3.1 practise

2017, Q5: A text set in a challenging environment has much to teach us

Introduction
Literature is an expression of society just like the word is an expression of a human being” and dystopian literature builds an environment that alarms us and makes us unease around this terrifying society that is being built around us. This forces the audience to examine and reflect on their own society. This is the dystopian warning. Dystopias often do this by the use of extreme totalitarian control over their people, increased surveillance and technological growth. The world they create often suppresses the individual. Dystopias warn us what may happen if we sit passively and don’t question or take action the people in control to prevent this from becoming our reality, and this is the lesson they come to teach us. The mother of all dystopias, Nineteen eighty-four warns us of precisely this by showing a society that does not question or take action against their government and how this has led society where even their thoughts are controlled. This shows the reader that the challenging environment of a dystopia teaches us to pay attention to the world around us so we do not become sheep to the slaughter. Nineteen eighty-four does this by the control of language, history and the dry nature of controlling people itself, all to teach us why we shouldn’t passively sit back and let the people in power have free rein.


P1
Language is the railways that guide and direct our thoughts, creativity and originality; however, it also has the ability to limit, restrict and control our thoughts as well. This is an idea Orwell explores throughout the novel Nineteen eighty-four by creating an environment where a government that understands the power language can have and uses it to control the minds of there citizens. This is primary done through the language of Newspeak where we find out “The whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought” and one way this is done is by “destroying words, hundreds of them a day. We’re cutting the language down to the bone”. By removing so many words, recreating syntax and reinventing gramma we find out that Newspeak removes many underlying elements that make sentences more than just a way to convey facts and surface-level information. This is ironically shown with the metaphor used in “We’re cutting the language down to the bone” where giving a sense that they are removing all the flesh which is the elimination of emotional, creativity and the originality from Newspeak. Instead, they are left with a language that is bare which primary purpose is to convey facts and information. We see the devastating effects this has on the society of Oceania in the novel as “Thoughtcrime will become literally impossible because there will be no words to express it”. The citizens literally do not have the language to speak against the government without sounding unorthodox and therefore the idea sounding alien to themselves and everyone else. This has to lead to their thoughts being unwilling and unknowing controlled and being experimented with. Orwell has built this environment to teach and warn us to pay attention to the language used in our everyday lives because much of it is used to capture our attention by people who want something from us. Otherwise, if we remain unaware there will be consequences, whether it be buying a product you don’t need, or suffering a similar fate as the citizens of Ninneteeneighty four.

P2
Orwell presents to the reader the disturbing power the authors of history books have over our society and how they could subtly, or sometimes not so subtly, influence our thoughts and therefore our actions. Nineteen eighty-four goes to the polar extreme to shows us to what extent our thoughts could be controlled by being set in an environment where the State has total control of every written book and record. By presenting the past as a gloomy time where the standard of life was low and controlled by the wealthy, the State is able to trap their citizens in the mindset that the Party has improved the wellbeing of its citizens more than any other government had. This then leads to the “The Party member… tolerates present-day conditions because he has no standards of comparison” because “He believes that he is better off than his ancestors“. Which raises the question how reliable is history given, “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past”. This paired with Newspeak makes the citizens of Nineteeneighty four to not even question the State if what they are being told is true as their language doesn’t allow it and the history books say they are living in the best era. But this, of course, is an illusion written by the State. As Winston Churchill once said, “History is written by the victors” which is exactly what Orwell is trying to teach us in this disturbing environment. It is the winners of war, the conqueror of nations that are able to write the history books, and they like every other nation have there biases and of course, believe that it is the other nation that is at wrong. All too often is history in the boots of one side rather than a collective. This is why it is important that we question past events and find their motives while putting our selves into other’s shoes.



Alteration/manipulation of History
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
“When memory failed and written records were falsified—… the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted because there did not exist, any standard against which it could be tested.”
“The Party member… tolerates present-day conditions because he has no standards of comparison. He must be cut off from the past… because it is necessary for him to believe that he is better off than his ancestors “
“Whatever happened you vanished and nor you or your actions were ever heard of again. You were lifted clean out of the stream of history”
“for how could you establish even the most obvious fact when there existed no record outside your own memory?”

