The Handmaids’ Tale and 1984 both describe a totalitarian and anti-utopia society. We can see many similarities and differences as well between these two books. The Handmaids’ Tale is a story about a handmaid who lives like a walking uterus named Offred in Gilead. 1984 talks about Winston, a party member whose work is to change the content of newspapers, books, and other paper records into what government wants it to be. After Winston falls in love with Julia and tries to fight against society, he becomes a criminal and is brainwashed to be loyal to his party again.

Totalitarianism, a kind of form of government that theoretically permits no individual freedom and that seeks to subordinate all aspects of individuals’ lives to the authority of the state.

One of the biggest similarities between these two books is the controlling of government on citizens, so we can conclude that the controlling is significant in creating a totalitarian society. In the novel The Handmaids’ Tale, the movements of handmaids are largely constrained and they can only go out for shopping. Moreover, they cannot read and the content of what they can say is also restricted. Similarly, in 1984, there is also a metal plague used to watch people, and all the materials that citizens can read are changed into what the rulers want their citizens to see. A sentence in 1984 describes the situation for citizens: The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth. The government tries to change everything to what they want to be. From these, we can find out that an important and necessary step to build a totalitarian society is to control people’s thinking. When people are brainwashed by the government, citizens would do and act whatever government wants. Moreover, in both books, the main characters’ memory is becoming more and more blurry. The brainwashing is so successful that they have already forgotten what society normally should be like. In The Handmaid’s Tale, the commander says to Offred that “Better never means better for everyone, he says. It always means worse, for some.” From this, we can see that the government is even trying to twist the concept of fairness and tries to brainwash the handmaids that handmaids’ distribution is necessary and they must follow it. The ruler wants his citizens to believe what is unfair to be fair.

In addition, in a totalitarian society, people’s relationship is distorted. In The Handmaids’ Tale, women are ruled by men and handmaids are made to be a national resource and are ruled by commanders and their wives. A sentence in The Handmaid’s Tale shows their situation: "It’s not the husbands you have to watch out for, said Aunt Lydia, it’s the wives. You should always try to imagine what they must be feeling." In 1984, children are even interested in monitoring parents and would like to report them. In such a distorted relationship, even the people who should be most familiar with each other have a strange relationship. For example, there is no love between couples and no caring among parents and children. Therefore, people’s relationships would be cold, and no one would help others, and people are afraid of each other. As a result, people lose the power to unite together and fight against the Centralized government.

In conclusion, the biggest similarity between the society described through these two books is the controlling and distorted relationship. They are also two important factors that keep the totalitarian society working.