The Handmaid's Tale

    The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood portrays a society ruined by extremism and prejudice. Although the society is based on strictly on the Bible its is not an attack on organized religion alone, but extremism overall. The novel exaggerates religious and gender related prejudices not to forecast the future but to display the brutal nature of extremism of any kind.

    The first and most apparent example in the novel is the society of Gilead governed by a misinterpretation of the Bible. In Gilead there is a strict set of Bible based laws and roles that must be followed by its citizens and rulers. The most and absurd role is the role of the Handmaids, which is based on a single line of the Bible. This line designates the Handmaids as sex slaves in order to pro create for Gilead. This exaggeration reveals the nature of religious and sexist extremism. In addition to the laws and roles the routine hangings of heretics provide another example of religious prejudice . The heretics hung by Gilead are hung for offenses that go against the bible, such as: abortions, homosexuality, or practicing a different religion. These executions even extend to people who committed the "crimes" before Gilead was established. This sheds light on extremist intolerance in religion. The society of Gilead is used to display the potential of extremist religion and prejudicial practices.
 
    Conversely the novel portrays anti-religious and feminist extremism in a negative light too. Offred's mother is portrayed as a strong willed feminist who subjects her daughter to feminist movements without her consent. Although Offred's mother has the exact opposite values of Gilead she still ends up acting similarly to their society. Gilead attempts to restrict lust and "defend" the women of its society by subjecting them to scheduled sex. Offred's mother also inadvertently follows the same code as Gilead when she takes Offred to the feminist rally to burn pornography. This shows that extremism from any side has the potential to be just as harmful as another.

     The Handmaid's Tale reveals the destructive nature of extremism of any kind through exaggeration of religion and prejudice. The exaggeration is used to create a very apparent point not a realistic outcome and to shed light on the faults in extremism. Although the novel leans towards the negative effects of religious extremism it still depicts all extremism as harmful.

We

     In the novel We the protagonist D-503 lives in a society where logic triumphs over everything. However his discovery and exploration of human emotion begins to overpower and rival logic. This pushes D-503 to the edge of sanity as he tries to comprehend the abstract and intangible reasoning of human emotion. 

     This internal struggle between D-503's logic and emotion is later expressed, " For every equation, every formula in the superficial world, there is a corresponding curve or solid. For irrational formulas, for my (radical) -1, we know of no corresponding solids, we've never seen them. . . . But that's just the whole horror-that these solids, invisible, exist. They absolutely inescapably must exist." (Zamyatin 98) After being programmed to find a logical answer to everything D-503 was faced with the irrational root. This root troubles D-503 because there is no solution to it, much like emotion troubles him due to its abstract nature. 

    In addition to the irrational root symbolizing emotion the statement goes on to describe his feeling towards emotion. It is referred to by D-503 as invisible and that nothing corresponds to it. Emotion can not be defined by logic however D-503 acknowledges its presence. However because it exists and cannot be "solved" logically this creates a feeling of disdain towards the ambiguity and power that emotion contains. The unexplained existence of emotion puzzles and frustrates D-503 much like the unexplained answer to the irrational root. Furthermore D-503 explains that the solutions " inescapably must exist". This portrays D-503's frustration and uneasiness towards the unavoidable nature of emotion. Throughout the novel D-503 tries to overcome emotion through logic but succumbs to its unknown nature for no logical reason.

   D-503's comparison of emotion to the irrational root gives insight to his frustration and fear regarding emotion's illogical but still present nature. Emotion continues to torment and confuse D-503 in the exact way the irrational root frustrates him. 

Fahrenheit 451

The novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury projects the major flaws in a dystopian society that outlaws books of all sorts. In this novel society moves too quickly and finds books to be more harmful than beneficial. However the society tries to cover up its harmful and negative nature by distracting the people with the latest technology and gadgets. One of the few characters who notices this is the main protagonist, Guy Montag.

Towards the end of the novel it is revealed that books became less and less significant to people as time progressed because everyone was getting accustomed to the instant gratification of technology. Technology did not require deep thought and time to process, it was quick and easy. However books were only outlawed to keep people from going back to this deep and time consuming thought process which could lead to doubting their society. Instead of taking the time to read a book and think on a deep and meaningful level, the people of the society are thrown into a "parlor" which distracts them from deep thought and keeps them occupied. This constant distraction keeps people oblivious to important things like how their society is run, why books were banned. This distraction keeps the civilians so occupied that even the war their nation is currently is fighting is not a big concern.

The main character, Guy Montag realizes this through his exploration of books. The books represent a deep thought process and the ability to doubt society. Therefore since Guy Montag is discovered to have possessed books he is pursued by the law to be silenced. The law wants to stop Montag because his discovery could influence others and cause doubt in the society. Guy Montag was not successfully distracted by technology so he was able to see the true nature of his surroundings.

The novel portrays a society where the significance of not only books, but deep thinking is depleted. However the ban of books altogether shows that the government wanted to keep civilians distracted and keep people from deep thinking. The negative nature of the current society and war is covered up by a cloak of distracting technology and a fast paced lifestyle.