Jonathan Utopia/Dystopia Blog

With the many harrowing events that impact the main character of the book and the general feeling of suspense, it is easy to overlook the fact that the title of the novel actually comes from a passage in the Bible known as the Parable of the Sower, one of many allegorical stories that Jesus used to communicate his message to a general audience: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.   As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.   Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.   But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.   Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.   Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.   Whoever has ears, let them hear.” Essentially, the different types of soils in the story represe...

Although the novel takes place entirely on Earth and doesn't feature any of the typical tropes of science fiction, the idea of interstellar travel is one frequently brought up from the start of the novel, when it is mentioned that presidential candidate Christopher Donner plans to end the American space program. This goes directly in conflict with the wishes Lauren has for the human race, which is that they will find heaven by leaving the ravaged Earth and colonizing other planets.  Lauren also brings up that a space probe funded by the British and Japanese has found yet another possibly habitable planet. This contrasts with the United States, which has been trying to get rid of its space program as it slowly descends into further anarchy and violence. The space program serves as a representation of progress and stability in a country, and is used to signify that the United States is falling behind.  Once again, the theme of certainty and uncertainty ties into this. Lauren dre...

From the beginning of The Parable of the Sower , religion plays an important role in Lauren's life. Because her father is a baptist minister, Lauren has been exposed to Christianity for many years, but in her own mind she has her own view about how the world operates. Lauren believes that even though Christianity promises hope and security by following Christ, the violence and turmoil gripping her dystopian world is enough evidence to prove that this isn't the case.  Due to her love of her family and her upbringing, Lauren agrees to get baptized, but eventually, she decides that Christianity is no longer compatible with the new reality of constant change and uncertainty. This idea of inevitable change is one that defines the entire story from the beginning to the end. People all around Lauren, including both her parents and many of her neighbors, as well as countless civilians fleeing Southern California along the highway, get killed swiftly and without warning. Natural disaste...

Although 1984 was written more than 70 years ago, its legacy still remains influential today even as communist regimes have much less power in world affairs than they did in Orwell's time. The term "Orwellian" is commonly used (and misused) to describe various forms of authoritarian rule present in the world today, most often with countries like North Korea which have repressive communist governments.  North Korea was founded just one year before Orwell wrote 1984, in the aftermath of World War II as the Soviet Union started spreading its influence in war-torn Asia and Europe and planted single-party communist regimes. I guess one way to avoid an authoritarian government taking power in the United States would be to prevent war and upheaval from occurring here, because such conflict would create a power vacuum that would allow extreme ideologies to take control.  In addition, a system of checks and balances in the government is essential, because if a president were to ma...

The ending of 1984 is quiet, with Winston living his life as a loyal party member who realizes that he can no longer love Julia. It sees the triumph of repression and totalitarianism over rebellion, and it sums up Orwell's message about the dangers of authoritarian rule because of how anybody can be broken into believing anything that they are told. In many ways, this is similar to the ending of Brave New World, where John's rebellion against the state withers away as he is exiled, then succumbs to the temptation to join the orgy and tragically takes his own life.  However, I felt that the books kind of took opposite paths in how they got to that sort of ending. In Brave New World, we are introduced to a society that seems almost perfect and where everybody is happy. Rebellion or brewing sedition in the society is impossible because everybody is conditioned to be happy with their place in life, and John is virtually all alone as the only person from the Savage Reservation who c...

In these chapters, we see Winston's "re-education" briefly relapse after the torture lessens, causing him to suddenly proclaim his love for Julia and that he hates Big Brother. Even though Winston knows that saying these things will surely get him sent to Room 101 or executed, once the physical torture subsides, he chooses to voice his true thoughts to O'Brien and let the party know what he really thinks about them.  It seems that throughout the entire novel, Winston has had a fatalistic mentality and engages in sedition knowing that he will be killed by the party sooner or later. The scene in Room 101 is something of an anticlimax, as the rats cause Winston to completely lose all sense of himself and what he truly believes in. It seems that after this point, Winston has become a truly brainwashed subject of the state, with no will to resist and content with his place in society despite once having seditious desires.  This ending seems to contrast to the one of Brave ...