Dystopian Society In The Grapes Of Wrath By Albert Camus

Albert Camus once said “the only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion". This quote is exemplified in various examples in our society most notably through Martin Luther King and Gandhi who used civil disobedience as a way to rebel. Both of these figures were in state of living in an unfree world which resulted in them to revolting and speaking up. When one thinks of an unfree world they usually think of a place that is distressing. A place where everything is undesirable and dreadful. This is the basis of dystopian society as it is an imagined state or place in which everything is unpleasant. Often dystopia is used in literature to exaggerate current trends and political
system in order to criticize them by portraying the possible negatives that could impact of it on society. So one might question how is dystopia portrayed or what the characteristics of a dystopian society are. Well one novel that exemplified a dystopian society is The Book of Negroes, in which the protagonist is forced into slavery at a very young age and survives various hardships throughout her life. The concept of dystopia was illustrated in The Book of Negroes because the citizens have a fear of the outside world, the society is an illusion of a perfect utopian world, and lastly the natural world is banished and distrusted, and lastly citizens live in a dehumanized state.
To begin with one characteristic of a dystopian society is that citizens have a fear of the outside world. The outside world refers to people that do not belong in a particular group. An example of this in The Book of Negros is in the following passage. "I felt a wave of relief when a Negro woman with a swollen belly appeared in the doorway" (Hill, 270) In this example the protagonist has just been bought by a new owner named Lindo who takes her to his home where she finds out she is not the only African that is enslaved by him. This example exemplifies the characteristic because in this case the slaves are the ones that do not fit into the group of slave owner which represents the outside world. The slaves fear the outside world because they are could potentially be harassed or assaulted by them. Moreover they are constantly under surveillance, and their thoughts, information and freedom is being restricted by the outside world meaning any wrong move could result in them being harassed and assaulted. This shows that outside world has power to impact the inferior group which is looked down upon. Which is why Aminata is so relieved to see another African because she realized she is not alone and will have someone that is for her that will support her. This alludes to how fear of the outside world fits into dystopia as constantly fearing the outside world is dystopia due to the fact that is particularly undesirable as no one wants to live in a condition where they are constantly anxious about what could possibly happen to them simply because of their identity. On that account fear of the outside world is a characteristic of dystopia that was depicted in The Book of Negroes.
Moving on another characteristic of a dystopian society that was exemplified in the novel was that society is an illusion of a perfect utopian world.
When we think of a utopian world more often than not an imagined place where everything is desirable and perfect is thought of. This is essentially used as a deception to influence people's beliefs about a condition. The novel portrayed how this is a characteristic of dystopia. An example of this characteristic in the novel was a passage that states “A woman who had boasted to me about Nova Scotia on her own bottom found herself so hungry and cold that she placed her x mark on indenture papers, giving up her freedom"(Hill, 454). Prior to when the slaves arrived in Nova Scotia the British government portrayed it to be a perfect utopian world where they would be granted freedom, equality and land which they so desperately desired. The slaves thought of this as the perfect opportunity to escape from the dystopian society that they lived in. Be that as it may what they didn’t know was that after reaching Nova Scotia they would struggle to survive as portrayed by the example above. Consequently this example portrays how this characteristics fits into dystopia. Even though the slaves moved to Nova Scotia they are still under a control by the government which is due to the fact that they depend on the British to give them land and jobs. This shows that the government uses an illusion of utopian society as a way to get what they want
which in this case was for the slaves to move to Nova Scotia where they can be used to benefit their town because of their dependency on the British. This essentially is dystopia because they are under full control of the British government and are not totally free or equal to the rest of the people in Nova Scotia. This is merely a way to use the slaves and manipulate them in order to use them. In essence this is dystopia because being manipulated and deceived is an undesirable situation to be in. In conclusion society is an illusion of a perfect utopian world is one characteristic of Dystopia as it is an undesirable situation to be in.
The last characteristic of a dystopian society that was depicted in the book of Negros is, the natural world is banished or distrusted.
The natural world refers to society before the impact of dystopia. Furthermore the banishment or distrust alludes to the change in the natural world caused by the impacts of dystopia. For instance this characteristic was portrayed in the novel in the following passage “I heard Alassane say that in two days we would be arriving at the village of Kassam a place where slaves were sold. When we get there, Alassane said, I will sell the woman"(Hill, 612). Basically Aminata had arrived back in Africa and was travelling with Alassane who promised to take her to her village in exchange for rum. But Alassane deceived her and really just wanted to sell her. This example portrays how the natural world is banished and distrusted as it seems that people with power regardless of their skin color are controlling others which was not the case in the natural world. In this case the natural world is society in Africa before they were influenced by the slave traders which is essentially when Aminata was young. The Natural world consisted of all of the Africans living in harmony when there was no African slave captors. But this Natural society was later distrusted as seen in this example as the British slave traders influenced the more powerful Africans to help them in capturing slaves. This essentially corrupted them as now they see their own people as a
source of income rather than humans. With these means, one can connect this as a characteristic of a dystopian society as when the natural world got banished or became distrusted, some of the Africans became corrupted and started to value money more than their own people, this created an undesirable place for the other Africans to live as now there is no equality between the Africans as the slave captors did not treat the other Africans as humans but as a possession. As a result this created a dystopian society as now the Africans live a distressing life as they are constant fear of being forced into slavery which is truly undesirable. Therefore this examples depicted how the natural world being banished or distrusted is a characteristic of a dystopian society.
To reiterate the concept of dystopia was illustrated in The Book of Negroes because the Society is an illusion of a perfect utopian world, the natural world is banished and distrusted, and lastly citizens have a fear of the outside world. The examples in the novel depicted how the characteristics stated above were in fact characteristics of dystopia. All of them created an undesirable situation for the people to live in furthermore it was evident that the individuals that had greater power were the ones that created these situations. This alludes to our current society and how the people in power can become corrupted, negatively impacting to less powerful people. Dystopia is a way of showing the potential direction our society can head towards because certain social trends or political system. We must learn from dystopia how to enhance our current society and prevent it from ending up in dystopia. As society we should strive to reach utopia in an effort to become the best we can.