Government Control
Common Themes in Dystopian Literature
Government Control within Dystopian Literature
In the majority of Dystopian Literature there is a tyrannical government attempting to control the populous and destroy individuality. In 1984 the government controls what information the people have access to and what is true at any given moment. In Brave New World the government controls what the people are allowed to feel or not. In most Dystopian Literature the government attempts to control the people, but cannot, and the protagonist rises up to achieve their sense of individuality.
I want to look at examples of government control from our world, and parallel them with the tyrannical Dystopian Governments.
Photograph Manipulation
Throughout History photographs have been manipulated for a various number of reasons. We saw a great deal of information manipulation in 1984. Nikolai Yezhov, a chief if the Soviet secret police is seen in the original photograph above walking with Joseph Stalin. He was removed from the picture below.
Why would he have been removed?
What benefit could the government have in doctoring pictures?
Why would any information given to the masses be falsified or changed at a later time?
From this very bare website
Videos from Behind North Korea's Curtain of Secrecy
How Can These Examples Apply?
How the above examples apply to the Dystopian works you have read?
What else from your own life or society do you see as a form of control?
How can those examples relate to the common theme of Government Control in Dystopian Literature?
Answer the above questions and find at least one example of Government Control from our world.