Brave New World and Matched: Two Dystopian Futures
Setting and Tone The settings of both Brave New World and Matched connect the plots with their respective surroundings to provide the reader a feel for the atmosphere of the story. The setting of Brave New World, as of chapter one, is London, England in the year A.F. 642, or 642 years after the invention of Henry Ford’s Model T car. Aldous Huxley describes a futuristic building, (1) “A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories. Over the main entrance the words, CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY AND CONDITIONING CENTRE . . . in this year of stability, A.F. 632” (15-16; ch. 1). Matched is also set in a futuristic world called The Society, specifically in the Oria Province. Ally Condie describes Oria’s landscape, (1) “our rolling hills and rivered valleys here in Oria. [Citizens of Acadia] have stone in Acadia, …show more content…
Things we do not have much of here” (165; ch. 13). Though both set in the future, it is clear to see that both dystopias assume very different settings. Brave New World takes place in an industrious city, while Matched takes place in a much more rural area.
The tones of both stories sets the authors’ attitudes toward the plot. Huxley sets a dramatic tone to Brave New World. He writes, (2) “Cold for all the summer beyond the panes, for all the tropical heat of the room itself, a harsh thin light glared through the windows, hungrily seeking some draped lay figure, some pallid shape of academic goose-flesh, but finding only the glass and nickel and bleakly shining porcelain of a laboratory” (15; ch. 1). In this quotation, Huxley paints a very descriptive picture of the laboratory. Additionally, Huxley uses a satiric tone when comparing the designation of characteristics to embryos to an efficient
Setting and Tone The settings of both Brave New World and Matched connect the plots with their respective surroundings to provide the reader a feel for the atmosphere of the story. The setting of Brave New World, as of chapter one, is London, England in the year A.F. 642, or 642 years after the invention of Henry Ford’s Model T car. Aldous Huxley describes a futuristic building, (1) “A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories. Over the main entrance the words, CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY AND CONDITIONING CENTRE . . . in this year of stability, A.F. 632” (15-16; ch. 1). Matched is also set in a futuristic world called The Society, specifically in the Oria Province. Ally Condie describes Oria’s landscape, (1) “our rolling hills and rivered valleys here in Oria. [Citizens of Acadia] have stone in Acadia, …show more content…
Things we do not have much of here” (165; ch. 13). Though both set in the future, it is clear to see that both dystopias assume very different settings. Brave New World takes place in an industrious city, while Matched takes place in a much more rural area.
The tones of both stories sets the authors’ attitudes toward the plot. Huxley sets a dramatic tone to Brave New World. He writes, (2) “Cold for all the summer beyond the panes, for all the tropical heat of the room itself, a harsh thin light glared through the windows, hungrily seeking some draped lay figure, some pallid shape of academic goose-flesh, but finding only the glass and nickel and bleakly shining porcelain of a laboratory” (15; ch. 1). In this quotation, Huxley paints a very descriptive picture of the laboratory. Additionally, Huxley uses a satiric tone when comparing the designation of characteristics to embryos to an efficient