Humanity
Humanity is powerful. Many would
argue that it exists as the most defining characteristic of people. Without it,
our ability to love, feel compassion, or experience community would dull our complexes
and alter our moral.
With that in mind, it’s no wonder that at the core of what makes a society dystopian is its lack of humanity. Whether it is masked by tyranny, discrimination, or anything in between, without humanity, a true utopia is simply unachievable. Thereby, dystopian novels are notorious for having some form of authority seize control by reducing a people’s sense of humanity.
With that in mind, it’s no wonder that at the core of what makes a society dystopian is its lack of humanity. Whether it is masked by tyranny, discrimination, or anything in between, without humanity, a true utopia is simply unachievable. Thereby, dystopian novels are notorious for having some form of authority seize control by reducing a people’s sense of humanity.
Consider how
the World State in Brave New World exists with the sole intention of oppressing
natural human emotions and tendencies – a prime context of a dystopian society.
Reading Brave New World, I was constantly waiting for the ball to drop: for Helmholtz
and John to speak up and spark a much-needed revolution against the World State.
This, however, obviously never came into fruition. While Brave New World is
flooded with examples of the main characters being robbed of their humanity since
birth, they are seen with too little passion to rally against the cause in an
effort to retain or gain back their God-given human nature. For me, this was
the most disappointing aspect of the novel. As a reader, I can’t help but feel
hopeless about a story when there is little to no movement to disrupt its corrupt
system.
After finishing Brave New World and
moving into The Handmaid’s Tale, I was in desperate need of a change of context
and plot. Thankfully, I think that’s just what I’m getting. The book so far offers
a completely different and refreshing take on living in and battling a dystopian
society. I would consider Offred to be, unlike many of the characters we see in
Brave New World, a heroine, a developing consciousness, and an emerging woman. What
is most promising to me is how time and time again we see how Offred goes out
of her way to cleverly find means to express her existence and establish her
humanity no matter that the broader society is denying it. The latter provides
hope for a reader to connect and become emotionally attached to the story.
Yes, the World State and Republic
of Gilead are functionally different, but both of these societies are designed
to oppress humanity. The true difference in Brave New World and The Handmaid’s
Tale lies in how the characters deal with the system they’re place into. In
Brave New World, Bernard is passive towards change; but in The Handmaid’s Tale,
I have a feeling that Offred is prepared to rebel.
I feel like the only reason Offred still tries to express her existence and establish humanity is because the society she lives in is still relatively new so they haven't developed enough to get rid if this. BNW on the other hand has existed for a long time so they have had enough time to perfect their methods so that no one can be aware of anything. In BNW there is no hope because the society is so well established that one person can't change anything. But since the Republic of Gilead is still in its early stages, it is more possible and easier to have a revolution. If the Handmaids tale took place long after they established the republic then maybe they would have been able to train everyone to accept or even possibly enjoy living in this way.
ReplyDeleteNice post Sam, and I like your point Hadiyah. Offred rebels on the inside because she experienced a life before Gilead, a life that we would relate more to. She has that comparison, and shes tasted a better life and actually lost that life and love she used to have, so she is able to rebel on the inside and hurt and feel the pain. But Bernard never really had anything to lose to begin with. Both societies are really messed up, but in different ways.
DeleteHadiyah, your important distinction between societies in transition versus societies that have already passed the transitional stage reminded me of the phrase, "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction .. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." The BNW is a warning to us because BNW shows us a society nearly impossible to change because humanity itself has been altered. Sam, I liked your point that if a handmaiden were to write a biography after the Republic of Gilead had long been established, we would end up getting a completely different view on their lives because the handmaiden would have never known another reality.
DeleteI think you're right about this. Offred can still picture a world where Gilead doesn't exist, and knows that that world still does exist, somewhere out there, maybe in Canada or Central America. Even Gilead's "news" is forced to admit this, as they brag about their military "victories" against the Libertheos (I wonder, if someone had access to a map, would those "victories" be getting ever closer to whatever the capital of Gilead is?). Bernard, meanwhile, knows that he doesn't like the society of BNW, but can't really picture anything else, because everything is and has been that society for centuries.
