Clad in hunter green with braided up-dos representing the most popular heroine of our generation, my five best friends and I exited the theater following the end of the final Hunger Games movie, tears leaking out of our eyes at the prospect of the series coming to a close, the tragedies leaving the audience stunned, and, quite prominently, the hope resonating throughout each of our hearts. My own mind was reflecting on the series I’d grown up with, seeing as the books had been published my 6th, 7th, and 8th grade years, and the movies released my 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade years. I pondered my own connections with the main character, Katniss Everdeen, even though we live in starkly different worlds, and gave thought to the series’ implications
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This genre also involves stories of societies with elements of excessive measures to police societies with already unjust laws, pressure to conform, media manipulation, measures to cover up flaws in society, attempts to erase history, limited freedom, division of people, economic manipulation, misunderstood advances in science, and suppression of emotions promoting themes of government, sovereignty, and justice (Scholes and Ostenson). The underlying principle is that humanity causes the “bad” in the world. Schellenburg adds that the common concepts of war, death, despair, oppression, and environmental ruin result in a form of demoralizing literature involving dictators or “damaged” people, revolution, and counterrevolution, or emphasizing the negative aspects of our society. Dystopian literature on the young adult scale, however, typically involves a well-designed setting, an individual or group with absolute power, a strong protagonist who has been shaped by his or her surroundings, and dismal conclusions that leaves readers uneasy but …show more content…
Unstable settings, controversial themes, and challenged characters in dystopian fiction reflect intellectual changes in young adults, like critical thinking and interests in society as a whole, seeing as the concepts are welcome in developing minds, and protagonists feel as if they have the weight of the world on their shoulders, much like modern teenagers feel in relation to their role in society. Bitoun even goes as far to say that the tension in society in dystopian literature can relate to high school wars of popularity, class, and status, and the characters can give teenagers advice. Ryan claims that constant surveillance, oppressive ruling regimes, lack of freedoms, and forced conformity are present in both teen lives and dystopian fiction. Isolation and an abundance of flaws during the transition from childhood to adulthood are connecting factors between protagonists and readers, making the main characters feel more relatable. These books make teenagers realize their independence and their capacity to disagree and act out against society’s flaws (Scholes and Ostenson), and they can impact who a teenager is, inspiring them to have “heroic” courage and speaking up for what they believe in, encouraging readers to think about social and political issues, shaping themselves for the world and vice versa
This genre also involves stories of societies with elements of excessive measures to police societies with already unjust laws, pressure to conform, media manipulation, measures to cover up flaws in society, attempts to erase history, limited freedom, division of people, economic manipulation, misunderstood advances in science, and suppression of emotions promoting themes of government, sovereignty, and justice (Scholes and Ostenson). The underlying principle is that humanity causes the “bad” in the world. Schellenburg adds that the common concepts of war, death, despair, oppression, and environmental ruin result in a form of demoralizing literature involving dictators or “damaged” people, revolution, and counterrevolution, or emphasizing the negative aspects of our society. Dystopian literature on the young adult scale, however, typically involves a well-designed setting, an individual or group with absolute power, a strong protagonist who has been shaped by his or her surroundings, and dismal conclusions that leaves readers uneasy but …show more content…
Unstable settings, controversial themes, and challenged characters in dystopian fiction reflect intellectual changes in young adults, like critical thinking and interests in society as a whole, seeing as the concepts are welcome in developing minds, and protagonists feel as if they have the weight of the world on their shoulders, much like modern teenagers feel in relation to their role in society. Bitoun even goes as far to say that the tension in society in dystopian literature can relate to high school wars of popularity, class, and status, and the characters can give teenagers advice. Ryan claims that constant surveillance, oppressive ruling regimes, lack of freedoms, and forced conformity are present in both teen lives and dystopian fiction. Isolation and an abundance of flaws during the transition from childhood to adulthood are connecting factors between protagonists and readers, making the main characters feel more relatable. These books make teenagers realize their independence and their capacity to disagree and act out against society’s flaws (Scholes and Ostenson), and they can impact who a teenager is, inspiring them to have “heroic” courage and speaking up for what they believe in, encouraging readers to think about social and political issues, shaping themselves for the world and vice versa