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Recharging Capsules

This blog post is inspired by Fing’s public speaking class. For our final presentation, we were asked to talk about an art we would like to leave at Uni. I chose to do something more technology-based, and I realized that what I was creating was basically a mini-utopia: recharging capsules. The idea is that we place capsules that go into the walls of Uni (like hotel capsules in Tokyo). Inside, students are only allowed to rest. Once the student is in, they can set the temperture settings, light settings, and choose to have some sort of background noise or not (of course, these capsules would be sound-proof.) There could also be a computer system that saves every person’s settings so they may have the option of chosing their last tempurature, lighting, and sound. More importantly, the student can set a time for an alarm to go off that will wake them up in time for the next class period. Once all the settings are set, students lay down in the comfy capsule while sleep-inducing essen
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Sex in Dystopias

In all the books we’ve read, sex has been a prominent aspect of the storyline. In BNW, it is encouraged while in both 1984 and the Handmaid’s tale sex is more regulated and taboo in certain ways.  Personally, I’ve had mixed feelings on why there is so much sex in these dystopian novels. On one hand, I know that the classic saying that“sex sells” is probably at play here. However, part of me wants to believe there’s more to it than that. After all, there’s just so much of it and at times there is a pretty large amount of detail like unzipping all those zippers in BNW.  I’ve tried to analyze it. Maybe sex serves as a rebellion?  However, how can sex be any more than a rebellion than actually organizing a revolt? It’s one of my main issues with all the sex. If they spent half the time they do in bed on unifying, they could have made a lot more progress in dismantling the system. I mean sneaking around to have sex might be a fun topic to write about for the authors, however I don’t k
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Julia and Lenina

Julia and Lenina, our main female characters of Brave New World and 1984, have many similarities and differences. In terms of personality, Julia and Lenina are similar, but differ in their actions and motives. Julia while attempts to rebel against the Party in little big ways, she is still not entirely confident in actually attempting to go against them. I see her joining the Brotherhood as more of Winston's influence rather than her own volition. Lenina, on the other hand, is also more timid in her actions, but her motives are entirely different - she is a product of the New World in every mannerism and action, and any possible 'misconduct' - even something as small as staying with the same man for a longer period of time - is quickly cut off. Both Julia and Lenina, despite their differing stances in their respective societies, have one huge thing in common: they are both incredibly well-written characters that display how people in their societies are shaped by their va
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Contradictions

At the beginning of George Orwell’s novel  1984 , these words are presented as the official motto of the nation of Oceania: War is Peace Freedom is Slavery  Ignorance is Strength  Though to us these statements are obvious contradictions, The Party in  1984  is devoted to establishing them as ultimate truths. Shortly into the novel we can infer that Orwell opened the book with this for a reason: to introduce the reader to the concept of  Doublethink , which can be understood as the ability to accept two opposing ideas in one’s mind simultaneously.  I'll briefly pause here to appreciate how this philosophy is impressively puzzling. As in 1984 , today Doublethink can be considered a coping mechanism to rationalize one's internal conflicts. Consider how people often live with multiple belief systems which may easily contradict. A scientist and a committed Christian likely manages their beliefs by compartmentalizing - thinking in several sets of fundamentally contradi
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Soma, Handmaids, or Telescreens?

In 1984  and in Brave New World , we see that the societies are not based upon religious values (so far). However, in The Handmaids Tale , Christianity is the core drive of society and hierarchy. I would make a distinction between 1984  and Brave New World , though. For Orwell, the society is based upon political values, which is what drives the people's opinions. Things like Big Brother against Emmanuel Goldstein, two-minute hating sessions, and monitoring people and showing propaganda with the telescreen are what drives the society. So far, this is the third type of "utopian dystopia" model we've seen. With Huxley it was no religious or political movements, just dumbing the human down to soma and feelies. It was supposed to be a utopia because everyone was doing the same thing: Following their simple desires and not reaching for any real-life purposes or goals, all engineered to be the same. Atwood wrote Gilead around religious values, and it was supposed to be a p
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Particicution in the Real World

Warning: contains upsetting content. Read at your own risk. In The Handmaid's Tale , one of the most disturbing scenes is that of the Particicution, where handmaids are encouraged to tear an accused rapist to death. Such events are reminiscent of lynchings, but with one key difference; as far as I know, lynching were not publicly sanctioned events. And since Margaret Atwood stated that all events that occur in this book are drawn from real world events, I became curious as to whether or not Atwood drew inspiration from other sources. Although I was unable to find examples of state sanctioned events where humans physically tear apart other humans (comment below if you do), I found another form of public execution that is, if not more, disturbing that the Particicution. Stoning is a capital punishment where the criminal is buried up to the chest or neck in the ground and people gather around to throw stones at them until they die. A very slow, painful process. And in the source
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Why did Margaret Atwood write the Handmaid's Tale?

The Handmaid’s Tale has been one of the most emotionally disturbing books I’ve ever read. There are points where I honestly thought the society couldn’t get any worse but then Margaret Atwood drops a new detail into the storyline that brings an even darker side of it to the light. So to cope, I’ve shifted towards trying to understand why she would ever write the Handmaid’s Tale in the first place.  Undoubtedly, the society is a dystopia. However, I feel that Margaret Atwood has been particularly successful in creating a world that most people would never want to live in. With women essentially being slaves who are subjected to some pretty horrifying stuff and the Eyes surveilling every action someone takes, it sounds like a new type of hell.   Yet why bother writing such a book? Isn’t this the type of thing you have nightmares about and is best kept in your own thoughts than written in 311 pages? Evidently, Margaret Atwood had a reason for writing this book. Person
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