Effects Of Dystopian Society

The Psychology Behind the Unperfected Societies

Dystopian have a wicked side to what believed to be their perfect society. The psychological

perspective of dystopian society, in a government controlling environment where strict and

controlling rules that demand to be followed by the societies. This rules and demand require

people in the society to obtain survival skill that will not let them get killed or tortured to death.

The people in this society are sometimes brained washed to believe they’re living the perfect life,

when in reality they know it all an irony. They try to relive past memories or dreams that can cover

they’re pain and suffrage, from their
strict unhuman lifestyles. They are shown people get tortured

or hanged for rebelling against the society or for not fitting into society expectation or way of life.

Many people from this society that are led by dictators live in the shadows. Even though they don’t

agree with what the society rules impose, they need a way to survive and to survive they need to

live in the shadows following the rules and not rebelling in certain ways. In this utopian societies

it is impossible not to break the rules, they’re are human need that is meant to be satisfied, if it by

sexual need or by freedom, to achieve happiness. In the dystopias “1984” by George Orwell

and “The handmaid Tale” by Margaret Atwood, both are plots occur in a strict dictated setting,

where people have to follow a routine and rules, that if they fail to follow this rules and

demands they’ll suffer the consequences of their act. Both of these societies may seem cold and

inhuman and with no respect for human needs and feeling. These societies have a

psychological twist, they want to play with their civilian mind, to make them do and obey what

they want them to believe. Even if they have to use a force classical conditioning like in “1984”

and in “The Handmaid Tale” by doing public hanging or when they found out people were

rebelling against the society. They made people believe that they tortured people to death or cause

people to commit suicide. Both characters from both dystopian want to feel love, sexuality and

freedom and this attributes are what led them to rebel against the society, so they can feel satisfied

and happy.

In the dystopian “1984” by George Orwell, it has a psychological connection especially

since Orwell showed an interest in psychological theories. In the journal “Dynamic Psychology,

Utopia, and Escape from History” it express that in order for a society to be controlled by the ideal

belief of the perfect place, it requires the ideas of psychological insight and methods that are

effective in transforming people’s personality and thereby they can change the whole society way

of thinking and culture by manipulating their wants, needs, and belief of equality (Petteri

Pietikainen, p.45). Wilson the main character of this dystopian society feels frustrated by the

oppression and control by the party, who make it believe that they’re living in an equal society

where no difference is made. Wilson feels it’s injustice that there no freedom of expression of the

individual self and of sexual satisfaction, all he can do is write and express himself in a secret

diary, in order to survive and not being seen as rebelling in a way that can get him killed. They

use torture on whoever was breaking the rules and used an expression. When Wilson and Julia

we’re discovering, Wilson was almost tortured to death to give up Julia and save himself, because

it all about surveying, like the survival of the fetus (Orwell, p. VI). He was conditioned to look out

for himself and to follow the party in a non-rebellious act, but to follow the rules by loving Big

Brother, because of the fact that his always watching and there’s no escape, except beyond the

psychological mind. In this Dystopian there’s a dark twist to the society where people are

supposed to cheer and act like it okay to torture or hang people, and the only time when they can

show the emotion of feeling happiness, because in reality it all an act to survive. In this society

following the rules and demand it’s all they can do in order to survive, by keeping an act that won’t

call anyone attention, so they won’t be accused of rebelling. In the dystopian “The Handmaids Tale” by Margaret Atwood, it is a very unfair and a

unperfected society that oppresses women and uses them for reproduction. Not all women are

treated as objects, because there are two different type of women, the wife and the handmaid who

are oppressed and obligated to follow the rules, because if they don’t they’ll get killed. Offred who

is the main character, takes part in two groups, one she is part of a rebelling group that against the

Gilded society ways and the other is she is playing the commanders in order to find information

but also to keep herself alive. In a psychological perspective, women are used as object to

reproduce babies and then get their children taken away from them because the society classified

them as unfit mother. This handmaid’s suffered psychological traumas, that most times the only

escape they saw was suicide in order to escape the cruelty and injustice they live in the society,

especially when they got caught for rebelling against the society like Ofglend did when she was

goanna be arrested (Atwood, Ch. 44). Offred thought of committing suicide toward the end when

she believed she got caught for rebelling and working with the Mayday group to achieve a free

society. All Offred want was to feel loved and to have freedom which people need to feel to feel

mentally healthy, which is what this dystopian lacks. Women in this society were supposed to be

asexual, they need to pretend like they didn’t enjoy sexual intercourses, but the men sexuality

could be powerful, strong and controlling. Many of the characters are depressed, selfish and have

suicide taught, to escape their reality of what to believe is the perfect society. Even though Offred

does have thoughts of suicide at the end, she still wants to survive this inhuman and oppressed

