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Recommended: Dystopian texts essay
Clarisse McClellan makes Montag feel uncomfortable for several reasons. First of all, she has knowledge from reading, unlike most of the society. She says, “Bet I know something else you don’t.” (Bradbury 7).
Montag starts arguing with Mildred about how she is acting. She is depressed and does not even know it. Mildred thinks that the voices in the walls are her family. Montag tries to get her to see what is really happening in society. She is so unaware of her actions that Montag has top tell her, “maybe you took two pills and forgot and took to more, and forgot again and took two more, and were so dopey you kept right on until you had thirty or forty of them in you” (Bradbury 17).
(Bradbury 2). As the story develops, Montag also questions whether or not his wife is true to her word, and as Clarisse continues in asking about the strangeness of their society. This creates suspense for the story and also an overall mood for the story. In summary, the author’s tone opens the story with a tone and mood that secures the reader in reading the novel.
She is reminded of the violence that torn not only communities apart but families as well. How the social norms of the day restricted people’s lives and held them in the balance of life and death. Her grandfathers past life, her grandmother cultural silence about the internment and husband’s affair, the police brutality that cause the death of 4 young black teenagers. Even her own inner conflicts with her sexuality and Japanese heritage. She starts to see the world around her with a different
"The whole house is going up," said Beatty. The men walked clumsily to the door. They glanced back at Montag, who stood near the woman. "You’re not leaving her here?" he protested. "She won’t come" (Bradbury 39).
Confused and hurt, Montag thought, “suddenly she was so strange he couldn’t believe he knew her at all”(Bradbury 39). Montag also changes a lot after that fateful night. He encounters a woman, who has books in her possession, that is willing to die for knowledge. She couldn’t bear to live a second without her books. What she did scar Montag forever,”the woman on the porch reached out with contempt to them [firemen] all, and struck the kitchen match against the railing”(Bradbury 37).
The government of Gilead is oppressive. Government oppression is another element commonly found in dystopian literature. Offred is constantly being watched by many government officials such as: The Angels, The Aunts and The Eyes. These officials were meant to be feared. Offred said, “The Angels…were objects of fear to us, but of something else as well.”
Dystopian fiction often utilises the concept of Manufactured Consent to create warnings for readers regarding what may happen when a society is unaware of social movements. Ray Bradbury’s novel, ‘Fahrenheit 451’, introduces readers to Clarisse, An individual oppressed through the expectations and pessimistic government. Comparably, the television show ‘Stranger Things', directed by the Duffer Brothers, reveals the character of Eleven, as an outcast.
People talked too much. And they had time to think.[…]’”(Bradbury, 60) Montag’s view of society dramatically changes after his discussions with the girl mentioned above, his neighbor. His neighbor’s free-thinking ideas influence him to believe that it is a dystopian society he lives in, even though almost everyone thinks of it as utopia. He kills the Chief and the other firemen to prevent them from going after a fellow book reader.
Clarisse McClellan symbolizes everything the government and society disapproves of by questioning the rules and logic of their world, enjoying nature, and not going along with what society deems socially acceptable. Clarisse McClellan questions things she experiences which make her a threat to the so called perfect world they live in. In a conversation with Montag, Clarisse recalls the time that her “....uncle was arrested….for being a pedestrian”(Bradbury 7). Clarisse recognizes that being a pedestrian does not call for being arrested.
Le Guin takes this a step further when she “reinterprets [the essential truths] to reflect our contemporary world” (Rochelle). The major flaw is that there are problems that remain unaddressed, simply because one fails to think about them. Le Guin uses Omelas as a warning to readers, imploring that they search for the flaws in their own society. As a result, the reader is forced to see the flaws of Omelas’ social and political structure. Shaky societal structures, such as Omelas’, are a key element in dystopian elements.
Conformity in the Handmaid’s Tale A Japanese proverb says, “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down”. As seen in several historical events such as the Salem Witch Trials or the Holocaust, this concept illustrates the idea that nonconformity will get punished or suppressed. During the Holocaust, Adolf Hitler’s populist regime led to subservience out of fear because resistance was too dangerous.
(Bradbury 28). That shows that once people could show their personalities without being controlled by the rules of that dystopia and then they stopped since they thought it was unnecessary. The way Clarisse said that, goes to show that during their present, people don’t show their true colors. The people don’t really think deeply into the matter since they barely know themselves, only doing what suites themselves. Bradbury is trying to show a world where those who think differently shouldn’t be allowed in this dystopia.
The people in those books never lived. Come on now! She shook her head.” (Bradbury 35). Here, one is demonstrated that the old woman is emotionally, mentally, and even physically attached
With the novel being read from a ‘twelve’ year old whose history motivates his understanding, perception and interpretation of the events he encounters and interprets to the reader,