Is the breakdown of individual identity presented as an inevitable outcome in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale?

In March 1860, the English philosopher John Stuart Mill stood up in the House of Commons and lambasted the Government, calling them ‘dys-topians’ with their ‘too bad’ vision for Ireland’s future (Mill, 2015: 1517). Since this initial coining by Mill, ‘dystopian’ has come to denote a specific genre of literature, characteristically depicting ‘an imaginary place or condition in which everything is as bad as possible’ (OEDa, 2015: 1). Brave New World (1932) and The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) are both examples of canonical twentieth century novels that depict dystopian worlds. Notably, both of these novels present the struggle of their protagonists, Bernard Marx and Offred respectively, to maintain a sense of individuality under an oppressive regime. Individuality here will be defined as: ‘the sum of the attributes which distinguish a person or thing from others of the same kind; individual character or quality’ (OEDb, 2015: 2). Accordingly, this essay will explore how freedom of naming, sexuality and appearance are used in these two novels to undermine any sense of individuality. Although Offred and Bernard do rebel, it is extremely difficult for them to avoid losing control over their identity. Therefore, it is possible to be argued the breakdown of individual identity is to a great extent presented as an inevitable outcome in the dystopian societies of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.