A political fiction set in a totalitarian regime controlled by a single party led by “Big Brother”. It follows Winston Smith, a low ranking party member, who secretly rebels against the Party.
Introduction to Speculative Fiction Texts
I Have no Mouth and I Must Scream
A dystopian psychological horror short story about a post-apocalyptic world where AM, a supercomputer AI, traps the 5 lone survivors of its terrible reign on humanity in an underground cavern. AM has tortured these (now immortal) 5 people for upwards of 200 years. This story deals with suffering, existential dread, and oppression.
Fahrenheit 451
A speculative fiction novella written by Ray Bradbury in 1953 where the vast majority of books are banned, knowledge is controlled by government agents who burn books (known as firemen) to keep the hedonistic people of the nation “at bay”. The title is a nod to the temperature required to burn a book and its pages. It was written during the height of McCarthyism