Part 2

 In Part 2, 1984 really started to remind me of other utopian/dystopian books, most notably Brave New World and the Hunger Games, because those are the ones I remember most clearly. I think Winston and Julia’s entrance to the Brotherhood was what caused me to make these comparisons, because they were acknowledging their differences against the suppressed society they live in, similar to how Bernard thought differently in Brave New World, or how Katniss and Peeta rebelled against the government and the Hunger Games. There were also other similarities, such as in 1984, there are the Proles and the “normal people”, similar to how there is a hierarchy of Alphas, Betas, Gammas, etc. in Brave New World (I’m not sure if there is something similar in the Hunger Games, it’s been a while since I read it). Additionally, in 1984, the government and Thought Police are comparable to the Capitol in the Hunger Games, and the “normal people” and the proles in 1984 are comparable to those who live in the thirteen districts in the Hunger Games.

Comments

  1. Nicholas PFebruary 22, 2021 at 7:44 AM

    I think that the main character of a dystopian novel has to be a deviant, or the story just wouldn't be very interesting. Like if Winston was happy to just sit and do his job every day 1984 would be a pretty lame book without the emotional impact that it has.

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  2. L. MoffittFebruary 22, 2021 at 7:53 AM

    Yes, Hunger Games has its 13 districts. I think this might be one of the reasons 1984 has so much more appeal today than BNW -- it's kind of a blueprint for all dystopian novels that followed, moreso than BNW. In 1984 we have a central discontent character that wants to fight the system; we had a little of that in BNW but it didn't go so well.

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