When examining fahrenheit 451 as a piece of dystopian fiction, a definition for the term dystopia is required. dystopia is often used as an antonym of utopia, a perfect world often imagined existing in the future. You may find it more helpful and also more accurate to conceive a dystopian literary tradition, a literary tradition that's created worlds containing reactions against certain ominous social trends and therefore imagines a disastrous future if these trends are not reversed. Most commonly cited as the model of a twentieth century dystopian novel is yevgeny zamiatin's we 1924 , which envisions an oppressive but stable social order accomplished only through the complete effacement of the individual.

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Which may more properly be called an anti utopian work rather than a dystopian work, is often cited as the precursor of george orwell's 1984 1948 , a nightmarish vision of a totalitarian world of the future, similar to one portrayed in we. we and 1984 are often cited as classic dystopian fictions, along with aldous huxley's brave new world 1932 , which, contrary to popular belief, has a somewhat different purpose and object of attack than the previously mentioned novels. Huxley's brave new world has as its target representations of a blind faith in the idea of social and technological progress.

In contrast to dystopian novels like huxley's and orwell's, however, bradbury's fahrenheit 451 does not picture villainous dictators like orwell's o'brien or corrupt philosopher kings like huxley's mustapha mond , although bradbury's captain beatty shares a slight similarity to mustapha mond. The crucial difference is that bradbury's novel does not focus on a ruling elite nor does it portray a higher society, but rather, it portrays the means of oppression and regimentation through the life of an uneducated and complacent, though an ultimately honest and virtuous, working class hero montag. In contrast, orwell and huxley choose to portray the lives of petty bureaucrats winston smith and bernard marx, respectively , whose alienated lives share similarities to the literary characters of author franz kafka 1883 1924.

All three imagine a technocratic social order maintained through oppression and regimentation and by the complete effacement of the individual. All these authors envision a populace distracted by the pursuit of explicit images, which has the effect of creating politically enervated individuals. Huxley envisions a world state in which war has been eradicated in order to achieve social stability bradbury and orwell imagine that war itself achieves the same end mdash by keeping the populace cowering in fear of an enemy attack, whether the enemy is real or not. The war maintains the status quo because any change in leaders may topple the defense structure.

Orwell and bradbury imagine the political usefulness of the anesthetization of experience: all experiences become form without substance. The populace is not able to comprehend that all they do is significant and has meaning likewise, bradbury and huxley imagine the use of chemical sedatives and tranquilizers as a means of compensating for an individual's alienated existence. More importantly, all three authors imagine a technocratic social order accomplished through the suppression of books mdash that is, through censorship. however, despite their similarities, you can also draw a crucial distinction between these books. If the failure of the proles citizens of the lowest class workers reveals orwell's despair at the british working class political consciousness, and if mustapha mond reveals huxley's cynical view of the intellectual, guy montag's personal victory over the government system represents american optimism. This train of thought leads back to henry david thoreau, whose civil disobedience bradbury must hold in high esteem. Recall the remark by juan ramon jimenez that serves as an epigraph to fahrenheit 451. This epigraph could have easily served as thoreau's motto and is proof of bradbury's interest in individual freedom.

Bradbury's trust in the virtue of the individual and his belief in the inherently corrupt nature of government is a central concept of fahrenheit 451. As mentioned previously, you know that all sense of past was obliterated by the entrance of technology the tv characters give citizens the opportunity to create a past and present through their story lines. Likewise, through the use of tv, individuals do not understand the importance of the past in their own lives. They have been repeatedly given propaganda about the past, so they have no reason to question its authenticity or value. Also, because of the technology the characters are given, no one of course, except for faber, granger, clarisse, and eventually montag understands the value of books in direct relation to their own personal development. Does not create conflicting sentiments or cause people to think, so why would they welcome challenge? as millie points out to montag, books aren't people.

Because the majority of this dystopian society is not able to express personal freedom, it is interesting that clarisse and the unidentified old woman die early in the novel in order to display what has happened so far in this society to the people who exercise their personal freedom. It's also important to see that even millie, who serves as the model of this society's conformity, almost dies as a result of her one act of personal rebellion when she attempts suicide. Likewise, perhaps even captain beatty's demise is an act of personal freedom because beatty goads montag into killing him instead of protecting himself and remaining alive. The battle of having personal freedom is essential in this book because bradbury demonstrates what happens when man is not given the opportunity to express his thoughts or remember his past. Through clarisse, the unidentified woman, millie, and beatty, you are shown the consequences of what happens when humans aren't allowed to fully express their individuality and choice they die.

