Whilst both texts express the worst fears of their ages, they differ through their presentation of character and themes. Written in the wake of the Reagan administration, Atwood demonstrates a more focused critique on women’s rights in the 1980’s expressing how loss of female rights was a major fear of the time. However, Bradbury presents a more nuanced critique of the fear of totalitarianism and social conformity, perhaps due to him writing in the height of the Red Scare. Overall, both writers use censorship and loss of individual identity to express the worst fears of their respective age. Through lack of identity, both Atwood and Bradbury express the fear of limitation of the first amendment in their respective ages. This is seen in Fahrenheit 451 (F451), through the character of Mildred, a product of the anti-intellectualist society cultivated by the state. Mildred represents the loss of the right of free speech acting as a mouthpiece for the technocracy which aims to limit knowledge through book burnings. Mildred’s lack of speech is seen when reading and exclaiming “books aren’t people.” This exemplifies the lack of free thinking within the society, as Mildred is unable to critically engage with media unless it is explicitly shown to her, like with the parlour walls. Mildred further shows the limitation of free speech in F451, using the metaphor “my family is people.” This presents Mildred as product of indoctrination, as she is only willing to trust the state-produced “family” on the parlour walls. This shows how the state has successfully limited free speech and indoctrinated the masses in F451 to blindly trust everything the government says. Bradbury may have chosen to present Mildred in this manner to critique the conformity of the 1950’s through the red scare. Due to senator McCarthy’s believing there were communist spies in American government, mass anxiety spread across America, leading to many people losing their job’s due to suspected communist affiliation, leading to many abandoning their self-identity and ergo their free speech. Mildred’s unwavering support of the state in F451, mirrors American support of McCarthy in the 1950s, showing how Bradbury uses the character of Mildred to speak on the fear of using free speech leading to mass censorship within his society. Atwood in The Handmaid’s Tale (HMT) uses the character of Lydia, who similarly to Mildred is a product of indoctrination. However, unlike Mildred who is a victim of a lack of identity, Lydia enforces Gileadean identity onto the Handmaids. The critic Khafaga suggests that the aunts use “didactic indoctrination” within the red centre to impose the view’s of Gilead onto the handmaids, creating a society with shared identities and no individual free speech. This can be seen through Lydia’s indoctrination of the handmaid’s such as her telling the Handmaid’s that “blessed are the meek” reworking a biblical quote to enforce suppression of free speech in the state. However, it can be argued whilst the aunt’s indoctrinate others, they can also be seen as victims of the same indoctrination. This can be seen as Lydia refers to the days before Gilead as the “days of anarchy,” this shows how Lydia has also been indoctrinated into forgetting the comparatively better life she had before Gilead, showing how she has been stripped of her individual memories and views similarly to the Handmaids. Similar to Mildred, Lydia instils beliefs of the state into the Handmaids by telling them that “Gilead is within you.” The fragmented syntax further shows how the handmaids are in constant surveillance from the state, forcing them to abandon their own views and adopt the views of the State, limiting their identity. This is unlike F451, where self-identity is limited through restriction of knowledge, and not through threats like in HMT. A 1980s reader may view Lydia as a symbol of indoctrination, similar to the Erzieher in Nazi Germany. As the Erzieher would often instil political beliefs into their children, through the teaching of eugenics, they would instil the views of the Nazi’s into the children, similarly to Lydia’s attempts to superimpose the views of Gilead onto the Handmaids. This supports Khafaga’s belief that the handmaids are “didactically indoctrinated”, as well as having relevance to Mildred in F451 who is similarly indoctrinated into believing that books are enemies of the state. Overall, both writers express how the lack of identity can lead to a restriction of the freedom of speech, a fear in both Bradbury and Atwood’s age. As well as the fear of losing free speech, both writers express the fear of an autocracy through the theme of surveillance. This is seen in HMT though The Eyes, an example of a secret police aiming to identify and punish any people who go against the values of Gilead. The surveillance of the eyes through the approved Handmaid greeting “under his eye.” The continual repetition of the phrase throughout the novel emphasises how The Eyes are ubiquitous within the society and enforces their constant surveillance. Furthermore, Offred’s tattoo of “4 digits and an eye” is symbolic of how the Handmaid’s are never able to escape the watch of the eyes, cultivating a constant feeling of fear of wrongdoing amongst the Handmaids. Atwood may have chosen to present the eyes in this manner to reference her own experiences with an autocracy living in west Germany. Atwood writing in