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Dystopian Literary Analysis

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Dystopian literature has been established as an important source of political commentary through interpretation and portrayal of an alternate source of morality, usually contradicting popular belief. Through use of dystopian tropes, authors are able to effectively influence way of thought through the influence of their writing. This is usually done with the purpose of acting as warning against certain political ideologies, but there is more to dystopian literature than a simple heed of warning. Furthermore, stories like The Hunger Games, "The Lottery," and "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" remain relevant due to their thought-provoking plotlines and philosophical ideas.
Literary dystopian societies tend to hide under disguise as utopias, …show more content…

though happy”(Guin par. 3); except, when we continue reading we learn of the miserable child located below city grounds, living in his dank …show more content…

Considering the nature of philosophy, it tends to stay relevant regardless of time. Today we still use the philosophical ideas of people far in the past such as Aristotle, Plato, and Kant, to name a few. Actually, philosophy ages quite well and we use older ideas to serve as the foundations in our decision making and as time passes these same past thoughts will be used to create the very societies future generations will live in. The books we read now can be used as precedent to help make decisions later on and “science-fiction is closely linked to dystopian literature”(Henry par.5) according to an Artifice article on the importance of philosophy in dystopian literature. As a matter of fact, The Hunger Games is set in a futuristic time period with “electric fields” (Collins 81) and “hovercrafts”(Collins 82) where technology is far more advanced. Collins “offers… a highly-engaging cautionary tale about global warming, mass media, and political oppression”(par. 26) according to Henthorne 's article “Dystopia with a Difference: The Lessons of Panem and District 13”. These literary works are intentionally created with a setting in the future to warn us from possibly making the mistakes that lead to the creation of that type of society. Thus,

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Both Fahrenheit 451 and Hunger Games show characteristics of Dystopian in their stories. Dystopian is a futuristic, imagined universe where societal control and the illusion of a perfect society have disrupted. It basically shows how the society went from being perfect to completely changing into something different. Fahrenheit 451 and Hunger Games show that; information, independent thought, & freedom are restricted; a figurehead or concept is worshipped by the citizens of the society; and citizens are perceived under constant surveillance. Information, independent thought and freedom are restricted is a major characteristic in both works.

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1123 Words | 5 Pages

Dystopian Affairs Ray Bradbury’s depiction of a dystopia is interpreted through Guy Montag and his escape from society as well as Captain Beatty and his desire to get rid of books when they explore the technology and its advances in his novel, Fahrenheit 451. Born in a time of despair from the ongoing World War II, Bradbury fell in love with books as well as horror from a young age, and he enjoyed the sense of adventure it created (“Ray”). Bradbury uses “Fahrenheit 451 [as a reflection of his] lifelong love of books and his defense of the imagination against the menace of technology and government manipulation” (“Ray”), and bases his plots, characters, and themes on his past experiences and memories. World War II is a time period when literature was suddenly disappearing and technology became greatly significant. Realizing the troubles technology will create, Bradbury wrote stories based on dystopian affairs, including his most powerful novel, Fahrenheit 451.

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1268 Words | 6 Pages

Since the age of Thomas Moore, intellectuals have been fascinated by the idea of an ideal society where all is well and total happiness is readily available to all of its members. Such ideals of a ‘utopia’ continued throughout the centuries until it reached a major pivoting point in the nineteenth century. Historical events such as the Second World War, the Cold War, the emergence of McCarthyism, and the creation of a nuclear bomb left people with a heavily misanthropic view of the world. People started to question the practicality or realistic possibility of a utopian society, thus creating the genre of dystopian literature. (Gerhard, 2012)

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1086 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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718 Words | 3 Pages

Dystopian literature Is it not common for people to be controlled by others? For freedom to be taken away from their lives and not giving them the rights they deserve? The book Anthem and the film the Hunger Games are known as dystopian novels. Ayn Rand, the author of Anthem writes stories like these to catch the young audience's attention. Suzanne Collins, the author of The Hunger Games as another dystopian novel where people are not granted their freedom either.

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498 Words | 2 Pages

Fahrenheit 451 and Harrison Bergeron are perfect examples of a dystopian society. Both stories restrict their society below their highest potential. In Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag is clearly smart enough to comprehend books, but the government is keeping everyone down. On pages 55-56, Captain Beatty says, “ Not everyone born

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998 Words | 4 Pages

Lauren DeStefano said, “ 'dystopian, ' by definition, promises a darker story” (DeStefano). One may find this to be particularly true in Ursula Le Guin’s “Those Who Walk Away From Omelas” when he is able to look past the happiness displayed proudly on the surface. Le Guin’s “Those Who Walk Away From Omelas” employs dystopian elements because the story, like other dystopian works, warns about societies with trapped citizens, living in a supposedly perfect city, who fail to question the structure of their society.

