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 perfect society because everyone was supposedly following the word of God. Contrasting BNW, Gilead tried to motivate their citizens and give them each a life purpose based on their gender and power and backing it up with religion. Now we see with Orwell a third type of utopian structure: politics. I'm really interested to see how this utopian structure will compare and contrast with the other two we've seen so far. Do you guys think religion will end up playing a role in 1984? And out of the three models we've seen so far, which do you guys think is the worst "utopian dystopia" (at least so far, since we haven't fully delved into 1984)?
-Ayat

Comments

  1. Minji ChoiApril 2, 2019 at 5:18 PM

    I'm not sure if religion, in it's typically understood sense, will necessarily play a large role in 1984, however I think that Oceania has almost created a religion of it's own. Similar to Brave New World, in which they conditioned the citizens to believe certain things, Oceania seems to condition their citizens as well through various measures, including 2 minutes hate. Although these aren't typically considered "religions" I think they play a similar role to the role Christianity plays in Gilead; it's the ultimate word that everyone much abide by.

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    Replies
    1. Kristine WangApril 3, 2019 at 5:04 PM

      I agree. I don't think any religion we are familiar with will play a big role in 1984. The government in 1984 seeks to gain control of and loyalty from all of its citizens, and this goal would be diverted if people were devoted to a God. I have noticed, however, that their society treats Big Brother as a divine figure, comparable to how one might treat a God.

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    2. Sarah H.April 4, 2019 at 7:21 AM

      I find all of the supposed utopias quite terrible, but I guess I think the worst 'utopian dystopias' are religious ones. I believe that religious utopias have the highest tendency to turn to violence because the society relies on the interpretation of the word of God. People can easily misinterpret or manipulate religious texts to justify murder and oppression of certain groups, such as females. Fighting against authorities who claim that divine power is on their side is quite hard because they can easily get rid of dissidents by calling them heretics.

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    3. RaineApril 4, 2019 at 5:45 PM

      I agree with the above points! Something BNW and 1984 have in common is that most, if not all, literature from the past has been destroyed, thus destroying knowledge of religious texts and traditions. History is literally rewritten in 1984, and that probably excludes religion. To replace it, the people in 1984 have the constant fear of Big Brother and people in BNW have soma (?). However, some people in 1984 remember religion as evidenced by the antique shopkeeper knowing the song about churches.

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  2. CatalinApril 6, 2019 at 2:09 PM

    I also don't think religion is going to play a big role in 1984. It seems that the society is so structured on political values and ideals, that there almost doesn't seem to be room for religion in the society. Religion could provide a reason why the society is terrible, which doesn't seem to be something the government wants to take a chance in people thinking.

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  3. HadiyahApril 6, 2019 at 3:22 PM

    I doubt religion will play a role in 1984, the society is really just based off of political values. In BNW, they didn't have religion but they sort of replaced God with Ford so it was sort of like a religion. Maybe Big Brother could be similar to that so the god figure is the government.

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  4. Samantha ChurovichApril 7, 2019 at 9:43 AM

    I really like the points you made about these three dystopian models. There are defianately a ton of comparisons that could be made and of those, I think that the role of religion is an important one to analyze. Personally, I don't foresee religious values playing a significant role in 1984. I say that simply because the government appears to be so hyperfocused on stuctured control and often times religion can be a portal for free thinking and questioning. Great post!

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  5. Ayah JaberApril 11, 2019 at 3:27 PM

    That's a very interesting distinction you make between 1984 and BNW. I simply associated 1984 with Handmaid's Tale because they are both quite violent and have extreme spying techniques, but you bring up a good point about their motivations. I honestly would not be surprised to find that the founders of Oceania justified their rule via a religion, but I also don't see any hints for that. I also do not think Oceania is established to solve a real political issue (as the war seems made up anyways), so I am just lost as to why Oceania was established in the first place. Nice post!

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  6. GrantMay 13, 2019 at 10:49 AM

    I think brave new world has an interesting religious element to it as well. They all worship ford and Freud almost as gods in a way. I think that in 1984 there is almost a kind of religious godlike veneration for big brother. In many ways i think you could make the argument that almost any dystonia or utopia has to have this kind of idolization for something, and when you do it can almost always be compared to a religion.

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