Most commonly defined as a literary subgenre of science fiction in which the author uses strong imagery to portray a version of societies of the future or an alternate universe, utopian and dystopian novels, like Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 or Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, have quickly become arguably one of the best-selling types of literature. Both of these novels begin with our protagonists following the status quo and going on without taking issue with the structure and goings-on of their world, however, each has an external force that causes them to take a different perspective on their society. Despite these similarities, when looked upon more closely the setting, characters, and main ideas expressed in these books share even
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The Hunger Games tells a story of great sacrifices made by a girl out of the love she has for those around her, and while admittedly there are sacrifices made by Montag for the sake of his books and knowledge, he has no one that he loves enough to make those sacrifices for. Katniss makes personal sacrifices to protect primrose and she and Peeta nearly sacrifice themselves, but by the end of Fahrenheit 451, Montag is left with no one else to care about but Faber and the group of outlawed intellectuals he has discovered. Instead, Fahrenheit 451 focuses on the dangers of censorship and ignorance. The citizens are enamored with television programs that do nothing aside from keep their minds and bodies occupied with useless, thoughtless, entertainment. Firefighters burn books to aid in the prevention of people questioning the leadership and condition of their world. Citizens believe that they can achieve happiness through conformity when the reality is that none of the citizens are truly happy, they have just learned to mindlessly accept the rules and standards thrust upon them. Bradbury speaks of the censorship coming about because of unspecified minorities and special interest groups taking offense to things found in some of the books. It was then believed that by destroying the books, they could eradicate the knowledge that is contained within the books which was thought to lead to unhappiness, envy, and feelings of inferiority. An additionally present theme in this novel is the constant battle between knowledge and ignorance. The government destroys knowledge and encourages ignorance in hopes of standardizing the population and eliminating individuality. Montag’s search for knowledge leads him to question the beliefs of a society that praises ignorance
The Hunger Games tells a story of great sacrifices made by a girl out of the love she has for those around her, and while admittedly there are sacrifices made by Montag for the sake of his books and knowledge, he has no one that he loves enough to make those sacrifices for. Katniss makes personal sacrifices to protect primrose and she and Peeta nearly sacrifice themselves, but by the end of Fahrenheit 451, Montag is left with no one else to care about but Faber and the group of outlawed intellectuals he has discovered. Instead, Fahrenheit 451 focuses on the dangers of censorship and ignorance. The citizens are enamored with television programs that do nothing aside from keep their minds and bodies occupied with useless, thoughtless, entertainment. Firefighters burn books to aid in the prevention of people questioning the leadership and condition of their world. Citizens believe that they can achieve happiness through conformity when the reality is that none of the citizens are truly happy, they have just learned to mindlessly accept the rules and standards thrust upon them. Bradbury speaks of the censorship coming about because of unspecified minorities and special interest groups taking offense to things found in some of the books. It was then believed that by destroying the books, they could eradicate the knowledge that is contained within the books which was thought to lead to unhappiness, envy, and feelings of inferiority. An additionally present theme in this novel is the constant battle between knowledge and ignorance. The government destroys knowledge and encourages ignorance in hopes of standardizing the population and eliminating individuality. Montag’s search for knowledge leads him to question the beliefs of a society that praises ignorance