Utopia and dystopia

Dossier de littérature étrangère

(type bac)

Introduction

The utopia and its derivative, the dystopia, are genres of literature that explore social and political structures.

Utopian fiction portrays a setting that agrees with the author’s ethos, having various attributes of another reality intended to appeal to readers.

Dystopian fiction is the apposite: the portrayal of a setting that completely disagrees with the author’s ethos.

Many novels combine both, often as a metaphor for the different directions humanity can take, depending on its choices, ending up with one of two possible futures.

Utopia or dystopia are they simple objects of inventions or them involves historical realities ?

Body of the writing

According to texts and their authors, it can be said that dystopia is indeed inspired review. it is visible with the novel 1984, of George Orwell written in 1949.

Novel written during the cold war.

The world divided into 2 blocks (one capitalist, the other communist)

Orwell describes in it novel the divided world. With a block run by a very hard dictatorship.

The studied text, display a society very controlled and watched, which suffers a permanent propaganda. The population is very poor, their lives are monotonous.

( Exemple in the text : of propaganda, of the watching, how people are controlled, the evolution of language in this country, the permanent lie of government, washing of brain

With this study of text it is possible to see that Orwell draws inspiration from problems of societies of epoch.

1984 is a dystopia, it is nightmarish vison of future that it to arrive at us. It’s a way of making understand us that he to make the good choices so that one society in peace continues. Anther British author chosen a different way to make understand to us the same idear: Utopia. Thomas More invents this concept in the 16th century.

The hero travels in Utopia and discovers another society.

A society with principles and laws very different

( Exemple: more tolerance, the way of choosing the women)

More is a humanist. But from our point of view its « Utopia » resembles more has a dystopia. His vision of marriage am very outdated. The text remains very conservative on some aspects. However, for an author of the 16th century, More is progressive on som points.

He wants to made marriage more rational.

The bride and the groom should know each other

He bases his approach on logic/rational criteria

Well, he want’s to settle human affairs by reason !

Conclusion

Therefore,

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