Portrayal of a Bleak Future in Orwell's 1984 and Murakami's IQ84

“The future is frequently portrayed as bleak.”
To what extent is this true of your prescribed text and one other related text of your choosing?
In many variations of futuristic texts, a common portrayal of the future is a bleak one. This is an expression of concert for current issues that may develop into an undesirable future. Such a statement appears to be supported in that it occurs to a large extent in ‘Nineteen Eighty Four,” by George Orwell, and ‘1Q84’ written by Haruki Murakami. ‘Nineteen Eighty Four (1984)’ prospects into a totalitarian government run society and similarly, ‘1Q84’ is also a novel about the reign of an autocratic leader. Both of these texts characterise a bleak future for human society, with the use of themes: cultism and logic of reality.
The bleak and dystopian future of ‘1984’ is a result of the cultist society. Precisely, political cultism is what is responsible for the control of Oceania. The leaders of this cult are the Party, and by stropping the citizens of their individuality and liberty, they are able to create the god-like image of themselves and Big Brother. Winston (protagonist) says “The Party encourages everyone to go on public gathers, rather than spending time alone.” This quote demonstrates the Party’s objective of removing character in people, and having complete control. Orwell’s use of emotionless tone insinuates that this type of control is normal. Big brother exhibits his omnipresence through the use of telescreens, which is watching everyone. “It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in a public place or within the range of a telescreen.” The adjective “terribly” emphasises the caution everyone must take under the eye of their ‘god,’ Big Brother. The party enforces a cultist obsession over Big Brother. “There will be no love except the love of Big Brother.” The imperative verb communicates the strict control and ultimate faith that is required by the people towards the party and Big Brother. Such encouragement of twisted obsession upon their leader leaves the responder feeling disgusted about this uneasingly bleak future.
Correspondingly in ‘1Q84’, the bleakly presented future is a prominent feature within the text. Again, cultism is accountable for its dystopia; however religious cultism (Sakigake) has taken the place of political cultism. In the Cat Town, autocratic Tamotsu Fukada is the leader of this cult and he hears the voices of the “Little People.” “The one who hears the voices,” the leader is never mentioned by name as he is the godly ruling power who the people fear. Humanity is undermined by the working of “Little People” rather than overseen by the omniscient Big Brother. They are the force of oppression, an image that is largely opposite of Orwell in that they are hidden and subtle instead of looming and obvious. The effects of the cults are remarkably similar. Within the Sakigake organization are thuggish enforcers and various forms of thought control, which allows the expansion of the cult. Furthermore Sakigake has uncanny dark powers under its command that threaten the novel’s heroes and keep them in hiding. Aomame says “The world itself has already changed into something else.” The use of present perfect tense informs the reader that this bleak future has immerged recently, and impend a sense of doom that is to come about this world.
In ‘1984’ the concept of logic of reality is manipulated and corrupted through the use of pain, torture, and fear. In this desolate future, the Party cannot allow people to have a perception of reality that is different from theirs. “It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party. By describing it as impossible, it shows the reader that the citizens do not have any nous at all. Winston is frustrated by the impossibility of knowing what is and what not a lie. The reality of life under the Party is completely opposite to the image of life according to their propaganda. Even so, everyone appears to swallow the propaganda and believe they are living the great life. The Party has altered the minds of people to believe that the bleak surroundings are in fact best of the best. No one knows the difference between what is real or what seems to be real. “Reality exists in the human mind and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind …only in the mind of the party.” This tells us that reality does in fact exist, but not real reality, only the manipulated version. Essentially, the future of ‘1984’ is obviously bleak, in that everyone lacks the logic of knowing what reality is and what is false.
Another reason for a bleak future in ‘1Q84’is due to the absence of a sense of reality. Tengo and Aomame both question what reality really is, and whether 1Q84 is the real world or the world they left behind is the real world. They consider that the strange occurrences in 1Q84 might in reality, be reality. This is similar to 1984 as the Little People have created this false reality, like the Party, and through the deception and manipulation, they are able to keep everyone under their power. Though Tengo and Aomame are very logical individuals, they know that something is wrong with the world, rather than they themselves. “If you really want to know what’s happening here and now, you’ve got to use your own eyes and your own judgement.” Repetition of the world ‘own’ highlights that nothing is trustable apart from them, and enforces that this future is not good on the reader. The little people try to make the people believe that what they see is what real. “No matter what happens to me in the future, this view with two moons hanging up there side by side will never ever seem ordinary and obvious to me. “ The words ‘never ever’ reassures the reader that at least the main character will not fall for the deception, and will be able to survive in such a bleak future.
In conclusion, to a large extent, the future is presented as bleak in both ‘1984’ and ‘1Q84.’ In ‘1984’, it was seen that such a future was created through enforcing political cultism upon the people, and a sense of logic of reality was erased from everyone so that the Party could demonstrate their power. In ‘1Q84,’ religious cultism was used to threaten the characters into obeying the Leader, and also tried to make them believe that the alternate reality, was the real world. Both texts are comparable in that they have an ultimate power that has impose corrupted ideals to create this bleak future.