east Germany, would have seen all of the methods in which the GDR employed to keep its citizens under constant surveillance such as the Stasi, a network of underground spies. Atwood may have likened the Eyes to the Stasi in their shared fearmongering and secrecy to show her fears of how a autocracy can easily use surveillance to control. Similarly to Atwood, Bradbury uses the theme of surveillance to express his fear of an autocracy through the theme of surveillance. However, unlike Atwood Bradbury presents a more overt form of surveillance in book burning. The philosopher Foucault suggests that surveillance can be seen through the metaphor of the panopticon, where people are forced to conform to the norms of the society out of fear of being punished. This idea is explored in F451 when Beatty says that “a book is a loaded gun next door” This metaphor shows how the people in F451 are forced to conform into not owning books, as they have been told to believe it is as deadly as a gun. However, this idea can be challenged, as some people within the novel sacrifice this danger to own books, this is seen as Montag suggests that “there must be something in books... to make a woman stay in a burning building.” However, whilst Montag attempts to challenge the book burning, he becomes a victim of it. This is seen in the “special case” where the firemen burn Montag’s house down in order to “keep the world happy.” This shows how the book-burnings are used as a deterrent for others, as the firemen are willing to burn the home of their own. This creates further surveillance, as it suggests that the state will punish anyone who attempts to challenge the regime. Bradbury may have explored book burnings as a result of his own experiences of book burning. Bradbury found Nazi book burnings incredibly distressing, due to the limitation of power, this idea is similarly shown in F451. Bradbury may have done this to suggest that in autocracies, surveillance is often used to restrict knowledge, and make people conform out of fear of punishment. This agrees with Foucault’s view and also has relevance to HMT, where the Handmaid’s similarly self-survey due to fear from the eyes. Overall, both writers express their fears of an autocracy through the theme of surveillance. Finally, both writers use the endings of their novels to provide an insight on whether they believe the fears of their age can be conquered. In F451, the phoenix is used as a recurring motif to suggest humanity has the power to overcome anything wrong in society. This is seen when Granger likens the destruction of the city to the phoenix who “every few hundred years built a pyre and burned himself up.” This mirrors the self-destructive tendencies of humanity, to attempt to ruin all of the things they create. However, unlike the phoenix who never remembers it’s own destruction, Granger notes that they “pick up a few more that remember, every generation” This suggests that Bradbury at the end of his novel believes that all of the fears rampant in his age can be beaten as long as people remember the wrongdoings of the past. A modern reader would see this as a allusion to nuclear weaponry which is not used in warfare as people remember the wrongdoings of Hiroshima, where a city was decimated by a nuclear weapon. The phoenix can be likened to the idea of the mutually assured destruction (MAD) , where nuclear war would destroy the world, thus, Bradbury suggests to prevent the fear of MAD people must remember the wrongdoing of previous nuclear warfare. Similarly to Bradbury in F451, Atwood ends her novel open-endedly. However, unlike F451, the ending can be interpreted much more negatively. The critic Stimpson suggests Atwood domesticates totalitarianism. This view is seen in the historical notes, Atwood suggests that people forgot the oppression of Gilead. This is seen as Peixoto suggests that Offred’s tape “might be a forgery.” This removes the blame of Gilead and their cruel regime by suggesting the pain they inflicted did not exist. Furthermore, the tapes are “arranged” by “professor wade and [Peixoto]”. This suggests that men have taken Offred’s story and manipulated it how they see fit. This shows how the future generations were unable to understand the weight of Gilead’s actions, suggesting Atwood unlike Bradbury believes that over time, people will never remember past atrocities and continue to do the same things people fear. A modern reader may view the domestication of the crimes of Gilead as a representation of how people downplay mass atrocities into jokes. This can be seen though Farage’s antisemitic comments such as “Hitler was right.” These comments can be likened to Peixoto’s carelessness in his view of the true danger of Gilead, showing how over time people forget about past atrocities. Overall both writers use their endings to show whether they believe the fears of their ages can be defeated, however Atwood has a more pessimistic view than Bradbury. Overall, whilst Atwood attempts to show how the fears of her age mostly effect women, Bradbury shows how the fears of his age are mostly an attempt to enforce conformity and restrict knowledge. Despite this, both novels present an overarching theme of challenging action which lead to fears from the masses. Despite their literary differences, both authors present the necessity of knowledge and the ability of the masses to overturn the biggest fears of an era.