Our Struggle With Uncertainty

Paper Summary:

A clear reflection of the mindset of individuals suffering from alienation would be the dystopian novels of the mid-twentieth century. This paper examines how Aldous Huxley and George Orwell are concrete examples of dystopian novel writers and how the books "Brave New World" and "1984" present fictional totalitarian societies in which modern technology and the techniques of human engineering operate to destroy human freedom. It also discusses how the visual arts of the mid-twentieth century echoed the age's preoccupation with isolation, loneliness and anxiety using as an example the abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock.

From the Paper:

"In the mid-twentieth century, humankind was confronted with the destructive applications of modern technology. The realities of trench warfare, the concentration camps, and Hiroshima made it difficult to maintain that human beings were rational by nature, that technology would work to advance human happiness, and that the universe was governed by a benevolent God. (Fiero 70) As the modern individual became estranged from "God and reason" (Fiero 70), he became the victim of a condition of "anxious withdrawal" (Fiero 70) which is termed alienation. This alienation or state of perpetual anxiety and loneliness in the face of the dehumanizing aspects of technology resonates in the literature and art of the aforementioned period."

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