Manipulation of history and language in three dystopias

Download
index.pdf
2006
Ersoy, Duygu
Show full item record
357
views
256
downloads
In this study, the manipulations of history and language in the dystopias of “Nineteen Eighty-Four” by George Orwell, “We” by Yevgeni Zamyatin and “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley are examined. The principal aim of this investigation is to demonstrate that in these imaginary societies absolute stability is achieved through the manipulations of these two domains. The thesis argues that if the domains of history and language are not taken under control, they are to provide the subjects with the standard of comparisons which would enable them to realize that they are in fact dominated. However, once these domains are manipulated, they are transformed into the means of the dystopian rulers for mentally impoverishing people in a way that they would not be capable of conceiving the flaws within the system and therefore, would not attempt to challenge the order or require a change. In this sense, it is proposed that the subjects of these closed societies, who are formed as a result of the reshaping of history and language, would lack the mental capabilities to identify their subjection and behave automatically in the manner that is imposed on them by the political order. Moreover, in this study, the relationship of the genre dystopia with political theory is explored; it is indicated that dystopias are not only literary works, but rather they are also texts of social criticism containing certain warnings about the future course of events. Relying on this argument, it is claimed that such an invasion of the minds by the control over history and language in our three dystopias is the exaggerated version of the ideological relationships of the individuals to these two realms in the contemporary societies. Thus, having in mind that in the dystopias examined here the manipulations of history and language are the preconditions of the use of other realms (such as religion, sexuality and science), it is concluded that these texts enable modern individuals to see that in order to maintain a critical distance with the established political and social order, the multiplicity of linguistic resources and knowledge of history are very crucial.
Utopias.
http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12607679/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/15950
Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis

Suggestions

A critical examination of two "socialist" utopias: "Looking Backward" and "News From Nowhere"
Koç, Yasemin; Deveci, Cem; Department of Political Science and Public Administration (2008)
This study examines two ‘socialist’ utopias of the late 19th century: W. Morris’s News from Nowhere and E. Bellamy’s Looking Backward. The major concern is to question the validity of title ‘socialist’ for these two texts. The reference points for such an analysis are: modernity, Marxism of the late 19th century and the practice of discipline. In this context, the intention is to find out ruptures and continuities with respect to the central ideas of socialism and basic premises of modernity. The study expl...
Planning: A Continiuum Of Utopian And Non-Utopian Sensibilities
Barlas, M.Adnan (1992-1-1)
The identification of the origins of the intellectual history as well as the professional practice of planning, either in terms of its conceptual foundations or the chronology of events, takes one back to industrializing Europe and United States of the nineteenth century. In this period one can find both ‘utopian’ and ‘anti-’ or ‘non-’ utopian precursors of professional planning practice and planning theory of the twentieth century. This implies that neither set of precursors is the exclusive impetus behind...
Sociological imagination of Sigmund Freud: An attempt to locate Freudian psychoanalysis in social theory
Taş, Berke; Kuymulu, Mehmet Barış; Topal, Çağatay; Department of Sociology (2020-10)
This thesis investigates the sociological imagination of Sigmund Freud and the historicity of its formation considering the ongoing importance of psychoanalysis for social theory. As a first step in this endeavor, a conceptual framework is developed out of detecting the prevalent themes in the arguments of C. Wright Mills. Then, these themes are transformed into a methodological structure in terms of operationalizing them in connection to psychoanalytic concepts of Freud. This methodological structure is co...
Ideological issues in George Orwell’s works; a study of burmese days, keep the aspidistra flying and nineteen eighty-four
Umay Yurduseven, Menşure; Alpakın Martınez Caro, Dürrin; Department of English Literature (2008)
This thesis analysis George Orwell’s three novels; Burmese Days, Keep the Aspidistra Flying and Nineteen Eighty-Four in terms of the main political ideas expressed through these works. It begins with an overview of Orwell as a political writer and the political atmosphere of the era. The thesis then asserts that the novels are used as a form of propaganda by the writer. The central political ideas that appear in the novels are imperialism in Burmese Days, capitalism in Keep the Aspidistra Flying and totalit...
Reading Backwards An Advance Retrospective on Russian Literature (Book Review)
Pamir Dietrich, Ayşe (2022-01-01)
This collaborative work is an anthology of writings by Gogol, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy and a retrospective analysis of their works. They focus on anticipatory plagiarism in Russian literature by using an ‘advance retrospective’ approach. In the first part, there are two articles dedicated to Gogol. In the first article, Langen argues that Gogol borrowed ideas from the Irish writer Flann O’Brien and the Russian experimentalist Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky. He discusses Gogol’s Testament, his visual secretics that...
Citation Formats
D. Ersoy, “Manipulation of history and language in three dystopias,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2006.
METU IIS - Integrated Information Service open@metu.edu.tr