Utopia And Brave New World A Comparative Study Of Utopian And Dystopian Literature

The recent decades have seen an increasing number of studies carried out on utopian and dystopian fictions, which somehow failed to yield dramatic developments. One sign of this inadequacy is the lack of comparative studies on utopian and dystopian fictions. In view of this situation, the thesis attempts to explore the relationship between utopian and dystopian fictions by analyzing the similarities and differences between two literary works, Utopia and Brave New World. The thesis begins with a general introduction of the origin, definition, and representative writers and works of utopian and subsequent dystopian fictions. Then it moves on to analyze Utopia and Brave New World respectively. As for More's Utopia, emphasis is placed on its geographical features, community life, economic system and religious belief; whereas for Brave New World, the thesis focuses on its satirical re-creation of utopian notions, from the concept of family, personal emotion, social hierarchy to history, art and religion. In addition, the two fictions are examined as a whole, illustrating how utopian notion is deconstructed by dystopia. Finally, the thesis concludes that, on the one hand, utopia and dystopia both embody man's wish for an ideal society, and reflect their concerns and anxieties about the contemporary society; on the other hand, they differ in the fact that utopia tries to eliminate differences in the hope of establishing justice and equality, and the elimination of differences results in the eradication of humanity and stagnation of society; while dystopia, combining the utopian notions and the results of scientific advancements, depicts and reveals human existence and flaws of society by turning utopian dreams into dystopian nightmares.This thesis falls into five chapters. The introductory chapter summarizes the current studies on utopian and dystopian fictions home and abroad and outlines the development of utopian and dystopian literature. Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 analyze More's Utopia and Huxley's Brave New World respectively. Chapter 4 is the comparative study of these two fictions. The final chapter concludes by clarifying the relationship between utopian and dystopian fictions.