The Body Snatchers

Representation of Power and Ethics 12th Grade

Composers undermine institutions of power to show the unethical values of government with strict systematic control while also conveying how this influences the behaviors of society through creating a lack of individualism. Aldous Huxley’s novel ‘Brave New World’ conveys a dystopic satire of governments who limit personal autonomy. Jack Finney’s short story ‘The Body Snatcher’s’ depicts a sci-fi alien invasion and the threat of communist infiltration in American society. Both composers manipulate their textual form in order to undermine systems of power as well as highlighting to the reader how strict control limits personal autonomy.

Composers undermine social institutions of power in an effort to critique the unethical natural of the government. Authoritarian control in dictatorship societies were beginning to emerge in WW1 and influences Huxley’s novel ‘Brave New World’. Huxley critiques a dictator government that confines individuals and makes them conform to strict rules to show the read that it limits independent thought. Huxley critiques Mond’s authoritarian control in his argument with the Savage when he states that “our civilization has chosen machinery and medicine and happiness” where irony is created in the link...

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