As I longingly look back at this summer, I remember to recollect on the three books that I read to prepare myself for the upcoming year of Literature study. For my assignment, I chose to read the pairing of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and 1984 by George Orwell, along with studying the analytical techniques described by Thomas C. Foster in How to Read Literature Like a Professor.
Although the two novels attempt to highlight different aspects of an oppressive government (Orwell focusing on the mental will of a nation and Atwood delving deep into an environment based on the dystopia of feminism), both authors clearly convey the pitfalls and dangers of allowing a single entity to run a country. Both stories stories revolve around two commoners, disillusioned by the outcome of their lives and haunted by their more cheerful and optimistic pasts. For Winston Smith, the protagonist of 1984, his memories of his loving mother drive him to show spite and hatred for Big Brother, the invisible overruling force that controls his life in Oceania. Offred, in similar fashion to Winston, clings to her thoughts of her time with her former husband Luke (albeit a tarnished marriage due to her affair with Luke previously), and pines for the days before the change in power. However, both parties also learn to accept their situations despite hating them.
For me, watching Winston alter his view of The Party after being subjected to a cruel torture regime was quite irking, since it showed me that no matter the cause or desire, physical and mental pain can manipulate the thoughts of anyone. I think that the main point that both authors were trying to communicate to their audience was that by entrusting a single group with unquestionable power, society as a whole will suffer under the burden of lack of freedom of choice and thought.
Between these two books I would have to prefer 1984, as Orwell's imagery drips with eloquence as he describes the skeleton of a city London has warped into.
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