Perhaps one Orwell most dire warnings is that we humans in masses can be controlled much easier than we think. In Nineteeeneighty four this idea is spread through out the novel such as “Men are infinity malleable”. Here the masses are being sybomilsed as metal as large numbers of humans can achieve amazing achievemnts in short peiods of time. But we are malable, we can be shaped and influced while we are not aware. One way this is shown in the novel is the 2 minutes of hate where large amounts of people gather together were shown pictures of the “enemies” “Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in.”

Other methods and the nature of control
“Until they have become conscious they will never rebel, and until they rebel they cannot become conscious”
“The hate continued exactly as before, but the target had been changed.”
“Wealth and privilege are most easily defended when they are possessed jointly”
“A party member lives from birth to death under the eye of the thought police”
“Power is tearing human minds into pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of our own choosing”
“Men are infinity malleable”

NCEA 3.7 – Significant Connections – Dystopia

Establishing the setting in an important step in any text as it defines to us the reader what the world is like around the characters. This step is even more critical for the genre of dystopia where the world and society that are created provide to us so many ideas and details that express many different aspects of a world that are made up and that is flawed. Seldomly however is there ever a dedicated section of the book that purely describes the setting which is why authors often convey there setting using many different techniques. One of these being the language they use. What they choose us to see, what language, the characters speak or in film, what music is played. This helps the author to effectively convey the troubles within these societies and therefore give us a warning and what we should pay attention to in our own society.


Stephen Speilberg’s film Minority report is a clear example of langue being used effectively to build the dystopian setting. It is rich in the small details that we often miss in the first viewing that give us a greater insight into the world that is being established around us. As many other dystopias, Minority report would appear to be a Utopia or a perfect world. And thanks to the main feature of the film, precrime, it is also a world that can predict murder and therefore eliminates it from society creating a perfect world, right? Some of the initial features that make Minority report seem like a utopia is what we purely see on the screen. The public buildings are smooth, white and perfectly clean giving the place a sanitised look with no imperfection. Stephen Speilberg leads us builds the setting of a society that has the wealth, time and care that is more capable to look after itself and its citizens. As the film progresses we see how the setting changes to a world that resembles a dystopia, shown by features such as camera angles, film processing, and the choice in music, which undermine the utopia we once saw. A great example of this is the spider scene. Here we are set in an apartment block and for the first time, we see dirty crumbling walls, characters that appear homeless and troubled and rats running around all showing elements of decay. We then see the total invasion of privacy the state has over its citizens when we get a birds-eye view of everyone in the apartment and even when characters go through to different rooms the camera follows showing there is no escape from the eye of the state. The music played in the background creates an atmosphere on tension when the tremolo cellos are played at dissonance with each other and the synthy unearthly sub-bass. Also the spacey sound with a large surprising low self filter and been boosted around the higher frequencies further express an element of unnaturalness and makes it undesirable to us the audience. The police wear so much technology that is covering almost all of there bodies which indicates even they are having there humanity stripped from them and are instead more of a tool than a person. Minority report uses these different language techniques to show us the different ways the state suppresses the individuals. All these features build the dark, decaying dystopia setting which we will see is very common throughout this genre. Minority report warns us what could happen if we allow technology to progress without the people in charge to care not for our privacy and personal lives.

