A Study On Dystopian Themes In Jack London’s The Iron Heel

Modern wars were the realistic opportunities for the generation of dystopian novels.Dystopian writers have experienced the shadow of world wars.They realized the threat of totalitarianism and tried their best to avoid the human being into the misunderstanding of totalitarianism.The alienation of people and the disappearance of freedom caused by the highly developed science and technology in the 20 th century have also become important issues for dystopian novelists to reflect on.The Iron Heel was known as the first modern political dystopian novel,which laid the foundation for the dystopian novel of the 20 th century.Many prophecies in The Iron Heel have corresponding prototypes in real life.This novel describes the rising totalitarian oligarchic regime in the United States to suppress the freedom of argument and assembly,imprison straightforward opponents and critics,control news and information,and build a professional army of paid mercenaries.To create a secret police force,launch a global war for economic hegemony,and wantonly launch terrorism in order to maintain its dominant position.This thesis attempts to analyze the three themes embodied in the novel: the manifestation and harm of totalitarian rule,the deprivation of liberty,and the control of people by scientific machines.This thesis uses the characteristics of dystopian literature to study the dystopian themes in The Iron Heel.First of all,this thesis introduces the development of utopia,its transformation from utopia to dystopia and the relationship between the two,and summarizes domestic and abroad research on Jack London’s The Iron Heel.Secondly,starting from the characteristics of dystopian literature,carefully analyzes the manifestation and harm of totalitarian oligarchy in the novel,as well as the followers and opponents of totalitarian oligarchy.Finally,cutting into the theme from the characteristics of dystopian literature,and studied the deprived freedom of speech,free competition,and the alienation of people by scientific machines in the works,turning people into slaves of machines.The practical significance of The Iron Heel was to play a warning role and sound the alarm for human society.With the help of the dystopian literary tradition,it extends from some existing facts and outlines a real nightmare for readers.The Brotherhood of Man of 27 thcentury in this book was the Utopian ideal in London’s heart.He hopes that the world shaped in his literary works will work hard to build a just and reasonable society and resist the oligarchic regime at that time.