Dystopian Literature and Social Critique — Flashcards
Grade 10 · English · Flashcards
Key terms and concepts for dystopian fiction and social critique in Grade 10 English.
Flashcards
- Dystopia
- An imagined oppressive society used to critique real-world systems — a dark mirror of the present.
- Utopia
- An ideally perfect society (Thomas More, 1516). Dystopia = what happens when utopia is enforced by power.
- Totalitarianism
- Government control over all aspects of life — the political system most dystopian fiction targets.
- 1984 (Orwell)
- 1949 novel warning against surveillance states, propaganda, and totalitarianism — inspired by Stalinist USSR and Nazi Germany.
- Brave New World (Huxley)
- 1932 novel warning against control through pleasure, conditioning, and voluntary compliance — citizens want their oppression.
- Big Brother
- The surveillance state's symbolic face in 1984 — 'Big Brother is watching you' has become a cultural shorthand for state surveillance.
- Doublethink
- Orwell's term for holding two contradictory beliefs simultaneously — a tool of totalitarian thought control.
- Newspeak
- The reduced language of 1984's Oceania — designed to make thought-crime literally impossible by eliminating words for dissent.
- Soma
- Huxley's happiness drug — symbolizes any pleasure or distraction used to prevent critical thinking.
- Ministry of Truth
- The propaganda/history-rewriting department in 1984 — its ironic name exemplifies doublethink.
- Proles (1984)
- The working class in Oceania — the Party considers them no threat because they're too distracted by entertainment to organize.
- Social conditioning (Brave New World)
- Citizens are genetically engineered by class and conditioned from birth — making them want exactly what they're meant to want.
- Winston Smith
- The protagonist of 1984 — his failed resistance ends in complete psychological surrender, making the novel's warning explicit.
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