Sarcouncil Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies

Abstract: This study examines three works of dystopian fiction that concern themselves with the rise of “disciplinary” and “control” societies from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. At the center of the three novels chosen is the question of power, or more precisely, of absolute power— power concentrated in the hands of the few or an individual. Each novel focuses on a major aspect of human existence that power wants to control absolutely. In The Handmaids’ Tale, it is female sexuality; in Fahrenheit 451, the control of the free flow of information; and in 1984, it is thought and language. In all three novels, dystopia is essentially defined as the loss of individual freedom or civil and democratic liberties, and where a system, institution or organization suppresses the many values represented by liberal humanism (i.e., individualism, freedom of speech, freedom of the flow of information, freedom to control your own body, sexuality). The paper attempts to evoke the dangers of totalitarian societies where human beings have lost all individual rights and liberties. The dystopian novels under study are famous for highlighting the various mechanisms of absolute power, how it touches one’s very own body, choices, destiny, thought, and language