handmaid's tale - comparisons Flashcards
brave new world - huxley
It features rigid control of reproduction through technological and medical intervention
Individual identity is stripped and humans are categorised at embryo stage into one of five castes
The State works to remove strong emotions, desires and human relationships from society
The protagonist is male and in the end he succumbs to the World State ideology and kills himself
the drowned world - ballard
Plot centres around a male protagonist - a biologist who is part of a team researching the ongoing climate changes
Most of the world is largely uninhabitable
The main protagonist becomes more and more inward-looking
The focus of the story is narrow and concentrates on the protagonist and two other scientists and their increasingly dream-like existence
They slowly lose themselves in their landscape
The story often blurs the boundaries between reality and dreams
the children of men - james
The novel is set in 2021, years after the onset of a mass infertility epidemic
Science has to discover a cure otherwise the human race will go extinct
There is a resistance group active in trying to get the government to abolish the practice of group euthanasia, coercive semen testing and gynaecological exams
The government is run as a dictatorship with armed forces ensuring control
we - zamyatin
This novel is set in the 26th century
It describes life in a regimented totalitarian society
The main protagonist is male (D-503)
D-503 writes his records to be read by the conquered alien civilisations
The dictator in charge, the Benefactor, believes that the freedom of individuals is secondary to the welfare of the State
The citizens therefore live under the oppressive and ever-watchful eye of government-appointed police officers called Guardians
The One State is cut off from the rest of the world
Citizens are stripped of all individuality and have to wear identical uniforms
Their sexual partners are state-sanctioned
If they break any laws, they are executed
In the end, D-503 succumbs to the state
the chrysalids - wyndham
Society’s prejudice against anyone abnormal means he must keep his abilities hidden
It is set in a post-apocalyptic society which people believe was caused by God to punish people’s sins
Inhabitants practise a form of fundamentalist Christianity
They believe they must preserve absolute normality among surviving humans, plants and animals
They therefore undertake eugenics- humans with even minor mutations are considered blasphemous and are either killed, or sterilised and banished
future home of the living god - erdich
The main protagonist is a pregnant, Native American woman
The story consists of her reflections as she waits to give birth
Human evolution has reversed, so the species has begun to biologically regress to an infertile state
The US government and radical religious groups try to take control of human reproduction
The novel highlights the fragility of human rights and political institutions
the core of the sun - sinisalo
It is set in an eusistocracy - an extreme welfare state that values public health and social stability above anything else
Love, sex and free will are all controlled
The state has bred a new human subspecies of receptive, submissive women called “eloi” for sex and procreation
Intelligent, independent women are relegated to menial labour and sterilised
The main protagonist is a woman, raised as an “eloi” but who is secretly intelligent
