The representation of historical revisionism as a political propaganda in classical dystopias, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451

This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in English, 2022.

Bibliografiske detaljer
Hovedforfatter: Drohy, Bidita Azad
Andre forfattere: Mohammad Noman, Dr. Abu Sayeed
Format: Thesis
Sprog:English
Udgivet: Brac University 2023
Fag:
Online adgang:http://hdl.handle.net/10361/19364
id 10361-19364
record_format dspace
spelling 10361-193642023-08-08T21:02:21Z The representation of historical revisionism as a political propaganda in classical dystopias, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 Drohy, Bidita Azad Mohammad Noman, Dr. Abu Sayeed Department of English and Humanities, Brac University Historical revisionism Political propaganda Classical dystopias, 1984 Fahrenheit 451 Historical fiction, American--History and criticism. Postmodernism (Literature)--United States. Propaganda This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in English, 2022. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 77-78). In a world where gaining power over others is the ultimate motivation and holding that power is the biggest achievement, it is no wonder that a whole nation can be handicapped by a clique of ruling class people. Governance is meant to be an act of supervision from a neutral position to keep the society under regulation, authorize economic activities and ensure both the national and international security of the citizens. However, politics have led the act of governance to the point where it only has negative connotations like fear, dictatorship, oppression, etc. Unless governance is only an umbrella term to satisfy epistemological expectations and hide the real intent of gaining power behind the promises. It is similar to the idea of historical revisionism. Revisionism is an unavoidable academic procedure to fathom various areas in the domain of history and then inspect the wrongs of the past. However, it also hides the deceptions/lies of politicians as well as their ideologues, under these promises. When a tyrannical governance system coincides with an escapist society, it creates a dystopian reality where history is abused for the advantages of the ruling class/state power and the abuse is normalized and even hailed by the majority of population. 1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury portrays this situation through their imaginary futuristic worlds. This paper seeks to decipher the warnings in Ray Bradbury and George Orwell’s representation of historical revisionism in their respective novels. It attempts to examine the state power’s objectives to abuse history as a propaganda, with the help of the theories of totalitarianism. Moreover, the position of the society has also been analyzed from the perspective of the Marxist theory of class and Gramsci’s theory of hegemony. Even though the totalitarian states in 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 are imaginary, it is necessary to understand that they are inspired by real historical events. Hence, the possibility of a totalitarian regime’s emergence can never be entirely disregarded. Moreover, it does not matter whether it is a totalitarian system or a democratic system. As long as the society treats knowledge only as a source of power and profit, it will keep being used as a political propaganda. Therefore, dystopias warn us against the manipulation of knowledge to seek power. And also, the escapist mentality of a society which leads them towards destruction instead of eternal pleasure. Bidita Azad Drohy B.A. in English 2023-08-08T09:58:17Z 2023-08-08T09:58:17Z 2022 2022-09 Thesis ID: 17203018 http://hdl.handle.net/10361/19364 en Brac University theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. 78 pages application/pdf Brac University
institution Brac University
collection Institutional Repository
language English
topic Historical revisionism
Political propaganda
Classical dystopias, 1984
Fahrenheit 451
Historical fiction, American--History and criticism.
Postmodernism (Literature)--United States.
Propaganda
spellingShingle Historical revisionism
Political propaganda
Classical dystopias, 1984
Fahrenheit 451
Historical fiction, American--History and criticism.
Postmodernism (Literature)--United States.
Propaganda
Drohy, Bidita Azad
The representation of historical revisionism as a political propaganda in classical dystopias, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451
description This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in English, 2022.
author2 Mohammad Noman, Dr. Abu Sayeed
author_facet Mohammad Noman, Dr. Abu Sayeed
Drohy, Bidita Azad
format Thesis
author Drohy, Bidita Azad
author_sort Drohy, Bidita Azad
title The representation of historical revisionism as a political propaganda in classical dystopias, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451
title_short The representation of historical revisionism as a political propaganda in classical dystopias, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451
title_full The representation of historical revisionism as a political propaganda in classical dystopias, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451
title_fullStr The representation of historical revisionism as a political propaganda in classical dystopias, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451
title_full_unstemmed The representation of historical revisionism as a political propaganda in classical dystopias, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451
title_sort representation of historical revisionism as a political propaganda in classical dystopias, 1984 and fahrenheit 451
publisher Brac University
publishDate 2023
url http://hdl.handle.net/10361/19364
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