Cambridge University Press, Utopias and Dystopias in Literature and Culture. When you'll study it Semester 1. CATS points ECTS points Level Level 6. Module lead Ranka Primorac. Academic year On this page. She does so by arguing publicly with one of her teachers about the unfairness of denying people of her class the same longevity drugs other enjoy. As she puts into concrete words the doubts that she's been having, she "experiences her first taste of challenging the doctrine, and it was absolutely delicious" p.
The change Anna experiences in this book is, perhaps, the most radical of all these dystopian novels. She begins the story completely indoctrinated, convinced of the appropriateness of her unfair treatment, but after Peter opens her mind and plants seeds of doubt, she begins to not only see the flaws in the society, but to embrace her role as an actor with the ability to choose how she acts within that society.
This notion of a protagonist's agency mirrors teens' own growing sense of their role as agents in a larger community, and explains in part the appeal of dystopian fiction to so many young people. Young children may blindly accept authority and follow the "rules" laid down by parents and other authority figures; as teenagers transition to adults, however, they are expected to take on more responsibility and to make more independent choices. High school juniors and seniors, for example, are making significant choices about post—high school education and career options.
As the adolescent psychologist Steinberg explains, these increasingly adult roles "stimulate the development of independent decision—making abilities and the clarification of personal values" p. As teens' awareness of society's conventions and expectations gradually solidifies, they see their own potential as actors within the society. They come to recognize their own power as manifest in the choices they make about which career to pursue or what kinds of relationships they'll form.
The protagonists in dystopian literature ring true with teens' own experiences, and with their growing sense of self as agent and as bearer of the responsibility for their actions. The teens that Justin interviewed echoed this idea, explaining that part of why they liked these books is because they are driven by the main characters' personalities; the exercise of agency and responsibility certainly plays a role in these characters' strengths.
This awareness of one's own agency as well as one's responsibility for the consequences of choices is eloquently portrayed at the end of the novel Across the Universe Revis, In destroying the pumping system that delivered a sedative—like drug to the residents of the spaceship he lives in, Elder has freed them to feel emotions once again.
But by the end of the book, it's clear that he has doubts about this path of action and is worried about governing a society that is truly free to feel and think and act as its members wish. These are frightening choices he faces, and the consequences of those choices are significant, a fact that Elder seems to only fully realize once the decision has already been made.
Similarly, teenagers stand on the cusp of significant choices with life—altering consequences; there is little doubt that such choices will make them feel anxious and uncertain. It is likely comforting, then, to see this uncertainty in Elder or in Cassia as she ponders what the Society might do to her family if she leaves to find Ky.
Seeing their own concerns and worries mirrored in these characters must help teens feel that they are not alone, and may even give them the courage to face those difficult choices and their consequences, much as do the protagonists of these dystopian works.
The protagonists of YA dystopias gradually develop a sense of agency and potential influence as they become aware of the flaws in their society.
While this growing awareness can isolate them from others around them, the actions they take and even their increased understanding of the truth are often aided by a relationship of some kind with another character in the story.
This relationship, sometimes romantic, provides a catalyst for both the protagonist's changing perceptions about the society and his or her willingness to take action that runs counter to the conventions of that society. Anderson's Feed , for instance, the disruption of Titus's "feed" a constant Internet connection linked directly into the brain certainly causes upheaval in his life. But it's his relationship with Violet that really forces Titus to reevaluate the role that the feed has played in defining who he is and what he wants out of life.
The attraction he feels for Violet stems, in part at least, from her nontraditional lifestyle; the time he spends with her encourages him to explore the implications of a consumerist society with its tentacles, literally, in every space of his mind.
For Marcus, in Little Brother , subversive action against the powers—that—be comes easily, almost immediately after he is released from custody. In the process of taking his initial actions to a level where the resistance will be more organized, he meets Ange, a girl who shares similar distrust of the government. While Ange doesn't open Marcus's eyes the way Violet does Titus's, she does give him the courage to take increasingly public action, as in the case of the press conference Marcus holds, and supports him as he eventually goes public with the story of his abuse at the hands of a government institution.
In The Declaration , Mrs. Princent, the cruel House Matron who ensures that the Surpluses are tightly controlled, recognizes the potential dangers a romantic relationship can bring when she promises herself to "beat any idea of romance out of Anna" p. Friendships, and especially romantic relationships, expose the protagonists to differing opinions and perceptions of life. This could clearly be dangerous to those in a dystopian society who want a strict status quo, where all think alike and fulfill a given role.
In The Knife of Never Letting Go Ness, , Todd, a young man growing up in a society where all women were killed by a mysterious virus, provides a strong example of this. He encounters a teen girl, Viola, brought to Todd's planet by a spaceship that has crashed near his home, and her arrival causes no small disturbance in his society—a disturbance that reveals to Todd the first cracks in his society. Viola's very different perspective from a distant world helps Todd begin to see important truths about his world, and his relationship with Viola—displaying elements of both friendship and romance—drives him to take previously unthought—of actions in her defense as he tries to protect her from men who would exploit or kill her to keep dark secrets hidden.
