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

Abstract

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.