Welcome! If you're here, then I'm sure you're just as excited as I am to get into these dystopian novels. Whether your interest came from reading the novels which have become so popular in the last few years (or seeing their film counterparts) or you're just curious to see what all the hype is about, hopefully you will enjoy the class this semester. We've all heard of Suzanne Collins' wildly popular series The Hunger Games, and you might have even heard of the problems surrounding Veronica Roth's Divergent series. James Dashner's The Maze Runner never quite reached the same popularity, but it's still a great series (even if the films anger me). Though we will not be covering them in this class (at least not this semester), you may have even been exposed to the worlds created by Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tale), George Orwell (1984, Animal Farm), H.G. Wells (The Time Machine), Ally Condie (Matched), Ernest Cline (Ready Player One), and Lois Lowry (The Giver). If you have not or ever want to expand your dystopian horizons, I would definitely suggest taking a look into these novels (though the content of some are not HOL appropriate so I would keep that in mind).
Now! I am just as excited to dive into these novels and their worlds as all of you are, but before we do that there are some basics of dystopian literature that need to be covered first. Things like what exactly does the word 'dystopia' mean? What are the common characteristics of dystopian literature? Why has it become so popular in recent years?
Let's start with the basics. What does 'dystopia' mean? Quite the opposite of a utopia, a dystopia is a society where everything has gone terribly wrong. A dystopia can be set in an apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic world, but it could also be set in neither. The most important thing is that it has to be anti-utopian. A utopia which has been turned upside down. A world where people had tried to build a republic of perfection, but only found that they had built one of misery. While a utopia is a community or society that is ideal in respect to politics, laws, customs, and living conditions, a dystopia is a universe in which some sort of oppressive societal control system maintains control through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, philosophical/religious, and/or totalitarian control. Usually, most dystopian literature showcases more than one of these control methods. For example, nearly every novel that we'll be covering has a totalitarian government who controls people through both biological and technological variables. There are some dystopian novels, though, where the narration begins with a seemingly functional utopian society, and things are revealed to be rather dystopian as the narration progresses; one of my favorite novels that showcases this is The Giver by Lois Lowry.
The word dystopia is made up from the Greek prefix δυσ- (pronounced dis-), which translates to "bad, hard, or unfortunate", and τόπος (pronounced tah-pas) which translates to "place or location". While these two words together don't provide a very detailed definition, they do give us a fairly general meaning behind the concept of a 'dystopian' society. A bad, hard, or unfortunate place or location. Most authors use dystopian settings in order to make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system through an exaggerated worst-case scenario. Many dystopian works often also showcase the same themes throughout: misery, rebellion, squalor, disease, oppression, revolutions, wars, overpopulation, and disasters.
The main difference, in my opinion, between utopian and dystopian literature (aside from the blaringly obvious) is that utopian literature often depicts a society which seems almost unattainable. It's a future (or even parallel universe) which we are likely to never see. Dystopian literature, in quite the opposite manner, displays a future which most readers could envision coming to life. Novels like The Hunger Games, The Maze Runnner, and Divergent showcase a future which is entirely plausible.
There are many different characteristics that can be found throughout dystopian literature; many of them will also be found in the novels that we will be covering in the next few lessons. Here are a few (but not all) characteristics:
In some cases, there is no government. In most cases, though, the government is seen as an oppressive and controlling body.
There is either a huge income gap between the poor and the rich or everyone faces extreme poverty.
Propaganda is put forth by the governing body and is used in an attempt to control the citizens of society. Generally, it is also successful in this attempt.
Access to information is restricted. Independent thought is frowned upon (or denied entirely), and freedom is controlled or denied entirely.
A figurehead or concept is worshipped by the citizens of the society.
Citizens seem to be under constant surveillance.
Citizens have a fear of the outside world.
People generally live in a dehumanized state.
Citizens conform to uniform expectations. Individuality and dissent are bad.
What society there is can often be an illusion of a perfect utopian world.
Another common characteristic of dystopian literature is the protagonist the reader has been given and how they are represented -- how they react to the world around them. The dystopian protagonist often feels trapped in their society and is struggling to escape. They either start out questioning the existing social and political systems or they begin to question this as the story progresses. The protagonist often believes or feels that something is terribly wrong with the society in which they live. These character traits and feelings are prominent throughout all three of the novels we will be focusing on this term.
So, with all of that being said, why has dystopian literature become so popular in recent years? I believe that falls in line with the basic function of dystopian literature. Through dystopian literature, authors are able to express their own concerns about current issues of humanity and society; they use their narrative as a means to warn the people about societal weaknesses. This might not always be the case, but by using a dystopian setting authors are able to showcase what might happen in the future if certain issues are not addressed or unearthed. For example, the general setting of the world displayed in The Hunger Games is, in my opinion, an attempt to draw attention to the current issues surrounding climate change; the statement is a subtle one, but it's still there. The dystopian setting can also serve as a warning about the current state of affairs of a government or of those in power. In many dystopic writings, particularly the older ones, authors tend to point out and critique the wrong-doings in a society or a system. Now, there's no real way to know if an author is trying to point these issues out without said authors actually verbalizing their concerns, but readers can still take away important ideas from the novels.
In general, interest in dystopian literature has always been relatively high, but according to Geir Finnsson, the demand for these types of novels has increased significantly since the turn of the century, and since the 1970s, dystopian fiction seems to have been geared towards young adults specifically. I believe that Finnsson explains the appeal of dystopian literature in more recent years perfectly:
"Firstly, this group of readers comes from a generation that is accustomed to the fast progress of technology and science. Secondly, dystopian fiction makes young adults aware of the potential consequences of this fast progress, resulting in advanced surveillance techniques and genetic manipulation, to name a few. Finally, all fiction intended for [young adult]’s provides its readers with an opportunity to reflect upon themselves, their lives and aids them on their path to autonomy, authenticity and selfhood."