Through the characters of montag, faber, and granger, you can see how one individual can make a difference in society if that one individual can fully realize the importance of his or her past, as well as be willing to fight for the opportunity to express himself or herself. Previous ray bradbury biography the word utopia comes from the greek words ou. Since its original conception, utopia has come to mean a place that we can only dream about, a true paradise.

Which is the direct opposite of utopia, is a term used to describe a utopian society in which things have gone wrong. Both utopias and dystopias share characteristics of science fiction and fantasy, and both are usually set in a future in which technology has been used to create perfect living conditions. However, once the setting of a utopian or dystopian novel has been established, the focus of the novel is usually not on the technology itself but rather on the psychology and emotions of the characters who live under such conditions. Although the word utopia was coined in 1516 by sir thomas more when he wrote utopia. Writers have written about utopias for centuries, including the biblical garden of eden in genesis and plato's republic.

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More's utopia protested contemporary english life by describing an ideal political state in a land called utopia, or nowhere land. Other early fictional utopias include various exotic communities in jonathan swift's famous gulliver's travels 1726. For example, english author samuel butler wrote erewhon 1872 nowhere spelled backward and erewhon revisited 1901 , and william morris wrote news from nowhere 1891. A few of the places where utopian communities were started include fruitlands, massachusetts harmony, pennsylvania corning, iowa oneida, new york and brook farm, massachusetts, founded in 1841 by american transcendentalists. Although the founders of these utopian communities had good intentions, none of the communities flourished as their creators had hoped.

Dystopias are a way in which authors share their concerns about society and humanity. They also serve to warn members of a society to pay attention to the society in which they live and to be aware of how things can go from bad to worse without anyone realizing what has happened. Examples of fictional dystopias include aldous huxley's brave new world 1932 , ray bradbury's fahrenheit 451 1953 , and george orwell's animal farm 1944 and nineteen eighty four 1949. Lois lowry chose to write the giver as a dystopian novel because it was the most effective means to communicate her dissatisfaction with the lack of awareness that human beings have about their interdependence with each other, their environment, and their world. She uses the irony of utopian appearances but dystopian realities to provoke her readers to question and value their own freedoms and individual identities. The people seem perfectly content to live in an oli garchy a government run by a select few in which a community of elders enforces the rules.

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In jonas' community, there is no poverty, starvation, unemployment, lack of housing, or prejudice everything is perfectly planned to eliminate any problems. However, as the novel progresses and jonas gains insight into what the people have willingly given up their freedoms and individual ities for the so called common good of the community, it becomes more and more evident that the community is a bad place in which to live. Readers can relate to the disbelief and horror that jonas feels when he realizes that his community is a hypocrisy, a society based on false ideals of goodness and conformity. As jonas comes to understand the importance of memory, freedom, individuality, and even color, he can no longer stand by and watch the people in his community continue to live under such fraudulent pretenses.

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Previous style and language in the giver great starting point for students seeking an introduction to the theme and the critical discussions surrounding it. the addition of the word dystopia to our common, everyday vocabulary is indicative of both a dark turn taken by our popular culture, and a broader pessimistic turn in the general mood. As evidenced by the success of dark cinematic visions of the future from blade runner 1982 , to the terminator sequence, to the matrix trilogy something in our natures respond to stories based in such visions of the future. The events of recent times september 11, 2001 being the most telling example and their attendant sharpening of focus on such concepts as national security versus the privacy of citizens, have certainly contributed to the pervasive sense of anxiety that seems to have developed in our society, and which seems so readily to find catharsis in dystopian dramas. To be dystopian, a work needs to foreground the oppressive society in which it is set, using that setting as an opportunity to comment in a critical way on some other society, typically that of the author and/or the audience. In other worlds, the bleak dystopian world should encourage the reader or viewer to think critically about it, then to transfer this critical thinking to his or her own world. Keith booker, professor of english at the university of arkansas, this volume in the critical insights series presents a variety of new essays on the perennial theme.