George Orwell

The Anti-Utopian Society in 1984 George Orwell’s 1984, “was identified by Geoffrey Stokes as the first major twentieth-century dystopian novel, which is a modern variation of the traditional utopian novel”(qt’d in World Literature Criticism 2574). The word “utopia” originates from the Greek language; “outopia, meaning ‘no place,’ or else ‘eutopia,’ meaning ‘good place,’ pointing to the idea that a utopia is a non-existent land of social perfection” (Frye 478). It therefore follows that an anti-utopia is …

…that makes people human. The people regress to the point of having no critical thought and no soul; they have become mechanical bodies or puppets. Clearly, Orwell’s novel does not explore the idea of social perfectibility which is characteristic of the utopian novel. Instead, it focuses on the idea of totalitarianism and its horrifying consequences on society. Orwell therefore warns about the dangers of totalitarianism, which could result if any government assumed absolute power.