Blog #2
The government’s role in this society is minimal compared to God’s role of controlling the people. The people of the east coast all worship God unquestionably. The government has not yet even been mentioned in the story. God is much more superior to the government because he decides who are accepted in their society based on their image, God says that a person must have, “one body, one head, two arms, and two legs: that each arm should be jointed in two places and end in one hand: that each hand should have four fingers and one thumb: that each finger should bear a flat finger-nail”" (Wyndham 11). This image from God is the basis of who will be accepted in society and who will be classified as “Offences” and removed from society.
The majority of the people who live in this society follow in suit, never venturing off the trail. The people do not rebel against their authority (God). The only offenders in this society are David Strorm and the Wender family. These people committed an offence which is almost equivalent to murder in our society. David and the Wenders kept a secret of daughter Sophie Wender’s deviation, she had an extra toe on each foot. This made Sophie an offence and therefore she must be removed from the society or possibly killed because of this. David’s punishment could have been for keeping Sophie’s difference a secret.
David’s father Joseph is a very strict believer in his God and since his son violated this, he lashed him with a whip leaving Joseph in extreme pain, for what he felt was just being a friend with someone, his only friend.
David is fed up with this worshiping of God, and he is eager to get away from it at any cost. David wants to sail south to the land beyond the Badlands where he feels he can live a happy life without all these restrictions.
Adam, religion becomes the force for social control & the family unit; these are the constricting institutions.
Two novels: A Handmaiden’s Tale & yours explore religion as a force for social control. Why do you & other peepers out there think religious restriction is a common theme in these novels?
By: Mrs DeJong on June 7, 2009
at 3:06 pm
I feel that religion restriction is a common theme in these novels because of when these novels are based. The novels appear to be technologically deprived, that means they do not focus on other people to rule them. But as it is true in the mid 1900′s nearly every person attended church on Sunday and therefore they feel that God is a very reliable figure to follow, they are able to trust him.
By: buckybachmaier on June 9, 2009
at 6:59 pm
Check out my post on religion and dystopic novels which examines the relationship between the two.
Authors may use religion as a means of control over the people, due to the modern idea that religion is overly controlling. Also no author can deny that religion is influencial, therefore an influencial institution could easily control the people compared to some instituation that is in the background of society.
By: nathare on June 8, 2009
at 5:32 pm
I found it quite interesting that in this peice, the society consists of unreasonable and immoral rules (laws) that you must follow/worship or you will be eliminated from society..which all in all turns out to an immoral civilization…whereas in my novel “The Road”, the society depicted is one that which has absolutely no rules/laws/government control (due to the burning of the world), and people get out of control due to this and turn on each other, all fighting for their own survival as opposed to reforming any kind of a functinal society. All in all, in these two novels there are two completely opposite society’s yet they both lead to an immoral world/civilization…what is the message both of these authors are saying about the society we currently live in?…
By: croll on June 9, 2009
at 12:25 am
This concept of divinity having much more control than the government or other external/auxiliary groups seems to be present in many of these apocalyptic/dystopic works. It’s quite intriguing to see how religion may be used as a means of manipulation, while in books like The Road it seems like the protagonists’ only method of escape from their world. It seems that Wyndham wants to convey how much society has digressed by changing those values that some consider the only true reality to another oppressive force.
By: danielwisnicki on June 9, 2009
at 5:01 pm
Your novel is very different from The Road where your character tries to escape god and the “laws” which are made by god, the father in the Road wishes the god will save him. It is interesting how different authors protray religion. I could imagine where the character in your novel is coming from however because I feel regilion is very strict and almost sufficating in many cases forcing people to hate others that are different or even themselves.
By: samzilla on June 9, 2009
at 10:14 pm