Orwell's Dystopia vs Bacon's Utopia

George Orwell was an english novelist famous for works such as, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm. These novels were famous for their controversial content in which they indirectly mocked the communist regime. Even to the point where the novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four was banned in the U.S.S.R because Stalin was, “Not Amused”. Orwell's works have become very important to literary scholars due to their foresight concerning the overall health of the future. Both Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm depict dystopian societies and their protagonists face horrible ends to show the reality of a world gone mad.

George Orwell's view of the future is shown with the ideas of being grim and full of chaos. Nineteen Eighty-Four's theme of surveillance can be compared to North Korea's situation today. Surveillance in Orwell's book is based on the Totalitarian-styled regime, in which the main character Big Brother has control over the thought, belief, taste, ideas and wardrobe of the common man. Animal Farm is similar in the sense that the evil pig Napoleon is constantly spying on the other animals at the farm. This is similar to the U.S.S.R's KGB, which was a a group of secret government spies. Orwell heavily uses the idea of Surveillance in his novels to show readers the “adorable quirks” of a corrupted government.

Animal Farm's plot is heavily based on the communist regime. George Orwell had basically written a short story criticizing Josef Stalin, which was ended with the animals forever obeying the commands of the pigs. While the animated version was changed for the patriotic viewer to believe that a communist regime could be overthrown with independence. While this was Orwell's critique of Stalin, it was also foresight into North Korea's current situation – which is meant to say that currently North Korea's living conditions are far from desirable and food shortages keep the people groveling at the feet of their leaders.

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, a piece of Oceania is the control of the human population. The subject of procreation is rarely mentioned, but prominent in the idea of self-proclaimed celibacy among the women. If there is celibacy among all the women of Oceania (specifically the people who aren't the proles) then children that are being born are of the proles since no woman of the Outer-party are not having sex. While in real life, a caste system does not apply in China when it comes to procreation, the idea of having control over the country's population has become apparent over the years as China's “One Child Policy” has come into existence.

Animal Farm's idea of preserving culture shows that Orwell's “unintentional foresight” can be shown through Hitler's reign (he wanted to preserve German culture), Kim Jong-Il's reign (North Korea's culture heavily influences the progression of it's society), and the theocracy of Saudi Arabia (Their religion is basically their culture, which they consider superior). Preserving culture has become very important to more “religious” countries due to the heavy influence of liberal countries such as North America and England. As time progresses there is promise that societies will work even harder to preserve their cultures from being westernized.

Sir Francis Bacon's view of the future is very hopeful. He writes about a world that is essentially uncontaminated by human sin. A god-fearing society full of intelligent and attractive people that we never meet, but only hear about. Bacon seems to be mentally creating a safe haven, where people are un-corrupt by his standards and free to pursue their interests without fear of crime and evil. Bacon writes about a Utopia where Orwell writes about Dystopia. They are the polar opposites of each other, but find comfort in the similarities that come from the initial ideas of what constitutes both words.

For example, Salomon arrives and tells the travelers about all the bounties that his countries has to offer, but constantly reminds them that their nationality is the only factor stopping them from acceptance into this hidden society. Many cultures around the world see nationality as a key factor concerning acceptance into societies. Though this is where it seems like North Korea's rules about outsiders seem relevant concerning current-era laws and policies around the world.

While the utopia seems wonderful, the idea that the government keeps outsiders from entering and essentially keeps themselves off the face of the map shows heavy amounts of control. To the point where Salomon could be considered a totalitarian leader. Big Brother was portrayed as someone that was worshipped and feared, in comparison to Salomon who is revered and praised. While analyzing New Atlantis, it is easy with a liberal's mind to point out the flaws of a heavily religious society despite the deemed perfection.

In conclusion, both the perfect society and the upmost horrid society can be bad through their own ways. Orwell simply reminds us that power corrupts people, which in return corrupts the government, which in return will corrupt the way society is ran within a country. While he is having a laugh at Stalin, he is also foreseeing how the future could be if preservation, regression, and censorship become so prominent that they are forgotten amongst the people under control. Sir Francis Bacon believes the future could only be beautiful, if it is isolated from the rest of the world and ran without major influence. Though, this future is still controlling and borderline brainwash. Both Bacon and Orwell's ideas of the futures may be extreme, but they share the ideas of corruption and isolation in order to have their ideas of perfect and horrible worlds.