Like Minority report, Gorge Orwell’s novel Nineteen eighty-four builds a dystopian setting by the language that is used within the novel but uses differing techniques. In Orwell’s novel, their is a new language Newspeak which is beginning to phase out traditional English as we know it. Newspeak is essentially a language created by the state that is being stripped of many words, or as one of Newspeaks producers Syme puts it, “We’re cutting language down to the bone” by “destroying words, hundreds of them a day“. Orwell further goes on to show us the power a state can have by altering the language and therefore controlling what we think. Syme even admits it to the protagonist Winston that “the whole Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought” which as Obrien says “Thoughtcrime will become literally impossible because there will be no words to express it”. Obrien continues saying that “Mental training undergone in childhood and grouping itself with Newspeak words, crimestop, black-white and doublethink makes him unwilling and unable to think too deeply on any subject whatsoever”. Orwell uses newspeak to illustrate a society that is unable to conceptualise an idea due to the language that is used. It shows that newspeak as a tool to control and suppress the individual which shows us a society where the state is literarily controlling the thoughts that can and will be created in the heads of its citizens. This in turn also strips the humanity which in contrast Minority report used the excessive use of technology to achieve this. Nineteen eighty-four uses language as a method to suppress the individuals rarther than showing there suppression like in Minority report, however similar to Minority report, the individuals are suppressed in similar ways. Both societies strip the individuality from their citizens and freedom of choice for totalitarian control. Nineteen eighty-four warns us what could happen if we give a state to much control.

The novel A Clockwork Orange is a builds a dystopian setting in some very similar ways to Nineteen eighty-four but conveys to the reader a different warning. Like in Nineteeneghty four, it is set in England and there is a new language inside A Clockwork Orange, Nadsat. Unlike Newspeak, Nadsat is a slang language that contains many words that are Russian and Slavic derivatives, such as the word “Nadsat” itself which means teen. Or Droog translates to “друг” which means friend. Given the novel was written in the 1960-70s which at the time the west feared the communism take over, the fact that there is a language with Russian influence suggests that this new society has either learned to coexists with the people of the USSR or like in Orwell’s vision, communism has spread to the rest of the world. This by itself would terrify the readers of the time. Also given throughout the novel we only really see the younger population use this language hints to the reader that there is some form of separation between the younger and older population. “appy polly loggy” when read is an extreme exaggeration version of apology (which is exactly what it means) which gives a mocking sound to the word. This would make sense as never once do you see Alex apologise to any of his droogs which could show us that apologizing is shown as a form of weakness for at least the teens in this society.
Is it better for a man to have chosen evil than to have good imposed upon him is the idea Anthony tries to tackle when Alex goes through the Ludovico technique which aim is to make it impossible for Alex to commit violence again. This however just Alex to go into a deep spiral of depression as it also removes his love for classical music and is unable to defend himself. Ludwig, short for Ludovico, is also the first name of Beethoven who e composers some of the music Alex loves. This is ironic given that the Ludivico technique is destroying Alex’s love for Beethovens(and other classical) music. Alex this leads him to try and commit suicide which shows to us that “Goodness is something chosen. When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man.”. The Ludovico technique like Newspeak in Orwell’s novel is just a way to control the citizen’s thoughts and make them unable to process ones that the state does not wish for them to process. This then strips the humanity from Alex as he is unable to choose what is right and wrong and instead just merely exists. A Clockwork Orange warns us what may happen if the choice between good and bad is removed from us.

