Comparing Dystopia In Fahrenheit 451 And The Hunger Games

Dystopia: "An imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one." The definition of a dystopia is quite clear, but what exactly does a book need to be part of the dystopian genre? A good place to start would be to compare two books such as Fahrenheit 451 and The Hunger Games. For a quick summary, Fahrenheit 451 details how a fireman named Guy Montag learns that the books he's supposed to be burning are an important part of culture and history, and should be protected. In The Hunger Games, the main character, Katniss Everdeen, is forced to compete in the "Hunger Games"― where twenty-four teenagers fight to the death until there is a single victor. Both of these books possess aspects of the dystopian genre such as dehumanization, a controlling government, and propaganda. Firstly, both of these stories have an alarming amount of dehumanization. With Fahrenheit 451 it is shown through the society's lack of care for life like when Montag is almost

In Fahrenheit 451, for example, it is clear the the firemen are those with the most power as shown not only by their job of burning books but by the way other people like Clarisse act around them. The Hunger Games universe is ruled not so much by a president as by a dictator: President Snow. Even the gamemaker in charge of overseeing the Hunger Games, Seneca Crane, does not have power over Snow as proven when he executes the gamemaker with the use of Nightlock after Katniss and Peeta win the Games. Not only that, but also the way the games are run suggest that the tributes are pressured to act a certain way or go a certain direction as shown when the Mutts force Katniss and Peeta to the cornucopia to face off against Cato. Both of these stories clearly have someone in control of the rest of society, and that's another popular aspect of dystopian