The Discovery of the Personality Test
“Fail!”. Jesse never thought that this one word would destroy her entire life. With the discovery of the planet only having a few years to save itself from destruction, the only choice the government had was to create a society that was well suited for only the kind of people who could follow and stick to the rules. This led to the discovery of the famous personality test that every human across the world had to take. What no one contemplated was the fact that those who failed this personality test were not supposed to be part of society anymore. Many people suggest that these people who feel these personality tests are kept in a camp where common things around the planet seem like a privilege. Jesse, on her 18th birthday, was supposed to go through the test. Little did she know that she would be the only person from her entire family to fail the personality test.
Right after the test, Jesse was hurried through a different door, which took her to a truck that was filled with its highest capacity of people. Every face looks scared on the horror side of what is about to happen. The lack of natural resources and the population explosion lead the planet to this point where a single group will no longer experience a life where they will utilize any of the natural resources apart from oxygen. The truck, which was so cramped, had no windows, which did not allow any one of them as it started to move towards the journey to see where they were going. After hours of dumpling inside the truck in the darkness as the doors opened Jessie so what she never knew could happen to humans. The human camps of World War 2 that led to the deaths of many were just a blueprint of what Jesse was saying right in front of her eyes. Men and women look like they are barely alive, working ahead of their strength and ability. Every corner of the place was covered with people doing one job or the other. It was then that it struck Jesse that this specific work camp was focused on farming crops for the qualified population of the personality test.
Just as the current new members of the camps came down from the truck, a man from the Government officials came to talk to them. As he explained and talked to them in a rude and disgusting voice. Jassi understood that there are many more camps like these across the world that have been given the job of working on different criteria of the planet, like creating electrical goods or even clothing, as well as housing and growing crops. As people who have filled the personality test, it is our job to complete all these things without utilizing any machinery that can lead to more damage to the planet and complete everything through our own hands without consuming any of the natural resources which are now only kept for the human population who have passed the personality test.
Life in the Work Camp
Without any further description as to where they can rest or where they can keep their things, just see along with the recruits directly ordered to go into the fields and start working. As the newest members of the camp, the job that all of them were given was to plow the fields using their hands. It was already extremely difficult due to the lack of water in the field and the pressure of completely dragging the metal scraper across the land in the first go. The pressure kept on increasing as the man next to Jesse stopped for a moment to take a rest. Another government official guard came and struck him with a belt on his back for stopping. As Jesse continued to work her way through the field, she was distracted, looking at the older women who were also working next to her barely moving their bodies and getting dragged to do the same, she slowed down for a second. To her horror, a security guard came and started slapping her and beating her with a similar kind of belt that had various pointed hopes on it that struck her body badly enough to even turn off her clothes. Jesse, who has always been loved and cherished by her family as the younger daughter never knew the meaning of pain and struggle. But Jesse knew that she could never go back to the life she once had until the end of her life.
It was almost late in the evening when she saw the Guards change their shift to different places. She felt a sense of relief that her job for the day was over, but to her horror, the work continued until midnight. After working continuously for more than 18 hours, everyone was asked to return inside. There were no beds for rooms inside the camp, but a long space where anyone could sleep anywhere. After talking to a few people living in the camp, she got to know that they would first receive food and then would be asked to sleep till sunrise. Her body ached like it never did in her entire life, but she remembered how hungry she was that very moment.
A man came out with a huge barrel in his hand and started throwing the piece of food at everyone. Hunger made Jesse rush for whatever was being thrown. It was a piece of jelly-looking cube thrown at everyone. On closer inspection, it looked like it was made of some insects as there were pieces of small wings and heads in it. Jesse felt like puking and was about to throw her piece when an old lady came running up to her and snatched her piece. It was then that it hit her. This was her new reality, her new life. It may not be today, but tomorrow she might have to eat that jelly to survive. Before falling asleep with exertion and pain, Jesse thought of the possibility of how things would have been different if she passed today.
The previous readings have acted as being extremely helpful in deciding about the imaginative text. There are a number of literary texts that we have read throughout the unit which includes the text “Dystopia” (Claeys,2016). This text has helped in forming a strong understanding of what it is to live in a utopian world and how dystopia is an inevitable part of the utopian world. In addition, we have been encouraged to write a number of imaginative essays and texts. This practice of writing imaginative pieces has helped us in broadening our horizons with respect to the area of imagination. I have been able to understand that imagination to some extent needs to be grounded in reality else it would no longer be imagination but would swiftly move towards becoming illogical. In choosing the topic for the imaginative text I have tried to create a balance between imagination and the concept of utopia and dystopia which needs to be in parallel to the society that exists in the present.
The best way to express the idea of Utopia and dystopia is by grounding both of them on the surface of reality. The main idea of Utopia is where everything is right and thus it makes it closer to having a world that does not exist (Vieira, 2010). Dystopia is mainly the opposite of Utopia which means nothing is right (Minakov, 2018). As per my understanding, the idea of Dystopia is deep-seated in the understanding that there is nothing that is absolutely correct or absolutely wrong. None of these concepts can exist independently of one another. The best way to express the idea of utopia and dystopia, in this case, is to place both of these concepts side by side. This idea is what has been used in this case where the idea of Dystopia is presented shows the truth beneath the society and the realisation that this is related to the future of the world that we live in if no action is taken at the right time.
Through the readings of the unit, I have formed an understanding about the way in which the both the ideas may it be ‘utopia’ and ‘dystopia’ none of them practically exists. When these concepts are placed in the practical world, it can be understood that none of these can exist in general as the laws are in place in order to prevent bringing about dystopia while the existence of issues within the idea makes the existence of utopian society impossible. Yet there is a thin line that differentiates both the ideas to reality.
References
Claeys, G. (2016). Dystopia: a natural history. Oxford University Press.
Minakov, M. (2018). Development and dystopia. Studies in post-Soviet Ukraine and Eastern Europe.
Vieira, F. (2010). The concept of utopia. The Cambridge companion to utopian literature, 3-27.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