Blade Runner 2049 is a film that is rich in many elements such as symbolism that builds a vivid dark dystopian world. Like in Minority report the music used in the film alone paints a clear picture of a dystopian world. The opening music for the film is composed of many amounts of synth layers and even the strings sound synthy as well. This clearly indicates aspects that this world may be largely synthetic or large amounts of destruction to the environment as no natural instruments are present. Destruction of the past we once knew and how alien and different the society is going to be despite only being 20 seconds into the opening scene. Of course, when watching the film we see that this exactly the case that a large amount of the population is synthetically made people. Like in Minority report we feel alienated by the sounds we hear with the swelling and random oscillating unnatural synths further build on this effect. The destruction of the environment is also evident in the later scenes such as the dirty polluted air and the many grey fields bland fields all showing elements of decay. Decay is also evident in many dystopias such as Nineteen eighty-four Winston smith [..] slipped quickly through the glass doors of victory mansions though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering with him” where gritty dust is the sign of decay here.
But perhaps a large connection between the texts is symbolism and Blade runner 2049 goes with this trend. Like in Minority report which uses broken glass birds eyeshot to show the destruction of privacy or Nineteen eighty-four where the religious buildings have been turned to museums/public buildings, the film uses many Egyptian like symbols. Firstly The Tyrell/Wallace building is a huge pyramid that dwarfs all other buildings in the region and its interiors are made of some orange or yellow stone with long corridors that resemble Egyptian pyramids. Its also worth noting that this is where the replicants are made and stored. When viewing Wallance its clear he thinks of himself as a king or a Pharaoh who has done humanity a great favour by providing them with free slave labour. Wallace also talks a lot about the stars which could be viewed as a connection between this Egyptian theme where they believed that the pharaohs could talk to the gods and once they died they went to the stars to join them. Also, slaves built the pyramids for the pharaohs much as the replicants have built the world for the powerful humans such as Wallace. This nicely symbolises the imbalance of power between the replicants and the true-born powerful humans which is evident throughout this society and is effective at getting across the setting. Also, Wallace being blind (or impaired vision at least) is symbolism for not being able to properly see and understand the treasure of human life which seems to be what most other (born) humans we see struggle to grasp as well. Bladerunner 2049 warns us of the dilemma that may to come if we ever have humans such as replicants and what rights they should have and why we shouldn’t have 1 corporation controlling so much.

These 4 texts are rich in the way they use language to create a vivid setting of a world that does not exist and go further to paint the author’s idea of a warning to the reader what could be to come. They try to make us pay attention to society and not be driven by beliefs or thoughts that are not our own. However, it is very easy to then to dismiss these warnings thinking “That could never happen”. But I ask, like Newspeak, is the English language somehow limiting our thoughts. Orwell once said, “If thought corrupts language, then language corrupts thoughts“. I would say words such as “love” which are so overused that they have their true meaning so distorted, that what is difference between saying “I love you” and “I love your dress”. Does this then limit our thoughts on what true love is? Is this the reason why we can’t truly explain how we feel for the one we truly love? What if there are many more examples like this that make it impossible for us to explain new concepts because we don’t have words that explain it? As Orwell said “The greatest enemy of clear language is insincerity“.

Significant connections draft

How Dystopias use language to convey their setting in their society and how this reinforces their warning to us the reader.

