Charlotte Humphrey - Blog Post 8

1. How does dystopian literature explore the idea of totalitarianism in a society?

2. Claeys, Gregory. The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature, "The origins of dystopia: Wells, Huxley and Orwell". New York, Cambridge University Press. 2010. Print.

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=sFCuoqykV9QC&oi=fnd&pg=PA107&dq=totalitarianism+dystopia&ots=FI1-acEr3Y&sig=B-ORgoS3E0z69f7kqGnBhnVJ-LU#v=onepage&q=totalitarian%20totalitarianism%20dystopia&f=false

3. In Gregory Claeys' article "The origins of dystopia: Wells, Huxley and Orwell" he aims to define dystopia and explores texts that have predominant totalitarian ideas within them. He explores these ideas in The War of the Worlds, but predominantly in Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Two aspects he focuses on in Nineteen Eighty-Four include the totalitarian ideals/themes of complete loyalty and omnipresent state of power. He encompasses the history behind the texts and their totalitarian tie ins, as well as many other texts throughout the article. Claeys aims to make sense of the totalitarian negativity in dystopian fiction and why authors choose to include it in their work.

4. This article gives many examples of totalitarian ideals and themes in popular dystopian works and gives in-depth examples and explanations of how and why they are used. This ties in greatly to the inquiry question because the texts explained are great totalitarian examples and show that these themes have a lot to do with the historical context and fears of society over time.