Delete-Sasha
I agree, I could definitely see Offred pushing for change more easily than I could Bernard. I think part of the reason for this is due to how much society has influenced them. For Bernard, he does not know any way of life other than the one which he is already living. He would not think to rebel because he does not know what a different kind of life would entail. However, Offred can still remember parts of her old life, such as Luke, her daughter, Moira, etc. She would be more likely to start an uprising because she can remember when the world was a much different place.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Offred is more likely to rebel and fight for change because she is holding on to memories of her past. When she was going through different possibilities in her head about what happened to Luke, I thought that maybe it was foreshadowing Offred trying to actually find out about Luke in the future. Since Bernard on the other hand doesn't have any memories of what life was like for him, it's almost like he has nothing to fight for, which is why he doesn't try to rebel or anything.
DeleteI think it's important that you placed humanity as a core value in a Utopia, as we see even in our world that lack of humanity causes horrid things to happen. It made me think of the #Hearts4Humanity campaign that I am part of this year that is raising money for migrants coming from Central America, and how there is a clear lack of humanity in the government for these people. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteYeah this is an interesting idea and I do have a feeling that Offred wants to rebel, however I had similar feelings in Brave New World. In Brave New World when John came to be part of the society and he had his radical ideas I had feeling he might try to take down the New World order, or at least leave a mark on the society. But, he didn't and there is a chance the same may happen for Offred.
ReplyDeleteI certainly wouldn't call the handmaiden's tale refreshing but i get where you're coming from. All of the characters in Brave New World don't really rebel but In Handmaiden's tale it seems like something substantive might happen. Not to mention the characters are much more engaging. Offred's thoughts and struggles are much more interesting than Bernard's or John's. So I do agree that this is an interesting change.
ReplyDeleteI don’t believe that there was any humanity by any definition in the world of Brave New World, since no one has the right to make any of their own choices/be anything other than artificially happy. Bernard and John are the closest thing to humanity, and even they often aren’t even human like. I definitely think that Offred is very real in the situation she is in. Imagine characters from Brave New World in the world of The Handmaid’s Tale. They would survive a day. They wouldn’t choose to rebel. Yes, given Offred’s humanity, she is prepared to rebel against Gilead despite her inability to do so.
ReplyDeleteI agree. In my opinion, BNW was a bit of an anomaly amongst dystopian novels. Usually, such novels involve someone resisting or holding thoughts of fighting back. Very rarely do we get a protagonist like John who swoops in, looks around, says 'nope, no thank you' and leaves with no resistance.
ReplyDeleteI understand your disappointment in the lack of rebellion in BNW. However, I think that it’s hard to blame the characters for their shortcomings in inciting change but rather it’s more sensible to blame the plot. In BNW the people are so oppressed by Soma and the regime that I don’t think they really understand their humanity. They’ve never lived in any other society, nor know true emotions and consequently, they don’t know what they’ve lost. Offered on the other hand knows what life was like before and is more prone to rebellion.
ReplyDeleteI think as readers we have been too conditioned to the idea of a mass rebellion that topples the dystopian leaders. Because of this, we were disappointed by the ending of BNW. I definitely thought that John could have done more to upset the machine of a society in BNW, but in truth he probably couldn't have done much considering how alone he was. I think that Hauxley was just trying to be realistic which disappoints a majority of readers.
ReplyDeleteThe world state and particularly soma were so disturbing in the way they oppressed individual thought and pain. But you could make arguments for the soma and world state against the full range of human emotions. I wouldnt want to live in that society but it is interesting
ReplyDeleteI don't think rebellion necessarily has to be big action and a toppling of the whole corrupt regime. I think that in BNW the small acts of rebellion by the characters are a nice kind of reminder that humanity cant be fully eliminated ever. The same goes for handmaidens tale, Offreds acts that go against the regime are all defiant ways of her humanity shining through, just like in brave new world.
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