Are dystopian novels a prediction of human being’s future communities or states? To examine this statement, this paper will use two books. These are the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell and Ten with a Flag by Joseph Paul Haines. The dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four uses the character of Winston Smith to reveal society’s filth. Smith was a member of the Party; however, he had a low-ranking role. The Party was the governing body in Smith’s society and was headed by Big Brother (Orwell 6). In the community, the Party had an omnipresent eye. No individual was able to perform other tasks without the Party knowing about it. The Party controlled everything, including people’s thoughts. Similarly, the novel Ten with a Flag describes the life of a young married couple to explain the role of society in an individual’s life. In this case, the couple had to make a life-changing decision; however, several complications occurred due to society’s governing rules. Possibly the most frightening, powerful, and effective notion from both novels is that it is possible to have a totalitarian state in the future.
Orwell, in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, addresses totalitarianism as a form of government. One of the themes he uses to address this form of governance is psychological manipulation. The Party utilizes a lot of propaganda to influence its subject mindset and stare them away from independent thoughts. The giant televisions continuously stream disinformation to make the shortcomings and failures of the Party feature meaningful successes. The televisions further monitor individuals everywhere in the community by displaying such omnipresent signs as “big brother is watching you” (Orwell 106). The information may not be true, but a person’s psychological thinking is interfered with, and they may feel afraid.
Moreover, the Party disregards the structure of the family by admitting children into spy programs (Orwell 50). The Party uses these programs to brainwash children and encourage them to spy on their parents. In this case, they encourage children to report instances of disloyalty to the governing body. Furthermore, the Party discourages people from fulfilling their sexual desires as this activity only increases the number of Party members. The Party encourages people to channel their emotions and anger towards its enemies, which it has created.
Similarly, the dystopian novel Ten with a Flag by Haines describes psychological manipulation. However, in this scenario, the government uses a Central system, which predicts human behavior. According to the story, a couple realized they would have a child with disabilities (Haines 25). In an ordinary society, an individual or couples, in this context, should be able to control their circumstances. However, due to the existence of the Central in the story, the government decided for individuals. The main role of the Central was to predict human behavior, and higher authorities would decide the best course of action. As a result, the Central predicted that the man would kill the child. The punishment for this was that the man was arrested for the thought of killing the unborn child.
On the other hand, the wife was not arrested because they predicted that she would not kill the child. The view of the Central was that the child would become a beneficial member of society. Nevertheless, because the man thought that the child would be a burden and therefore was not fit to live, the Central arrested him.
The protagonist in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four is Winston Smith. Orwell coins the term “thoughtcrime,” which means that an individual is prohibited from thinking thoughts that society considers illegal (Orwell 10). To deal with this situation, Smith decides to purchase a diary and write down his ideas. In Oceania, Smith’s community, this is considered a heinous crime. Moreover, smith decides to contact the Party’s opposition and manages to meet O’Brien, who he later realizes was an undercover member of the Party. Due to his action, he is arrested and tortured. During this time, the Party tries to brainwash Smith, but he remains resilient. However, after a while, he is taken to the dreaded Room 101, where they manage to achieve their goal of brainwashing him. Thus, even though he stood against the Party’s doctrines, his course of action did not work. After being brainwashed, he advocated for the same doctrines to members of Oceania.
In the novel, Ten with a Flag, Johnnie, the protagonist, similarly attempts to protest the Central’s decision. He discovers that they are pregnant, but the child was termed a ten with a flag (Haines 26). The ten, in this case, meant that their child was going to be an important contributor to the community. The flag, on the other hand, meant that the child might have some complications. According to the book, most mothers whose children had a flag did not survive during childbirth (Haines 30). This was an alarming statistic to Johnnie, which led to him asking Mr. White many questions. He then decided to convince his wife to take the flag option, which meant terminating the pregnancy. However, his tactics did not work as he was arrested.
Despite the similarities between the two novels, some differences exist in how the government controls its people. In the book Nineteen Eighty-Four, the government uses telescreens for omnipresent advertising messages. Moreover, they use spies and brainwash children to believe their propaganda. In addition, according to the novel, the government ensured that everyone had a specific language known as the “newspeak” (Orwell 3). They used this to control everyone and to prevent an uprising. Contrarily, in the Ten with a Flag, the government uses the Central, which predicts the future characteristics. Despite choosing whether to keep or terminate the baby, the Central still had the most power. Johnnie decided to terminate the baby; however, Mr. White said that the government said that the couple had the option but did not have the right (Haines 30). As a result, by choosing the option of terminating the pregnancy, the government arrested Johnnie. Thus, both novels utilize different techniques to describe a dystopian society.
The authors in these novels convey a warning message to future societies. Orwell and Haines highlight the essence of resisting oppression and mass control. In the Nineteen Eighty-Four novel, Orwell reveals the dangers of a government that controls every community. One of these dangers includes the lack of freedom of expression. From the novel, it is prohibited to express one’s thought that is considered controversial according to the Party. If one engages in such activities, it is regarded as a thoughtcrime. In the novel Ten with a Flag, the Central predicts human behavior and takes action depending on their findings. In this case, a person does not have complete control of their actions, denying them their freedom of expression. These warnings are relevant to the present day because they highlight the dangers of encouraging such societies. They reveal such consequences as living in fear and the inability for individuals to express themselves.
Both Orwell’s and Haines’s ideas have come true in recent times through several occurrences. Several countries in the world, especially third-world countries, attempt to control their people by spreading propaganda. They achieve this by controlling the media, thereby limiting the type of information reaching their citizens. By doing so, they are exercising psychological manipulation to convince their people that the government is succeeding. Due to technological advancements, governments use social sites such as Twitter and Facebook to spy on their people. They perform these activities to gain an added advantage over their political rivals.
Furthermore, today most governments spy on their people through mobile devices and emails by using hackers. Some nations are developing software that would enable access to data concerning their citizens. Thus, these novels proved that totalitarianism could exist in recent times through different governmental operations.
Haines and Orwell’s dystopian novels are warning of a future consisting of a totalitarian government. They both discuss governments utilizing psychological manipulation to control their people. In this case, they utilize such techniques as omnipresent to warn people that they are being watched. As a result, there is a lack of privacy and freedom of speech because the government ensures that individuals cannot participate in activities that undermine their authority.
References
Haines, Joseph P. Ten with a Flag. n.d. Web.
Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-four: A Novel. 1984. Harcourt, Brace, 1949.