Totalitarian Orientation in Dystopian Fiction A Critical Analysis of Selected Texts

Abstract

newlineMargaret Atwood s The Handmaid s Tale, Lois Lowry s The Giver, Manjula Padmanabhan s Escape and Veronica Roth s Divergent trilogy depict a nightmarish view of societies where the totalitarian regimes not only obliterate the freedom and individuality of people but also restraint them to exercise their volition and exhibit political dissidence. The aim of this thesis is to explore how the selected dystopian fiction depicts various mechanisms of control exercised by a government over the body and mind of its subjects to suppress and subjugate them. A regime wanting absolute control over its subjects employs multiple forms of control mechanisms at its disposal. These multiple forms of control mechanisms are used in a systematic way that work in tandem for controlling and containing people. To explore the regime s methods of control, several theoretical frameworks are drawn upon to unravel the controlling mechanisms that are not only deeply embedded in the selected texts but also subliminally functioning in the societies through their social structures. The first method the regime uses to control people is that of propaganda, for which Edward Bernays concept of propaganda and Walter Lippmann s concept of public opinion are utilised to analyse how the regime employs propaganda to change the thought pattern of the people to manipulate them. The second technique the regime employs to control its subject is surveillance for which Foucault s concept of panopticon is used to explore how the regime makes people internalise rules and regulations through surveillance mechanism to such an extent that they commence self-policing themselves. In addition, the surveillance mechanism not only enables the regime newlinev newlineto control the behaviour of the people but also to infiltrate the private spaces of the people to check their thought process. The third tactic the regime draws upon to acquire supreme control on its subjects is the curtailment of language. The regime not only obliterates history and bans books but also