Romance and friendships are, not surprisingly, elements that teenagers are quite interested in. The onset of puberty and its accompanying hormonal changes, as well as shifting societal expectations that encourage boys and girls to see each other in romantic ways, connect with the romantic relationships portrayed in YA fiction. And friendships represent, as already discussed, a significant part of teenagers' sense of identity and self. But in dystopian fiction, these relationships play a more significant role than solely exploring one's sexuality or identity or weathering the ups—and—downs of romantic relationships.
These relationships, romantic and platonic, serve to actually shape their thinking about the society around them and even encourage them to take subversive action.
One example of this influence is Condie's Cassia, a young girl who looks forward to her Match Banquet like every other girl and who seems set for a promising career in society. Why, then, does she suddenly decide to break with all conventions in ways that are at first subtle and then more public?
Her attraction to Ky seems to give her the permission she needs to take his stories seriously and lends credibility to his suggestions that things in the society are not as they seem to be. By the end of the first book, this attraction gives her the courage to make a decision that is bound to have negative consequences for herself and her family. This is not to dismiss the influence of her grandfather or father, both "closet activists" who we infer have their own questions about the truths promulgated by the society, but it's clear that her attraction to and blossoming romantic relationship with Ky are what drive much of the change in her thinking and what give her the motivation to deviate more and more seriously from society's strictures.
It isn't enough to argue that dystopian fiction is compelling to young adult readers because it depicts romantic and platonic relationships. We would suggest that it is the nature of those relationships as depicted in this genre that speaks to young readers. These books portray honest and authentic relationships; they acknowledge that romantic relationships are not just about exploring physical attraction or sexuality, they are about how becoming intimate with another person can have an impact on the way you see the world, the actions you take, the level of responsibility you feel toward another person.
They confirm that friendships are about more than simply having someone to hang out with, someone with whom to pursue common interests; friends also have a significant impact on the way you see the world and can influence your actions in ways that are positive and negative. While the patterns that emerged from comparing these titles are interesting to literary geeks like us, they also signal some important implications for teachers and librarians.
First and foremost, we see that these novels can withstand serious literary scrutiny, and perhaps deserve a place alongside the study of other classic dystopian pieces such as Orwell's or Huxley's Brave New World. In fact, the dystopian pieces we discuss here bear striking similarities to these classics, and studying a YA dystopian novel would certainly provide an effective bridge to a classic piece, as has been suggested in the past by Herz and Gallo and Joan Kaywell Students' appreciation for 's Winston as he becomes aware of what's wrong in his society and of his potential for action will increase as they compare him to Cassia in Matched or Todd in The Knife of Never Letting Go.
Likewise, Winston's relationship with Julia will benefit from a character analysis based on examining the relationship between Anna and Peter in The Declaration. We can also look to ways to connect these texts with content from other curricular areas. The novels discussed here provide rich opportunities for discussion about the role government can and should play in our lives, and the responsibility individuals have for ensuring that justice and humanity are preserved by those in power.
We could use dystopian literature to build cross—curricular connections between the English class and a Government or Civics course, with a thematic unit exploring the purpose and role that government should play. Connecting events in Little Brother to current events related to security, especially in the face of past and potential terrorist attacks, would help students explore the implications of these things for their lives and personal liberties.
Similar connections could be built between physics courses and the exploration of space travel in Across the Universe , between geography courses and the ideas of limited natural resources in The Declaration , or between debates of abortion policy in current events and the policies depicted in Unwind. The dystopian novel doesn't need to be so close to our reality in order to provide meaningful exploration of significant topics, however: Birthmarked and The Declaration raise important questions about human rights and the value of a human life; Unwind raises similar questions and also explores the rights of teenagers to make decisions about their future.
Issues of free choice—and paying the price for wrong choices— could be explored meaningfully in Matched , and the potential negative influences of a consumerist society rest in nearly every chapter of Feed and The Unidentified. The richness of many of these novels argues for their study in the ELA classroom, whether independently or coupled with a dystopian classic. Perhaps most compelling, given the broad choices available in this genre, we could consider using dystopian novels in literature circles see Daniels, This would allow students to exercise individual choice in selecting a book to study while at the same time allowing for whole—class explorations of these thematic issues and the stylistic elements of the genre.
For teachers and librarians both, we feel strongly that the connections between these novels and teens' lives and concerns argue for a need to showcase these books as we converse with teens about their reading. While the same could be said of most YA literature, dystopian literature seems to speak particularly strongly to teens at this time and to the choices and challenges they face as they move toward adulthood.
Justin Scholes teaches seventh grade language arts in Evanston, Wyoming. He can be reached at jscholes uintal. Jon Ostenson is an assistant professor at Brigham Young University. He works with preservice teachers and teaches courses in young adult literature. Aguirre, A. New York, NY: Macmillan. Anderson, M. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press. Bacigalupi, P. The dark side of young adult fiction. The New York Times. Burke, M. Social network activity and social well—being. Claeys, G. The origins of dystopia: Wells, Huxley, and Orwell.