  • Minority report
  • The society is betrayed as a utopia like many dystopias are by the cleanliness of public places by of the clean smooth white faces that cover the buildings Interior and exterior walls as well as the mall’s floor.
  • In the mall scene, the exposure of the camera is up too high leading to overexposure of these white surfaces making them appear even cleaner and perfect.
  • Within the mall scene chase scene soft classical music, with the selected instruments of a calming timbre is played throughout it despite the tension of the protagonist’s Johns potential capture. This along with everyone else seeming to not notice John and Agatha stumbling around shows the calm numbness of the citizens going about there life in a world which they think is a Utopia.
  • This supported the fact that precrime prevents all murder try to show how its a Utopia
  • However, from the scene where the spiders are released, we see public residence to be dirty with rats crawling around as well with what appears to be a homeless man and a drug addict in the entranceway.
  • We also see the total invasion of privacy when the spiders take there eye scans and everyone in building stops whatever they are doing and let the spiders do their tasks. One such example is when 2 people are in a violent fight and they stop halfway through
  • The bird’s eye view shot going over the walls as people move through different rooms show the total surveillance the state has over the people no matter whether they are as well with the broken glass that covers some of the rooms show the destruction of this privacy
  • The music during this scene such as the tremolo cellos which have a large amount of dissonance with the deep double bass and synthy sub-bass provides a lot of tension to scene and shows how uncomfortable it is for the residence. Also the spacey sound with a large low self filter and been boosted around the higher frequencies shows an element of unnatural to this and makes it undesirable to us the audience
  • Nineteen eighty-four
  • Gorge Orwell proposes the power a state can have by changing language
  • Like Minority report
  • Clockwork orange
  • The fact that the younger population uses Nadsat(the made-up language) and the rest of the population use English suggests that their is a segregation between the two.
  • The fact that Nadsat is Russian influenced and given it was from the time(1960-70s) where the west feared the USSR taking over suggests that USSR succeeded (or are succeeding) in the communism take over or that the USSR and USA came to some agreement and have since agreed to coexist inside each other.
  • Is it better for a man to have chosen evil than to have good imposed upon him
  • Goodness is something chosen. When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man.”
  • The not-self cannot have the bad, meaning they of the government and the judges and the schools cannot allow the bad because they cannot allow the self
  • Footballers making everybody with fright by threatening not to play next Saturday if they did not get higher wages.
    Given that footballer in our society, these are some of the highest-paid people, this suggests that this society is rather poor and can’t afford entertainment such as sport.
  • The gramma used by Alex who narrates the story is quite poor suggesting the education system in this society is not great and as we see with many other aspects, probably many other features we have in our society are not great
  • Bladerunner 2049
  • Caps and the font type in the open scene give almost a military feel which gives an assertion of control
  • Dirty polluted air shows decay
    Extensive uses of greys and similar patterns also indicate a kind of boringness and the destruction of the natural land scape
  • Opening music is a very modern dystopia type where they use excessive amounts of synth layers and even the strings are synths as well. This clearly indicates aspects like the destruction of the environment as no natural instruments are present, destruction of the past we once knew and how alien and different the society is going to be despite only being 20 seconds into the opening scene.
  • This Alien feel with the swelling (and uneven oscillations of db’s) unnatural synths also make us the audience uncomfortable
  • Air so dirty that u can hardly see a 100 metres away along with the dead tree reinforces the destruction of the environment/
  • Farming grubs for protein shows how despite the people must be for protein
  • Protagonists interest in a dying flower shows how little of nature they actually see
  • The Pyramid like structures / Egypt symbolism almost as if Wallace views himself as a god or a pharaoh who is. messenger to a god. This shows the fact that the power the people who make and control the replicants are
  • The Egyptian theme that the slaves follow a pharaoh that build his Pymid so when he dies he goes to heaven or the stars.
  • Wallace being blind (or impaired vision at least) is good symbolism for not being able to properly see and understand the treasure of human life
  • Places a sheep in front of K shows how in the beginning at least K is just being another sheep following his orders.

Significant connections plan

Texts (not ordered)

Main Dystopia Ideas

  • The author’s expression and spin of the fears of the time to warn us what happens if…
  • Surpression and control of the individuals and therefore the population to conform with the “Party” (the body in power) for example
  • Totalitarian goverment

    Essay idea
    How Language influences thought and then how Thought influences language

Nineteen eighty-four
Uses language, “Newspeak”, to “Narrow the range of thought” therefore limiting there thought making them unable “have original thoughts”
Oceania Ministry of Truth alters the past so the citizens have “No standards of comparison” is another form of control.
This is a common theme in dystopias where the state in order to control the population will try to control their thoughts.
This is a dystopia connection. Spend less time.
Big brother poster, telescreen and thought police are surveillance which places the individual under the constant watch of the eye and is how they monitor there actions. This forces them to conform with the state’s view and limits the ability for them to communicate with others about different ideas that could speak out against the state.
Quotations
Newspeak
“We’re destroying words, hundreds of them a day. We’re cutting the language down to the bone”
“The whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought”
“Thoughtcrime will become literally impossible because there will be no words to express it”
“Mental training undergone in childhood and grouping itself with Newspeak words, crimestop, black-white and doublethink makes him unwilling and unable to think too deeply on any subject whatsoever”
Altering History
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
“When memory failed and written records were falsified—… the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted because there did not exist, any standard against which it could be tested.”
“The Party member… tolerates present-day conditions because he has no standards of comparison. He must be cut off from the past… because it is necessary for him to believe that he is better off than his ancestors “
“Whatever happened you vanished and nor you or your actions were ever heard of again. You were lifted clean out of the stream of history”
General Control
“Until they have become conscious they will never rebel, and until they rebel they cannot become conscious”
“The hate continued exactly as before, but the target had been changed.”
“Wealth and privilege are most easily defended when they are possessed jointly”
“A party member lives from birth to death under the eye of the thought police”
“Power is tearing human minds into pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of our own choosing”
“Men are infinity malleable”

