A Controlled Society

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell remains a classic dystopian fiction novel about “the terrifying vision of a totalitarian future in which everything and everyone is enslaved into an [absolute sovereignty].” Margaret Atwood calls it one of her favorite books: “I read it again and again”.

Orwell wrote this novel in the late 1940’s, his goal was to give his readers a clear image of what life would be like if a free country was ran by a totalitarian government. The novel is set in London, a depressing city, where there is not enough food to go around for anyone, or enough clothes to put on your back. The city is pretty dilapidated, except for these giant pyramids shaped buildings that are above the landscape. The government, “Big Brother”, runs these buildings where every move is being watched. The social hierarchy differentiating power is much like the difference between the Compounds and the pleeblands. In Oryx and Crake, the science innovators and their families live in these beautiful secured compounds, whilst the rest of the society (the crazies, beggars and paupers) lives poorly in the cities.

            Both Oryx and Crake and Nineteen Eighty-Four foreshadow an extreme circumstance of the possible ending of humanity. Nineteen Eighty-Four rests towards the idea of a society that is controlled and manipulated primarily by the government. Each move, thought, and action is watched, recorded and punished, accordingly. There is no such thing as “being in love”, freedom of speech, or even though processing. The “Thought Police” can intrude into your thoughts due to hidden cameras and microphones placed into people’s homes, and if something seems out of line or risking government authority, you can be severely punished and tortured. When Winston Smith, the protagonist of the story goes against government rules, he is brutally punished, leading to “victory towards himself. He loved Big Brother” (311). They manipulated his mind and soul to such an extreme that he was left believing Big Brother was out there for the good of him, and that he will always obey this force.

In Oryx and Crake, we are also introduced to a society that is enclosed and controlled by a higher power. There are securities everywhere, you are not allowed to step foot out of the Compounds, unless you are being accompanied by a guard. If you fail to obey these rules, they will kill you. The people who live in these Compounds are so manipulated that they believe invasion of their privacy is needed and should be reinforced. When Jimmy’s mother, Sharon tells her husband that “their phones and e-mail were bugged” and that the cleaning ladies are undercover spies, his answer was that “she was getting paranoid, and anyway they had nothing to hide, so why worry about it?”(54) They are so brainwashed that they agree with these measures.