society and get back to what freedom felt like to her. In a strange way this Dystopian kind of reflects things that have happened in the past or

that are happening in today’s society. In our society we to get watch by “big brother” and a sign is

also sometimes put, that say big brothers watching. As a society we to get blinded sometimes

by the reality that we face. In both dystopias “1984” and “The Handmaid’s Tales” it shows how

people are oppressed psychologically of their freedom of expression, sexuality and freedom in

general. In “Dynamic Psychology, Utopia, and Escape from History” it expresses how the psych-

cultural plays a part on how we influence the way we convince our inner self and how society put

a frame that makes people believe that they’re living a perfect life, which in a way assimilates to

what happen in dystopian and utopian (Pietikainen, p.41).
Some people can’t see beyond what

their true reality could be, instead of believing false claims of living the perfect life. Dystopian

in general, I believe have to do with some type of psychological perspective and of surviving even

tough if it pretending to follow the rules. In some societies, that are restricted to many humans

feeling and expression, psychologically there has to be something wrong with the leader and the

people that follow his decision, of becoming a perfect society, because there isn’t a society that

perfect there’s always some imperfection in between that give balance to people’s life. Instead of

following commands and orders that prohibit basic and self-human rights, people should not fall

into the idea that their misery is the only way of living. When people can’t decide for them self of

what they want in their society and can barely rebel is when the power they had is completely

taken away and dominated by one group, who takes every right they once had.
Psychologically

people may get influenced to believe that what their living is the only way of life and that their no

other way to living but the that their only option they have. When people feel oppressed and with

barely any option to achieve freedom, psycho-culture explains that the only way the people were

taught was to follow the societies way and that the only option left is to try and survive in a dictated

society. Surviving in all aspect is hard if it physically or mentally, when a person or even an entire

society suffer physically and psychologically dictatorship of a government, where they don’t have

the escape from the society. Sometimes the only way to escape is deep within the mind were reality

doesn’t excite, but were a person can find happiness in their desires and wants.
When Wilson was

getting torture, he kind of jumped into a state of mind that wasn’t his reality. In the journal “From

Utopia to Dystopia: Levels of explanation and the politics of social psychology” it express how

democracy is seen as an illusion in an implicit dystopia (Klein, p. 91). That the “free man” and his

choice are false claims, that a society will be controlled regardless of any rights, because when

people get rights they’ll have no say or vote in the society anyways, it will take a long time for

them to achieve a vote that count (Klein, p. 91). This journal also argues that “social psychology

tends to pass on a political message: by showing that individual freedom is an illusion as it is either

limited by influence from others or by automatic and unconscious processes, it conveys an

inherently conservative dystopia (p. 97).” I agree with what Klein expresses that in a dystopia and

sometimes in reality individual freedom is sometimes an illusion, we are set to believe if it by other

or by our own unconscious. This expresses that sometimes people can influence our state of
mind

and how are unconscious see freedom in different ways, when sometimes the people in this society

can’t see the oppression they are experiencing because they’re blocking their true reality, but not

all experience this state of mind, many just do it to survive the injustice and cruelty in the society

Both dystopian experience psychological perspectives in different ways, but similar, in that

this dystopian society is cruel and inhuman. They also show a very dark and mystic perspective

that degrades and oppresses human being in many aspects like psychologically, they aren’t able to

express freely if it in a sexual or free state of emotion. In both dystopian were a totalitarian

government is in control of both societies, all the main character tries to do is survive by trying to

follow the rules. Even though they do break the rules by expressing sexual feeling and having

intimacy with other people. They want to achieve happiness and freedom and want to experience

love and sexual needs. While in between all this injustice both Wilson from “1984” and Offred

from “The Handmaid’s Tale” satisfy their sexual need and fall in love with the partner they are

committed to sexually. This society are very dark and unfair, but it sometimes connects to real life

events. Both dystopias praise public hanging and death of people who don’t agree with the society

rules and demands, because the people are not given any autoreactive power. The condition of life

is extremely bad and corrupted by a government that takes satisfaction in the way they dictate.

Both the central character of both dystopian rebel sexually and emotionally again the society they

live in.

In both this dystopian society both “1984” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” central character

experience oppression and cruelty, if it emotional or physically. They both have urges to survive

even if it’s against the society and are rebelling in many ways, but try to hide their rebellious acts

in the shadow, because it all about surviving and not getting caught. The only thing both the

main characters have left is their memories, dream and illusion to keep them alive and hopeful of

a better life to come. Mentally they are tired and drain by the implication that the societies

impose on them. This society imposes oppression and without any option to barely achieve

freedom, the only way is to find techniques and ways to survive the society, without getting

caught in the action of rebellion against these oppressed and degrading societies that affect the

people psychologically and physically.