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1031 Words | 5 Pages

‘Positive characters … usually prove miserably ineffectual when contending with ruthless overwhelming powers’ claims Amin Malak, noting on such protagonists as Winston Smith and Offred in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and, when looking at the dystopian genre as a whole, he certainly seems to be correct. Dystopian fiction does seem to portray the worse side of human nature than the better, leaving the positive traits to the struggling protagonists. While utopian writers seemed to think that the essence of human nature was to do good, dystopian writers seem to think very differently and it is from this notion that these novels seem to be written. Nineteen Eighty-Four certainly seems to do this, with almost every member of the society representing one or more negative aspects of humanity.

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508 Words | 3 Pages

Dystopian texts espouse a variety of didactic messages that depend significantly upon both the context and zeitgeist of the time in which they were created. Differences can be found when comparing the techniques and perspectives the authors have chosen to represent their contextual concerns to audiences. Together both Fritz Lang’s silent black and white film ‘Metropolis’ 1927 and George Orwell’s novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ (*referred to as 1984) 1948, confront and provoke audiences to consider the impact that (abusive power + unquestionable control= insert question statement) can have not only on the characters in these two texts, but also on the cultural and political lives of the reader and viewer. By subjugating & dehumanising the lower classes, dictators are

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959 Words | 4 Pages

Teenagers feel like they can relate or think, what if this was to really happen? The authors Ayn Rand and Veronica Roth promote individualism and selfless acts in the novels they wrote, but sometimes that is not always the best thing. After all these years, reading and writing dystopian literature is still

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480 Words | 2 Pages

However, Atwood depicts the Republic of Gilead in “The Handmaid’s Tale”. Both “The Hunger Games” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” are dystopian novels that have many similarities, however they have some differences. Collins’ and Atwood’s novels hold similarities in their ideas of societal categories, identification of these sections, constant surveillance, and public punishments. In both societies, the citizens are split into groups. In Panem, there were 13 districts and in Gilead, there were many categories of men and women.

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502 Words | 3 Pages

The society in this book is basically the epitome of a dystopia. It has a totalitarian government and everything about the world the people live in is a frightening nightmare. The government has completely dehumanized the way people live their lives. People in this dystopia aren’t even actually human any more. They aren’t even born the natural way through reproduction, they are created.

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982 Words | 4 Pages

The hunger games by Suzanne Collins is typically called a dystopian novel. Since it sheds the light upon a utopian society that is controlled by the government. A society that is fooled by the totalitarian government of the Capitol in order to maintain power, and prevent the uprising of the Districts.that authority is practiced by making people from the districts live in a dehumanized state using another form of dystopia which is propaganda for the reason that they showed them the penalty of disobedience. Another characteristic of a dystopian society that we can see in the novel are keeping the players during the games under surveillance at all times, and everywhere. The last thing that make "The Hunger Games" a supreme example of a dystopian society is the fact that freedom is restricted by forcing the families from the districts to send their kids to death, also known as the hunger games.

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968 Words | 4 Pages

What is the difference between a dystopian society to our society? How about the similarities between the two societies? There are definitely many discernible unorthodoxness in a dystopian society versus the “real world” like the fact, that a dystopian society is more grotesque, to the point that it’s boring. On the other hand, there are plenty enough similarities like, how both societies strive for better, a utopia. In other words, dystopia compared to society, more specifically dystopian society, education systems, rules/laws, and family between our society’s education systems, rules/laws, and family, is substantially different, but there are some associations that could be made.

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939 Words | 4 Pages

It was also one of the first books to introduce the idea of time travel and popularize as well as coined the term time travel (Science-Fiction and Fantasy, 2014). The quote in the book “There is no difference between time and any of the 3 dimensions of space expect that our consciousness” (The Time Machine, H.G wells) this is an aspect that not many other books have explored in this time. By being one of the first dystopian fiction novels it meaningful in the sense that it created a possibility for people to express their ideas in a new innovative way. (Andrew Liptak, 2013) This novel also follows the defining features of dystopian novels, which are controlling oppressive government, no free- thinking and appearances of man vs. society often called the dystopian protagonist.

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