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Analysis dystopian literature
Analysis dystopian literature
Dystopian literature characteristics
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Analysis dystopian literature
Analysis dystopian literature
Dystopian literature characteristics
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Recommended: Analysis dystopian literature
Dystopia vs Reality Dystopian novels. They are completely fictional and very far away from today’s ideologies, which makes them easy to enjoy. But are they that far off? Well, dystopias often include real-world issues but are highly exaggerated and warped. In our world, we have immense opportunities, unlike dystopian novels, where the protagonists are forced to defy conformity for liberation.
Dystopia is a popular genre in which authors write about a fictional society that is perceived to be perfect and ideal by the vast majority of the people in it. Authors must intrigue the reader, and this is difficult because they have to somehow illustrate a future that is vaguely similar to ours. However, it has to be completely fictional, which makes it tough to formulate realistic storylines. Nevertheless, these authors use literary elements to counter these difficulties and produce realistic characters and you can see this when Ray Bradbury, Ayn Rand, and James Dashner use symbolism in their respected novels, Fahrenheit 451, Anthem, and The Maze Runner. This literary technique gives Dystopian Literature the uniqueness and adds the key elements to make the story flow.
Worlds in fictional books have always had an ever-changing style. A society has a big effect on the personality of a character. There are two main types of society’s in a fictional book, a utopian and a dystopian society. A Utopian society is one that is jubilant whereas dystopian society is doleful and cheerless. The qualities of a dystopian society are in the books, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and Anthem by Ayn Rand.
In the world of literature, there are books that depict a utopian world and then there are other books that depict a dystopian world. A utopia is a place, state, or condition that is ideally perfect in respect of politics, laws, customs, and conditions. Whereas a dystopia a futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control. Literature that is considered to have a dystopian world explains a current trend, societal norm, or political system through an exaggerated worst-case scenario. The examples of dystopias that are going to be explained throughout this essay is Fahrenheit 451 and The Hunger Games.
A dystopia is an unhappy place that is an illusion of a perfect society where nobody is equal and everyone is oppressed. In the dystopian novel, 1984, the protagonist Winston Smith rebels against the over controlling government that gives the illusion of a "good life" to it's people. The short story "Harrison Bergeron" written by Kurt Vonngeut Jr. tells the tale of the great Harrison Bergeron who escapes jail to free the people of their handicaps and show them the beauty of being different. Lastly the movie Idiocracy, directed by Mike Judge, the protagonist Joe Bower is chosen for a military experiment which goes horribly wrong where the entire word has become incredibly stupid due to the failure of natural selection. All dystopian literature,
According to the website dictionary.com a Dystopia can be defined as, “a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding” (Random House). Throughout the world there are thousands upon thousands of dystopian novels. People all around the world are attracted to these types of novels, especially modern day teenagers. These teens are attracted to them because they can easily relate to the novel itself and the characters in the novel. Teens can relate to these books easily because they often feel oppressed and overcrowded.
What is a dystopia? The definition of a dystopia is an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad (google definition). Although some people may believe that where we live is a dystopia much like in Fahrenheit 451, in reality, where we live also contains features and characteristics meeting the qualifications of a utopia. We see this happen within government, relationships, school systems, and security people feel. In dystopias such as the society in the novels Fahrenheit 451 and “Harrison bergeron” we see similarities connected to our society starting with government and specifically how it restrains creativity.
A dystopian society is an illusion of a perfect world but individuals aren’t allowed freedom, and are under constant surveillance. In George Orwell’s book 1984, the protagonist Winston lives in a society where they were under Big Brothers control and were watched by the thought police. In the short story Harrison Bergeron, written by Kurt Vonnegut, the society lived by equality using handicaps to regulate the above-average people. Dystopian literature – whether novel, short story or film – focuses on similar characteristics and themes.
The aspects of a dystopia world is that in a world like that nothing very is perfect. There isn’t any happy about a dystopian world, many things go wrong in a world like that. In the short story “ Harrison Bergeron” it warns us about negative aspects of society. The author gave us a good example of a dystopian world, in this stories it really makes you think what the author is trying to warn us about the way we live our lives.
When authors create a dystopian society, they often try to predict the future and maybe even include a few similarities that relate to present day society. Ray Bradbury created a life in the future similar to today but without the pleasure of having books. Kurt Vonnegut created a world where everyone is equal to no restraint. Finally, Veronica Roth shined light on a future where people must choose their own path where they will be stuck forever. Technology in Fahrenheit 451, government in “2081”, and equality in the novel Four, are all examples of dystopian life the varies from modern day society.
A dystopian society is a place full of fear and destruction. A dystopia is a place where the government manipulates the society into thinking that they are safe and living a wonderful life when actually they are in danger every single day. They government shape the people in the society to believe that they have the choice to live however they want, but in reality, their movements are monitored day by day, and there are
Tomorrow X Together’s song, “Puma”, and Patrick Lane’s poem, “The Bird”, illustrate through symbolism and metaphors that freedom is precious. It is learned that one would rather perish than surrender their freedom and be kept in captivity where they have no freedom of speech, actions, and style of living. While the song tells a story about a puma working hard to maintain the freedom it has claimed for itself after escaping its prison, the zoo, the poem is about a person who captured a bird in hopes of gaining the bird's freedom. The contrasting points of view used to narrate the poem and the song, and the parallels between the treatment of the puma and the bird, emphasize that one cannot hope to achieve freedom by capturing those who put in
Dystopian stories are usually set in an unfavorable society in which to live, where the antagonist is the society itself, and the protagonist is the person who is looking towards changing this society and fixing its flaws, who believes that they can make a difference by overthrowing the government or escaping from it. The conflict is often not solved, or the hero fails to solve it, and the dystopian society continues as it was before. Harrison Bergeron is an example of a dystopian story where society has intensely controlled the population’s unique qualities to make everyone exactly equal. People’s talent, beauty, intelligence, and any other quality that makes them different is brought down and destroyed by forcing them to wear handicaps, masks, and weights. Harrison Bergeron is the protagonist of the story.
Many stories are created worldwide every day, and just as many are forgotten. After all, as time passes by, people, nations, and customs change which makes every story susceptible to becoming relics of the past. However, a select few of those stories become timeless for the lessons told inside of them are ones that will always apply to humans no matter if it is in the past, present, or future. One such story is William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth which follows the character of Macbeth as he slowly succumbs to his ambition and causes chaos to the world around him.
Contrary to popular belief, a society can be successful without being flawless. To prosper, one simply needs modest inhabitants. While utopias consist of humble citizens, they are also places with faultless economies, places of equality and perfection. On the contrary, dystopias are places of ideality where everything goes wrong. The government is typically a totalitarianism one where a self-absorbed leader degrades most inhabitants, like in Animal Farm.