Have you ever considered living in a dystopian world? Well lucky you maybe have not. But you can experience this dystopian energy in the book High Rise and Handmaids Tale. I have read both books and they were very interesting. The Handmaid's Tale and High Rise are both dystopian novels that show the dangers of totalitarianism and the degradation of society. However, there are several key differences between the two books.
The first difference is the differences and similarities between the types of inequality. The books High Rise and Handmaid's Tale both explore the issue of inequality in different ways. In High Rise, the inequality is based on class and wealth, the wealthy residents of the high-rise living in luxury while the lower-class
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In High Rise, the characters are mostly upper-class residents living in a luxurious high-rise apartment building. They are wealthy, powerful, and have control over people. They are also very isolated from the outside world, and their lives are determined by the rules of the building. In contrast, the characters in Handmaid's Tale are mostly lower-class residents living in a dystopian society. They are oppressed and they have no power. They are also subjected to the brutal rules of the society, and their lives are largely determined by the government. Despite the differences in their social status and their way of living, the characters in both books share some similarities . They are all struggling to survive in their worlds, and they are all trying to find a way to make their lives better. They are also both trying to find a way to escape their oppressive situations and find a better life. Both books feature characters who are willing to take risks and fight for what they believe in, even if it means going against the rules of their society. You can see this when Offred, main character of the Handmaid's Tale, said “You can’t help what you feel, but you can help how you behave.” She means by this that you can change things by behaving differently and not by just feeling
You can clearly recognize a similarity between these two themes, or situations. For Of Mice and Men, the character called Candy was being segregated for his age and disabilities which he thought it was going to result in the difficulty of finding a job because he might get denied to work and then resulting into poverty. But on the other hand, in the book Ethan Frome, Ethan’s family is isolated from technology and from the taste of freedom. They are in the verge of having enough to stay alive. Another example would be that Crooks was not able to go to the stable room with someone else is the same thing as Ethan’s family not being with the rest of the society.
The main distinguishment between them is while citizens were made to be equal by the government in “Harrison Bergeron,” the society as a whole simply lost interest in knowledge and individuality in Fahrenheit 451. In Fahrenheit 451, rapid technological progress leads to a loss of emotion among the citizens; Faber describes what people have lost by saying “it’s not books you need, it’s some of the things that were once in books” (Bradbury ). The people still have the ability to portray all of that depth and meaning through things like the parlor walls, but people choose not to and decide that that is too much work. However, in “Harrison Bergeron,” the society had decided that in order for people to be equal it had to be forced through government regulations. Vonnegut writes, “they were equal in every which way … all this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution” (Vonnegut 1).
Another example of how they are similar is the way the authors have one main character who wants to make a difference in the laws. For example in “Harrison Bergeron” Harrison, one of the main characters is against everyone being equal and he tries to change things by breaking out of jail and going on the news live and taking off all of his handicaps and calling himself the “Emperor” and fining a girl who will stand with
Worlds in fictional books have always had an ever-changing style. A society has a big effect on the personality of a character. There are two main types of society’s in a fictional book, a utopian and a dystopian society. A Utopian society is one that is jubilant whereas dystopian society is doleful and cheerless. The qualities of a dystopian society are in the books, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and Anthem by Ayn Rand.
In the books Fahrenheit 451 and Anthem, by Ray Bradbury and Ayn Rand, the societies displayed are very different from modern day societies. In Anthem the main character, Equality 7-2521, is a young man who lives in a society where there is absolutely no individuality personality wise and it is basically considered a sin to be different than others. In Fahrenheit 451 the main character, Guy Montag, lives in a society where no one thinks independently, it is illegal to read, and no one really cares about anything. Both societies restrict free thinking, but both do it in ways different than the other. In both books the main characters meet someone who changes their lives for the better.
While Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a novel based on a society that problems occur from inequality and differences, focuses on the survival and which the main character Katniss stands out as a leader, and The Giver by Lois Lowry is a novel based on a society that problems occur from being too perfect and same, focuses on the importance of memory and past and which the main character Jonas stands out as a rebel for himself and very few people; both texts share similarities such as being dystopian novels which symbols used and one teenager stands out from a society and rebels. On the one hand, Hunger Games and The Giver contrast in many ways. Comparing the societies of these novels based on; while Hunger Games has a story of a society which
These novels were both at different times, but both can show how easily things can change. A history class turned cult and a man’s life was changed because of his curiosity. People who questioned anything in both these novels were shunned in different ways, from exile to a killer man hunt. There was shown how power can be evil and too much power is good for nobody. Also, to question what is going on, to not go with whatever you are told to do and do not obey.
For “The Hunger Games” and “The Handmaid’s Tale”, the structure of Panem and Gilead makes up this difference. In “The Hunger Games”, many citizens of Panem are born into this society. The citizens did not have to adapt to the new rules or workings of Panem because they were born and raised in that world. Whereas in “The Handmaid’s Tale”, all citizens of the Republic of Gilead were the first generation of the society and had to adapt to the new way of life. In Panem their main focus was taking lives to keep your own.
When we compare the dystopian/utopian film, The Giver, and the dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, it's clear that there are some similarities and some differences. Though some are very difficult to find, there are others that are very obvious. The three obvious topics are, the way the characters cope or try to change their situation, the setting of the book, and the government or leaders that they both have. First and foremost, there are similarities and differences between the characters in both works.
The Giver and other dystopian novels like Fahrenheit 451 have some similarities and differences in the story line. First, The Giver and Fahrenheit 451 both share the fact that people are being controlled on the amount of knowledge that they know. Additionally, both societies have no idea of how they came to be. On the other hand, in The Giver Jonas slowly starts to realize that something about him is changing because he can see the color red but, in Fahrenheit 451 Guy Montag just wants to take a risk because of his curiosity. Second, in Fahrenheit 451, Montag is a “firefighter” except, in his society he starts the fire instead of putting them out, while in The Giver the jobs/assignments are practical for everyday life in the community.
For example in the book, *The Great Gatsby, by *Scott Fitzgerald, depicts how these inequalities happen through its main character Gatsby. Throughout the 1920's people focused on getting rich instead of striving for equality as shown in The Great Gatsby, by Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald shows that people are yet not treated fairly and that social discrimination still exists. For example, in Chapter 2, Tom goes to see Wilson, a poor mechanic worker. He tells him he is going to sell him his old car, but his purpose is to distract Wilson so he can have an affair with his(wilson's) wife, Myrtle.
Although, they have similarity, the two stories has major differences also. First, both author differs the way they introduce and develop their lead characters to the reader. Second, they also differ in perspective from which their stories are being told. Third, they differs on the choice of settings and how it impact to the stories.
In the 1980s, United States was experiencing the rise of conservatism. Under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, conservative religious groups were gaining popularity. In response to the social and political landscape, Canadian author Margaret Atwood published a fictional novel The Handmaid’s Tale in 1986; a genre of dystopian novels. The storyline projects an imaginary futuristic world where society lives under oppression and illusion of a utopian society maintained through totalitarian control. Dystopian novels often focus on current social government trends and show an exaggeration of what happens if the trends are taken too far.
In both novels the stories take place in a dystopian society, shorty after a nuclear fallout/war. Quite the opposite of a utopia, this is a society based on the future that is frightening and unpleasant for the people living in it. The government has total control of the people, dictating what is allowed and what is not. There is total social control in both novels by the government controlling what is on the television by brainwashing and dumbing down their citizens.
The novel has created a society in which the only two important beliefs in a society are the ability to procreate and a strict belief in God. As mentioned above, Gilead was depicted as perfect by using the book of Genesis. The Handmaid 's tale holds several biblical references , some are obvious than others but most of them have been altered. The most important in a state of opinion would be. “It’s the usual story, the usual stories.