The Waste Land by Eliot also emphasises the themes of dystopia and apocalypse. This is conveyed through the author’s powerful language which is rich in imagery. The poem describes a decayed world full of pain and agony but unlike”The Second Coming” the poem is two-fold. On one hand it represents the dystopic tones which are present in all three literary works, and on the other it promises hope and prosperity just like in Orwell’s futuristic vision.
”The Second Coming” which is the darkest of the three works is as previously mentioned purely apocalyptic. It opens by describing this chaotic world deprived of any hope and light. The chaos is illustrated through the break of all communication”The falcon cannot hear the falconer”. The falcon and the falconer are bound to each other and the falcon not being able to heed its master’s call is a true indication of hopelessness and dystopia. As the poem goes on the chaos grows and eventually engulfs the land”Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world”. The anarchy is also a symbol of chaos and apocalypse since there are no boundaries left in the world. Surely things could not get worse, the poem describes a cry of despair: ”Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand.” The Second coming of a saviour is expected but instead, out of the”sands of the desert”, a sphinx comes as darkness crept back into the corners of the world. Adding the final apocalyptic tone to the poem Yeats writes:”And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”. The image of the beast slouching towards Bethlehem truly gives us the feeling of hopelessness as the apocalypse draws near. The reign of The Party is also a second coming. As O’Brien tells Winston at the end:”Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery and torment (…)” (p.279)
The Waste Land opens just as tragically and chaotically as ”The Second Coming”. It depicts pain and agony through powerful words such as ”shouting” and ”crying” and also by stating: ”He who was living is now dead, We who were living are now dying”. The second stanza is a description of the Waste land, a barren, life-less land full of rocks and sand. This barren desert could be compared to the society of Nineteen Eighty-Four. It is a symbol of something that has been and it is also the end of something. It is also said that nothing sprouts in the desert and that is the case in Orwell’s narrative. Since there is no”ownlife” and no privacy nothing is allowed to sprout since it is under constant supervision of The Party, thus ensuring their survival. Other signs of dystopia and apocalypse can be found in the fifth stanza of The Waste Land, ”Hooded hordes swarming”. These are hordes of grasshoppers which eat and destroy everything. Further adding to the chaos and turmoil is the description of great cities falling and the reforms and changes which accompany them. These changes can be compared to a second coming, and thus Orwell’ novel.
Nineteen Eighty-Four begins with the words”It was a bright cold day in April”. An April day is often associated with blossom, prosperity and hopes for the future. With Orwell adding the touch of describing the day as being cold gives us a different view on the month of April. It promotes my point that world of the novel was once sprouting but hindered from continued growth. This hinder is the cold, or putting it in another way, The Party. This image provides additional material to the darkness and dystopia present in the novel.
Although Orwell’s novel is a very dark and pessimistic view there is still hope left, this hope is inside the mind of Winston, it is the dream of another world. This other world or distant past is a constantly recurring theme throughout the novel. The protagonists Winston and Julia are reminded of this other world by items and various experiences throughout the novel. Perhaps the clearest example is the paper-weight. Winston finds an old paper-weight in an antique shop ”What appealed to him about it was not so much its beauty as the air it seemed to posses of belonging to an age quite different from the present one”(p.99) The item awakens their longing for another world since they are aware of the misery of their own. This other world is described as the”Golden Country”. An ideal world based on the hopes and dreams of the protagonists. It is described as being full of the beauty of nature which is exactly the opposite of their own world. There is also a ray of light present in Eliot’s poem. It is similar to the one in Orwell’s narrative. The final stanza of the poem illustrates the end of the pain and suffering, it describes a new beginning. This is done by the crowing of the cock” Co co rico co co rico” which symbolises the departure of ghosts and evil spirits. Also the final flash of lightning and the rain further adds to the above mentioned effect. The rain brings new hope and prosperity to the lands.
In conclusion, although the world is engulfed by chaos there will always be hopes and dreams which will ultimately prevail, for dystopia and apocalypse all have to end just as prosperous times have an ending. Although “The Second Coming” and Nineteen Eighty-Four do not share this vision, T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land does.