Minority Report
The focus of the visuals
Clean, sanatised
MInority report also tries to make itself look like a Utopia about having a perfect world with no murder, but as we dive deeper we can clearly see how imperfect this society is which is like many other dystopia texts where the society tries to create this perfect society.
Controls and suppresses the individual by eliminating the choice of being good or bad. This is also a form of mind control as the population is forced to make or not make certain decisions. This like nineteen eighty-four narrows the range of there thought.
Like nineteen eighty-four the people in minority report are almost always viewed and tracked by the state by iris scanners (symbolism of eye with).
This then brings up the dilemma that if an individual cannot choose between good or bad does that mean there are any good individuals
There is also propaganda used to try and show how good precrime is such as statistics which as we know aren’t a reliable source as there many ways to skew them to a certain view.


Bleech bypass process filter used throughout the film
Police with so much tech that it strips their humanity, this reflects the society.
Tech screens on their masks mean that controls what they can see.
Clean for in public places but decay in the citizen’s residence. This shows the underbelly of the utopia.
Bleech light
Bird’s eye view putting us in the position of the state showing us the invasion of privacy. Broken glass shows us the destruction of it
Breaking up a agruement shows that the state doesn’t care and that they have total control showing there control as they cant even stop their augrement
Noone resists showing its normal
Rat showing more evidence of decay


Quotations
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king”
If there’s a flaw, its human. It always is”
Remember the eyes, John. The eyes of the nation are on us”
Occasionally, the pre-cogs disagree” (Minority Reports – are deleted instantly – “no-one wants to base a justice system on uncertainty” You have a choice, you can walk away” fate or free will

Clockwork Orange
The younger population using the Russian Slavic language blend
Controls and suppresses the individual by eliminating the choice of being good or bad.
Quotations

Politics of the English language.

Quotations
Statements with some meaning
Underneath this lies the half-conscious belief that language is a natural growth and not an instrument which we shape for our own purposes.
A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language.”
It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts
“If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step toward political regeneration:”
The first is staleness of imagery; the other is lack of precision. The writer either has a meaning and cannot express it, or he inadvertently says something else,
As I have tried to show, modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug.
“In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible[…] atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, 


1984 Organised quotes

Language + Newspeak
“We’re destroying words, hundreds of them a day. We’re cutting the language down to the bone”
“The whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought”
“Thoughtcrime will become literally impossible because there will be no words to express it”
“Mental training undergone in childhood and grouping itself with Newspeak words, crimestop, black-white and doublethink makes him unwilling and unable to think too deeply on any subject whatsoever”

Alteration of History and power
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
“When memory failed and written records were falsified—… the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted because there did not exist, any standard against which it could be tested.”
“The Party member… tolerates present-day conditions because he has no standards of comparison. He must be cut off from the past… because it is necessary for him to believe that he is better off than his ancestors “
“Whatever happened you vanished and nor you or your actions were ever heard of again. You were lifted clean out of the stream of history”

We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.”
“How could you make appeal to the future when not a trace of you, not even an anonymous word scribbled on a piece of paper, could physically survive?”

Control
“Until they have become conscious they will never rebel, and until they rebel they cannot become conscious”
“The hate continued exactly as before, but the target had been changed.”
“Wealth and privilege are most easily defended when they are possessed jointly”
“A party member lives from birth to death under the eye of the thought police”
“Power is tearing human minds into pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of our own choosing”
“Men are infinity malleable”

Unfamiliar Text Practise

Structure/approach
1) Read the question
2) Read the text
3) Think about the poem
4) Read the question again
5) Read the title
6) Read the text again
7) Find features within the text and quote
7) Form an idea about the text with relation to the text
8) go

An Artist’s Childhood
Q: Discuss the way the writer reflects on his own development
A:

