Utopia vs
Utopia vs. dystopiaUtopia Vs. Dystopia
Each person has their own vision of utopia. Utopia means an ideal state, a paradise, a land of enchantment. It has been a central part of the history of ideas in Western Civilization. Philosophers and writers continue to imagine and conceive plans for an ideal state even today. They use models of ideal government to express their ideas on contemporary issues and political conditions. Man has never of comparing the real and ideal, actuality and dream, and the stark facts of human condition and hypothetical versions of optimum life and government.
In the nineteenth century, man believed in the perfectibility of mankind and in the real possibility of an ultimate utopia, a time when man could all live together in peace. However, the events of the twentieth century have weakened that belief. Both cold and hot wars have followed each other in succession. Revolutions and civil wars have taken place and totalitarianism has become a fact that can hardly be ignored. Therefore, the modern age has become a time in which more anti-utopias have been envisioned than ever before.
A lot of authors have expressed their views on utopia in their novels. Some have done it by creating their own perfect world, while others have chosen a different path. They have selected to voice their opinions in anti-utopian novels, or dystopia. An anti-utopia is simply the reverse of a utopian novel. The aim of both novels is basically the same. Both have as their objective the improvement of society. The anti-utopian novel, however, instead of presenting an ideal society toward which all men should strive, it basically presents a highly defined, completely hideous society. This type of novel warns that if the tendencies of the real world are not corrected before it’s too late, the hideous world suggested will become a reality.
George Orwell is one of those authors who has chosen to express his views in an anti-utopian way. Both his books, 1984, and Animal Farm clearly depict the world as it may become if something is not changed. 1984 was written in 1948. When it was first published, there was a great deal of criticism. Some saw it as a prophecy of what was bound to happen to the world; others took it as basically a comment on contemporary studies; still others looked upon the book as a symptom of the author’s sick mind. However, Orwell seems to have meant the novel to be a criticism of life in the twentieth century. Orwell came up with the title simply by reversing the last two numbers of the year it was written. It is instead, a warning that unless the world changes its course, man will lose his most human attributes. The philosophy of 1984 is “War is Peace”, “Freedom is...
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