People admire reading dystopia because
they can relate to their everyday life. In dystopian novels readers will see
characters put in the worst-case scenarios, and trying to overcome them. The
meaning of dystopia is the dream of a future society that turns into a
nightmare society. In dystopian literature, one common idea between Animal Farm and Divergent is the benefit from one to another, in order to create a
perfect society. The author Orwell and Roth depicts a world of chaos to live
in.
Readers will see characters have created
conflict by making the wrong decision, choosing a specific side, and conflicts between
leaders. In everyday life people make decisions, but the hardest thing is
trying the make right choice. In Divergent,
Tris has to identify herself within a society, which means she might have to
abandon her own family. Roth creates a suspenseful atmosphere; “Tomorrow,
those two qualities will struggle within me and only one can win” (31).
Whichever two qualities Tris chooses, she will have to live with for the rest
of her life making her decision critical in choosing the right faction. In Animal farm, Mollie makes a decision
that she doesn’t want to participate with everyone else, while she receives the
same treatment as others. Orwell defends Mollie by letting her get
away when she is late; “She was
late for work every morning and excused herself by saying that she overslept,
and she complained of mysterious pains, though her appetite was excellent” (45). Choosing a side that dictates how the individual is going to
live their life, and where they will be living.
In Divergent Tris has a difficult time choosing one of the five
factions. At the choosing ceremony each one contains a substance that
represents each faction, Abnegation is gray stones, Erudite is water, amity is
earth, Dauntless is lit coals, and Candor is glass. Roth produces
an anxious emotion when; “Tomorrow
at the Choosing Ceremony, I will decide on a faction; I will decide the rest of
my life; I will decide to stay with my family or abandon them” (2). In Animal Farm Snowball and
Napoleon each have an idea on how they want to run the farm. While all the
animals are voting Benjamin disagrees with their opinions. Orwell, the author attempts to propose change
while creating drama; “He refused to believe either that food would become more
plentiful or that windmill would save work” (50). Only Benjamin refuses to pick
a side, in which case displaying that no matter what goes on life it will be
the same for him.
In Divergent
there has been tension between Eric and Four, because Four has repeatedly
turned down the opportunity to become the Dauntless leader. Tris made a
statement, “Maybe Eric perceives Four as a potential threat to his position” (68).
Eric has an attitude of being power hungry, and always trying bring Four down, so
that he can still be the leader. In Animal
Farm Snowball and Napoleon are two pigs that are fighting for a leadership
position in the economic and political system. “As usual, Snowball and Napoleon
were in disagreement” (51). These two always seem to never conform and combine to
one idea.
Destruction can be caused by
relationships, the city, and the values of society. In Divergent the Abnegation faction is in charge of the government,
and the Erudite believes that the Abnegation are raised to be selfish people
and wants everything for them. “I have to warn my family about the war the
Erudite are planning, but I don’t know how” (379). This example, explains how the
members knew what was about to happen within the factions. In Animal Farm the relationship between Mr.
Jones and animals wasn’t very pleasant. One weekend Mr. Jones the farmer
was to drunk and forgets to feed the animals. That’s when the animals couldn’t
take the starvation, and decided to become rebellious against the farmer and
his four men. “They had never seen animals behave like this before, and this
sudden uprising of creatures whom they were used to thrashing and maltreating
just as they chose, frightened them almost out of their wits”(20).
In Divergent the city that had taken place
in Chicago where there was large part of the city that looked very unpleasant. “The
building that was once called the Sears Tower- we call it the Hub-emerges from
the fog, a black pillar in the skyline (4)”. The city is divided into five
factions and each faction has a role in taking care of a particular part of the
city, but some parts of the city weren’t taken care of because of the large
fence that was surrounding in the city. In Animal
Farm it took place in England during the time of the Russian Revolution
(1917-1945). During this time period women were tired, hungry, and angry. The
same way the animals had felt being with Mr. Jones and his four men. “All that
year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their work; they
grudges no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything that they did was
for the benefit of themselves and those of their kind who would come after
them” (59). Somewhere in England there was a farm and slaves were working on
the farm in order to support their family and themselves.
The five factions in Divergent have an impact of the values
of the society because each faction has their own values and own way of
thinking. The five factions are Dauntless the brave, Abnegation the selfless,
Candor the honest, Amity the peaceful, and Erudite the intelligent. “In our
factions, we find meaning, we find purpose, we find life” (43). Lack of
understanding of the member’s differences can cause a disconnection towards the
other members. In Animal
Farm, readers would learn that there is totalitarianism, socialism, and
communism. Once Mr. Jones ran off the animals wrote the Seven Commandments that
the animals have to obey. Orwell creates a biblical allusion; “These Seven Commandments
would now inscribed on the wall; they would form an unalterable law by which
the animals on Animal Farm must live for ever after” (24). The Seven
Commandments are set to the Animal Farm to have a better understanding of a
steady leadership and be secure.
Man vs.
man, nature, and society represent a form of death. Man vs. man is when the
characters encounter a struggle within each other. In Divergent Tris struggle a relationship with Molly because she is
constantly mocking her. When Tris got the chance to fight Molly during the
Dauntless training, Tris convey all her anger towards Molly. After Tris badly
beats up Molly, states, “I wish I could say I felt guilty for what I did”
(174). Which gives Molly the chance to say no more. In Animal Farm, Boxer is character that represents a hard worker. With
the chaos that is surrounding Boxer he ends up killing a boy in the Battle of the Cowshed. “He is dead, said
Boxer sorrowfully”(43). Boxer intention wasn’t meant to kill them, but he had
to protect the farm. Man vs. nature is when a character opposes to natural
forces.
In Divergent, Tris has to
deal with that she doesn’t fit into the five factions. That means Tris is
dangerous to the society. “Divergence is extremely dangerous”(23). Tris being
Divergent means she doesn’t belong with everyone else. In Animal farm, it is the animals vs. the windmill that was blown down
from Napoleon. “Comrades, here and now I pronounce the death sentence upon
Snowball”(70). It was Napoleon idea to build the windmill, but he wanted to
blame Snowball for it getting ruined. The cause of the windmill was because of
the storm that day.
Man vs. society is when there is a conflict with the laws
or beliefs. In Divergent, Jeanine
Mathews the main leader in the Erudite faction, and has a problem with the
Abnegation government. Jeanine wants to take over the Abnegation government cause
she believes that they are keeping things for themselves. Jeanine expresses,
“They receive commands from our computers in the transmitter we injected them
with”(423). Jeanine believes that if every member is injected she can control
the society.
The literary element dystopia is a way
for authors to attempt to create a perfect society, but instead creating human
misery. The authors Roth and Orwell show this by illustrating the benefits and
the limitations each society had. Both authors display dystopia by introducing conflict;
destruction and death give the reader anticipation to keep reading.
