulate the minds of Alex and Winston to create a society free of sin and hatred in order to mentally stabilize any anarchic, chaotic, or rebellious thoughts to achieve a Utopian society.

Upon writing A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess was highly inspired by; “reading accounts of conditioning in American prisons, and it happened that as the teddy

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boys [teenage gang related hooligans] were being replaced on the streets by the mods and rockers, and youth was continuing to express its disdain for the modern state, a British youth should be conditioned to be good.”(Bloom, p 118) On this note, Burgess created; “one of the most appallingly vicious creations in recent fiction”(Bloom, p 118) who is known as Alex. Underneath the simplicity of the name “Alex” lies other suggested meanings. When split apart the letter “a” acts as a negative prefix, and the word “lex” means an absence of law and a lack of words. It is evident that Alex clearly expresses both ideas. He lives his life on the basis of no rules, with a careless destructive attitude towards others. The “lack of words” concept relates to his lack of; “. . . attempt to explain or justify his actions in terms of abstract ideas or goals such as ‘liberty’ or ‘stability’. . . . Instead, he simply experiences life directly, sensuously, and, while he is free, joyously.”(Bloom, p 118)

Orwell’s motive to write 1984 relates to England during the 1930’s. “The novel converts the social injustice, sexual repression and xenophobia . . . into the rigid class system, sexual puritanism, and permanent state of war in Oceania [the city in which 1984 takes place in].”(Lee, p 136) 1984’s atmosphere was inspired by Orwell’s life. He said; “It wouldn’t have been so gloomy . . . if I hadn’t been so ill.” The melancholy mood was also the result of his wife’s death in 1945. Choosing a name for Orwell’s main character was derived from a common English surname; “ . . . and combining it with a Christian name obviously drawn from Winston Churchill, Orwell immediately suggests several things about his hero: He is Everyman and Anyman; his fate can be the fate of any citizen

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in this kind of society; at the same time, Winston Smith, like Winston Churchill, is atypical in society . . ..”(Lee, pp. 136-137)

Both authors include a type of made up language in their novels. Burgess invented a slang he name “Nadsat”. “To the Western ear, the Slavic roots provide a strange and alien sound, and the Russian flavor of the vocabulary connects almost subliminally with the Westerner’s fear of repressive governments and state authority the authoritarian socialism of Burgess’s futuristic society comes to us through this harsh, unnerving speech.” (Coale, p 89) Orwell invented “Newspeak”, the language for the future citizens of Oceania. Although Orwell does not have actual characters conversing in Newspeak, it is mentioned and defined. “Newspeak was designed not to extend but to diminish the range of thought, and this purpose was indirectly assisted by cutting the choice of words down to a minimum.” (Orwell, p 247) By the use of Newspeak, the government is limiting the civilians of Oceania to a simple language. The more complex the language is, the more people think. Without complexity, the government controls the intricate and most important part of anyone, the mind.

The authors’ ability to create a language acts as a mystery; “a puzzle to be solved, a message to be decoded. This strange language, therefore, distances the reader from the action in the book, because it automatically disconnects him from the world he is used to.” (Coale, p 89) Once the reader connects with the author’s language, he or she must also challenge the world the author is presenting them. (Coale, p 89)

When comparing A