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Fahrenheit 451 Dystopian Society Essay

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Fahrenheit 451 Dystopian Society Essay
To what extent is the idea of dystopian society present in 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 and how does being part of it affect the protagonists?

The idea of a dystopian society is that of complete control, either through the use of a police state that has ultimate control over humanity and or the idea of man abusing technology to further gain control of its subjects. These ideas are very present in both novels. In 1984, the totalitarian state is technically and urbanely engineered to spy on and see people's very thoughts. In Fahrenheit 451 a similar idea is used in the outlawing of literature and the use of denunciations to capture and punish those deemed to have broken the law. This essay is going to explore the idea of Man’s struggle against
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The water saves Montag, cleansing him of the scent of society, he is thus reborn. In addition, when Montag is trying to escape the helicopters and the mechanical hound, the tools of the totalitarian government, the stream hides and saves him until it is safe to return to land. Montag indulges himself in the water and "there was only the cold river and Montag floating in a sudden peacefulness, away from the city and the lights and the chase, away from everything" in this the water saves him, purifies him, the opposite of the dystopian symbol, fire. Water is portrayed as the flow of humanity. In 1984, the party uses contrasting ideas in their party slogans such as « War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength » these contrasting ideas represent perfectly the party’s ideals. The individual and the freedom that comes with it actually results in slavery in the dystopian society, ignorance of the truth of what the party is really about protects you from persecution of the thought police. The use of these contradicting words and the lack of opposition, mean that the party have succeeded in their indoctrination of the masses as no one has the ability to see past the words to see their true sense, even Winston and Julia remain troubled by

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