Back to the Wekaweka
Disscuss the way the writer explores change
Owen marshall explores change by reflecting upon how although the physical aspects can change feelings do not
One way this is done is by the structure of the poem when “nothing remained” at the end of the first stanza which draws our attention to the destruction of the farm and farmhouse which have a depressing feel which was further applied by the alliteration of “Failed farm” This is then greeted by “except the creek that gave him his bearing“. This shows that although the farmhouse which is his most detailed memory and is what he remembered the place as it reveals that the beauty in the things that we don’t notice beforehand. This is also amplified by the listen to the kiwis and the moreporks which are sounds that would’ve not been as appreciated as they are now when we are forced to look elsewhere to what exists now. This supports Destruction is a form of creation along with quotes such as “Reverend to nature” as although the farm has been destroyed it is now home to a forest which holds its own life and its own beauty. This mixed with the idea of memories show that although all the physical aspects of what we remembered will never last, its what we remembered that really matters and makes life good. This is amplified when talking about the father dies and when he is about to die he accepts this fact because change is the only constant. “forested darkness of life’s end
lying calmly in the knowledge of our love


Structure “nothing remained” leaving this before the break at the end of a Stanza draws our attention “except the creek that gave him his bearing” after stating that somethings do not change
Failed farm alliteration as well as the broader idea
Moss encumbered rock
Reverted to nature
forested darkness of life’s end
lying calmly in the knowledge of our love these two lines show the acceptance of death

Memories survive
The events that happened and the memories that are made do not

3.4 Writing Folio: Dystopia Introduction

Organised chaos.
Now that’s an oxymoron. If you took the time you will find that most things around this spinning rock is an oxymoron. Take Lieutenant Loche for example in his perfect, pre-fitted uniform while he strokes his synthetic, polymerised blond hair. His aesthetics make him naturally surreal. And that’s not even starting with his synthesized thoughts that destroy his reasoning as chief commander. Cheif commander, now that’s a joke of a title. Loche may be commanding us around like little worker ants while he stands soaked in that feeling of power. Yet he is not even a pawn to the chess masters that sit in some luxury pod sipping on some ancient, earth-made champagne. Loche is merely a disposable cell that lives to die. But then again, so am I.
Organised chaos. That’s what life is like during your stay at the docks the great Mare cities where everyone in their constant rush to finish as many quotas as possible. Sparks fly and hammers swing while the work gets done. Me, I’m a mechanical Engineer, focused on renovating the fusion drives of the Luna battleship the Collidis. Three hundred and ninety-eight meters of the greatest engineering humanity has ever done. That’s what it once was fifty-three years ago. Now it better fits the description of a rust bucket which underpaid engineers, like me, are trying to resurrect from a junkyard. Why they even want to resuscitate a hunk of metal like this, well I don’t fucking know! For some suicide war with the Martians, protection against pirates or some secret mission the Luna Federation is playing at. All while the orchestral cacophony of hammers and the grinding of metal screams as I am alone in my thoughts.
Dread hits me faster than the feeling of anti-gravity drugs as I notice Lieutenant Loche stride towards to me eyes fixed on his destination. “Ash” his abnormally deep voice carries over the commotion with a sweeping effect. “You’re done for the rotation“, “Sir, I’m gonna get this last one done” where I notice the synthetic tissue that surrounds his unfused left wrist which I know is one of the reminders of the great plagues. “You’re done for the day“, he says in a slower, deeper acidic tone. Annoyed, I stand up and pack my Pads and holo tools into my case while Loche swipes me a slip which appears on the digital com around my wrist. “You are to report to the Deullum’s office in Mare Procellarum, level 28 in 63 tempus’s” reading what I have already been given. “Yes sir” I stand barley in form. Between the Vacdoor and myself, I swipe my wrist at the identity port and the heavy door responds by sliding into the ceiling. Behind me, worker ants continue to drip sweat over the ancient warships that dwarf the oversized space.
A few tempus’s later I enter the main atrium of Mare Tranquillitatis where my eyes glance up at those immense metallic beams which hold up a hundred metres of Lunain bedrock above our skulls. I suppose the main atrium must be about a football field wide and many more long, from what my guess of what the capacity of a football field used to be. Its all guesses after all.
Around me and the swarms of bodies advertisements and news run with care on the screens that shine from the walls. Want to become a necessity? Become an ice miner todayMartian Gunship fires upon abandoned Venus station! Then the latest news of excitement comes on screen. Want to live forever or want a new body? We have beaten death, We have taken Gods throne. Stor your mind in a Sensus. Small but unmissable text at the bottom of the screen reads Protogen inc. I dismiss the news knowing the cost that comes with getting a sensus is nothing short of a small fortune.
I suppose if you had the money and wanted an extra hundred years, why wouldn’t you get it? I reach the locus station where I find the pods leaving to Mare Procellarum. Please strap in as we will be experiencing up to 2g’s of acceleration during this journey. Have a nice trip! The forceful but elegant female voice runs. Some dismiss the voice which people do all the time especially if they have taken bone density drugs. For a clone defect like me, it would just break my body into lots of painful pieces. The sound of magnetic fields forming as we accelerate away. A few tempus’s later we surface to Luna rock while flocks of ships of various sizes enter and disembark from the docks. The blue lights from distant drives are visible glittering in the distance. My eyes catch Earth and for a second I thought I see green patches of grass and vast forests. But that’s an imagination of an Earth that no longer exists. An Earth that is dead.

