Imagine a world where your needs are met. You are no longer required to work, clean or perform any other menial task. Everything you desire is handed to you and technology keeps you entertained while it does all the work. This world may sound like bliss but human beings are no longer in control, technology is. It is in control from the largest scale of production to the lowest task imaginable. Man has become so dependent on technology that he has become unaware of how much control it has and it is this ignorance that leads to dystopia. In both Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and Joseph Heller's Catch-22, the authors demonstrate how technology has lead to dystopia through characters, symbolism and atmosphere.
In Heller's Catch-22, the characters show how technology has taken their lives from them and placed them in a dystopia. Yossarian sees the squadron as hell. Although his tent is "the most luxurious tent in the squadron", (Heller 16) having the benefits of "running water [and a] wood-burning fireplace" (16) he takes no comfort in it. This is because Yossarian can find no comfort in the squadron as long as technology forces him to return to the front lines to be in danger. He is also unable to find comfort in his tent for he views it as "contaminated with death" (107). This idea of being contaminated with death is not limited to his tent but is a reflection of the entire battle group. Many die at the hands of technology and it is technology that has forced these men into this dystopic society. Unlike Yossarian who finds no comfort with technology, Hungry Joe finds comfort in the fact that technology has led him into a dystopia. The only reason he takes comfort is because he has allowed technology to control his life and has become addicted to it. When Joe is taken off active combat duty "he [has] eerie, ear-splitting nightmares that [keeps] everyone in the squadron awake" (51). However, the moment Joe is returned to active combat duty and is allowed to interact with technology once again "Hungry Joe [returns] to a normal state of terror with a smile of relief" (54).