According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, a dystopia is defined as "...an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives." Common sources of disaster in dystopian literature include a totalitarian government (such as government spying in Orwell 's 1984 and instant gratification encouraged by the state in Huxley 's Brave New World), capitalism and consumerism, environmental turmoil, and war. Recently, there has been a massive boom in both the production of dystopian literature as well as interest. From popular young adult novels such as The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro to classroom reads such as Animal Farm by George Orwell to Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, people have become
…show more content…
According to the paper, "Life of chaos, life, and hope: Dystopian literature for young adults" by Lisa Newgard, authors of dystopian fiction "...delve deep into political issues while keeping the interest of the readers..." by creating protagonists who "...want to seek their own solutions and are willing to reject the status quo and take a risk to better the society as a whole." This gives the reader the belief that they can make political change occur avoid an Orwellian or Huxleyan future. By portraying a grim future, the authors of the dystopian books encourage the readers to prevent such a society from becoming reality. Also, according to NY Daily News, the grim and depressing societies presented in dystopian novels "...allow us to say, 'well, our reality may be bad, but at least it 's not that bad! '" An article published by Scholar Lib detailed a survey conducted by a middle school teacher who asked several students why they liked dystopian fiction. He found that the students could relate to the protagonists, as they saw several connections to contemporary society in dystopian novels, such as the government not taking "...care of people in many of these books and those in power [tending to] categorize people in arbitrary ways, thus creating unnecessary divisions." Reality is increasingly being mirrored in dystopian fiction; today, most governments don 't care about their people-- the government 's response to the rich growing richer and the poor growing poorer is pathetic emotional rhetoric; at a time when the world needs to cooperate and help others, governments and states are shutting their borders to refugees; police violence is up; school tracking keeps the poor poor, perpetuates economic inequality, and starves off the American dream; war is waged for political and economic motives, without regard to the lives of the affected countries; pollution is ignored by
According to the paper, "Life of chaos, life, and hope: Dystopian literature for young adults" by Lisa Newgard, authors of dystopian fiction "...delve deep into political issues while keeping the interest of the readers..." by creating protagonists who "...want to seek their own solutions and are willing to reject the status quo and take a risk to better the society as a whole." This gives the reader the belief that they can make political change occur avoid an Orwellian or Huxleyan future. By portraying a grim future, the authors of the dystopian books encourage the readers to prevent such a society from becoming reality. Also, according to NY Daily News, the grim and depressing societies presented in dystopian novels "...allow us to say, 'well, our reality may be bad, but at least it 's not that bad! '" An article published by Scholar Lib detailed a survey conducted by a middle school teacher who asked several students why they liked dystopian fiction. He found that the students could relate to the protagonists, as they saw several connections to contemporary society in dystopian novels, such as the government not taking "...care of people in many of these books and those in power [tending to] categorize people in arbitrary ways, thus creating unnecessary divisions." Reality is increasingly being mirrored in dystopian fiction; today, most governments don 't care about their people-- the government 's response to the rich growing richer and the poor growing poorer is pathetic emotional rhetoric; at a time when the world needs to cooperate and help others, governments and states are shutting their borders to refugees; police violence is up; school tracking keeps the poor poor, perpetuates economic inequality, and starves off the American dream; war is waged for political and economic motives, without regard to the lives of the affected countries; pollution is ignored by