Warnings of Totalitarianism in 20th and 21st Century Literature
The focus of this essay will be to relate a specific point in C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man to his novel That Hideous Strength. It will focus on Lewis’s fears of the rise of totalitarianism in Europe in the 20th century and his advice to readers. The advice in The Abolition of Man will be related to multiple events in That Hideous Strength, such as the secret takeover of NICE and the death of those who denounced them. Other books that focus on totalitarian control such as The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshanna Zuboff and The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn will be related to further show why Lewis’s fears are rational.
Draft Enthymeme Thesis: Lewis used That Hideous Strength as a way to spread his ideas from The Abolition of Man, therefore showing that, due to the evidence in Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism and Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago, his fears of a rise in totalitarianism were just.
- Chapter 10 Section 1, Page 203: This fits into my analysis by including a discussion of Hingest’s death as well as using NICE’s blackmail of Mark to show the total control and unfairness of totalitarian regimes
- Chapter 9 Section 1, Page 178: This fits into the analysis by showing Jane’s reaction to Mark meeting the head of NICE, as well as showing how everyone acted in fear around those in charge.