Control Is Power
"The first duty of government is to protect the powerless against the powerful."-The Code of Hammurabi. This quote tells us that our government should protect the weak instead of shunning them and only caring for the strong. In dystopian literature, memory and history are often altered or changed completely as a form of control. This is true in the books 1984, The Hunger Games, and Fahrenheit 451.
In the dystopian novel 1984, the world has been taken and controlled by three super states, the focus of which is Oceania. In Oceania, there are buildings in which people of todays society would call horrible and nonpolitical. These acts include torturing humans until they fully believe what is told to them, such as 2+2=5, and then killing them, or such as rewriting articles that contradict what the Party says or in any way makes them the bad guy. This is how they control memory and history in order to maintain the Partys control over the whole of the society. "People simply disappeared, always during the night. Your name was removed from the registers, every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out, your one-time existence was denied and then forgotten. You were abolished, annihilated: vaporized was the usual word." (Orwell 123) If history is altered, people will question it and believe the Party to be in the wrong, which is why the Party has the Ministry of Love, which deals with extreme torture until they crack the human mind and are able to make it believe anything they tell it, which is usually that they the Party are ALWAYS in the right.
In the dystopian book The Hunger Games, the setting is in Northern America where, instead of states/providences, there are thirteen districts; however, only twelve are livable. These districts are controlled by The Capitol. The districts that are closest to The Capitol, such as District One, are the richer and better off districts; however, in districts like twelve, they are the poorest of the poor. The Capitol controls history and memory by having these games every year, the Hunger Games, where each district must send one boy and one girl to The Capitol in order to fight to the death. By doing this, they control history because they remind the people that they are in control and can never be defeated. The arenas are historic sites, preserved after the Games. Popular destinations for Capitol residents to visit, to vacation. Go for a month, rewatch the Games, tour the catacombs, visit the sites where the deaths took place. You can even take part in reenactments.
They say the food is excellent. (Collins 144)
In the book Fahrenheit 451, the government controls history by burning books. Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. -Charles W. Eliot. By burning books, people cannot learn and therefore cannot have a different opinion about history. The government also controls the people by altering their memory. The government tells the people that firemen always started fires, they never put them out. "There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don't stay for nothing." (Bradbury 215) Bradbury is trying to tell us that books are important in society and must not be taken for granted.
In conclusion, memory and history are often altered or changed in dystopian literature as a form of control. In 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, memory and history are controlled together at the same time to keep the people from uprising or knowing anything outside of what is absolutely needed. In Suzanne Collinss The Hunger Games, history is changed by keeping the populations mind on the present and memory is altered by controlling the thoughts and actions of the people.
Works Cited
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Random House, 1982.
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2008
Orwell, George. 1984. Orlando: Signet Classic. 1949
Already have an account? Log In Now
7352