Chapter writing idea 1

New idea

Idea 1

Background

Humanity has colonised the solar system where two powers stood. The Martian Republic and the Earth Federation. Space technology has got increasingly better where a single space ship can reach the outer solar system and back without needing to refuel due to harnessing and controlling nuclear fusion. Earth was in a dire environmental state where Ocean levels had risen by 10m and many ecosystems fell. Tensions were rising between Earth and Mars after Mars left the Inner planet alliance and thus both sides built military ships and began improving space combat. During the Earth federation elections United Union party leaders Orbital Jet was shot of the sky from what is believed to be from the Democratic of new China. This caused panic and confusion ultimately leading to many countries launching orbital weapons and nukes at each other. An hour later Earth was inhabitable.

Year: 2213AC or 42 years since the Great Exodus

Earth 

Luna

Brief

Population: 120 million
Luna was the first on the celestial bodies to be colonised by Earth. Unlike Earth, however, there were are only 2 large cities as it was easiest in its formation to have everything close together. The first of these cities is Mare, located on 3 of the 5 major mare plains on the surface which stretches for many hundreds of kilometres. 85% of the inhabits spend the majority of there time in the tunnels.

  • Poorer population lives under Luna service
  • Richer population live in domes and towers

Luna became Earths military shipyard and first strike capabilities strategic point when Mars broke off from the Interplanetary Federation. The moon had massive farms as well as water production and purifying facilities to be less dependent of food shipments from the home planet.  Before, Luna Served as the Gateway to Mars and were many of the first Martian expeditions were sent as well as supplies

  • Has the greatest population and infrastructure of the 3 remaining groups

Post-Terra
During the Extremum Terrae some Interplanetary Warheads destroyed the Numbium branch of Mare. This is called The burning of clouds
After Earths fall thousands on Luna starved as farms couldn’t keep up

Martin republic
Population: 40 million
Mars has some of the brightest minds from all over the solar system as the pioneer scientist that lived there have had many kids which. Signed its independence from Earth 30 years before the Mortem of Terra.  

Galileo Alliance
A smaller collection of humanity in the outer soloar systme that primarily live on the Galileo moons

Characters
Fleet commander?
Pilot?

Ideas to play with
Worlds having all one race
Destruction of earth
Corrupt leaders coming into power
The destruction of earth
World superpower leaving earth and controlling other planets
No meat
People left with powerful military tools
Playing with Religion ideas with the beginning of mobile consciousness
Constant viewing
Plot points
Luna running out of plant diversity? Needing to go to Earth Callisto
Needing to go back to earth