Claeys Ed. Collins, S. The signs of dystopia are everywhere. Brilliant article. Look at the popularity of The Purge. So timely discussion with the feeling that we may be living in the dystopian present. Technology would be advanced so far that it works seamlessly with the natural world. It would not be boring. There would be political challenges and battles with mad marauding criminals, nutcases and psychopaths. You would still have heroes and villains. Human nature will still be the same, it would just be handled differently.
Fighters would be defending and developing something more imaginatively civilised and optimistic than the way we live now. People are more prescient than they would dare to contemplate, and fiction too often foreshadows the reality that is fast approaching. The closer it gets the more compelling these fictions become.
Dystopia is always a reflection of our current fears. My favourite recently was the Planet of the Apes reboot in which the rebel came from another species. My least favourite Elysium in which even Jodie Foster had become a fascist dictator. Fiction that are set in the future are usually of the science fiction genre. These films usually require some kind of adversity in order to allow the introduction of a hero figure.
The adversity usually takes the shape of some kind of oppression… which is why the future is generally depicted as bleak. Very true, hard to imagine a SciFi constructing a story without there being some sort of struggle. Some SciFi also draws on history, which is also quite bleak. Post apocalyptic stories … the clue is in the subgenre. Something that is very clear in the works of Ursula K. LeGuin — which serve predominantly as commentary on issues of a recognisably human nature discussed in non-real settings….
Try some of the Culture books by Iain M. Banks — no oppression, plenty of action and laughs, clever ideas and so on. If you want an example, something like The Bartimaeus Trilogy could be a dystopia, because of the way that magicians have created a class system. All interesting points. Dystopian literature not only serves to allude to societal problems and fears of the era in which it is written but also fascinatingly, as illustrated by your Kellyanne Conway example, to reveal concerning patterns and issues in our present.
We know there are bad guys terrorists, corporatists, bankers, politicians, etc in the world who are doing things make their lives better and ours worse, but identifying who is doing what is very difficult. The bad guys have redeeming qualities, their motives are obscured, they do nice things occasionally to keep us off balance, and hell, be honest: our income, our credit, our lives depend on them to one extent or another.
Dystopian stories make it easier to bear, allowing us to jeer the bad guys and cheer the rebels, acting out our dissatisfaction with current reality in a safely vicarious manner, coming away with the feeling that somehow, somewhere, somewhen, the bad guys will get their due…all illusory of course, but still a satisfying anodyne against the current and real dystopia we experience every day. Not to mention the fact that dystopian settings are ripe for heroic sacrifice and valor, breeding grounds for identifiable, relatable protagonists.
Some of my favorite novels are of a Dystopian nature, but more because the characters they produce are of a calibre that fascinates me than because of the setting. Those that rule over us, know about the collective power of the human mind. By constantly painting a horrible future, they are in effect hypnotizing us into not only accepting such a future as inevitable but subconsciously helping us dig our own graves.
The human imagination is a very powerful thing and when millions of people share the same vision of the future, they will help to birth it into being. Does that include the well documented anti-government Philip K Dick?
The signs are everywhere: increasing technological enslavement, high-tech wars of various kinds, barbarism, manipulative false-flag operations and the endgame: a race of masters over a race of debt-ridden wage-slaves. The notion of the ironic dystopia is seeped in a loss of faith in the present, such as the abandonment of religious belief, the collapse of the notion of heroic nobles, and the ridiculing of the norms of the current society.
Decker in Blade Runner , at the cost of their own life e. The intellectual tradition posits a rise in dystopian art as the civilisation continues to decline, prior to a period of renewed faith and return to more traditional religious values. I believe there is a movement called metamodernism that is positing this is already happening, citing evidence such as the Stuckist Manifesto, the New Weird Generation and the renewalist movement in the church.
Place this against the dystopian and ironic art that this article draws attention to and we are in some interesting times. The MaddAdam series were similarly built from our world but depend on technology more so it was less relatable. If anyone can prove these issues are on the way to being resolved please let me know. Dysfunction seems to be the name of the game. Dystopian literature is probably my favorite genre to read. The most recent book that I read, Ready Player One, certainly qualifies as dystopian fiction.
Another recent example would be The Circle. Society and advances in technology are making these fictitious stories more and more relevant each day. Dystopian fiction is a product of people who live in a stable society wishing to explore what happens outside of one.
Most of these writers have nothing interesting to say, either about the past, the present or the future. Certainly the YA stories are nothing more than crude melodramas. Dystopian films provide a framework of unreasonable rules that the protagonist can stand against, and most often they are surmountable challenges. Because bad news sells. Because people invented religion to cope with their mortality, the inevitable end.
No future. For YOU. Almost all religions deal with some sort of apocalyptic end time. Dystopian literature has been very reflective of the problems society is facing today such as with the environment.
Blade Runner is a perfect example as it shows a world where every natural resource has all but been exhausted and using replicants to show how that technology may become greater than humanity. A big part of dystopian literature is being able to find a happy end or a solution to the potentially realistic problems. By examining a hypothetical scenario, it sheds insight on how to tackle real-world problems.
I thought this was very interesting. I personally loved the way you connected other books to use as examples that allowed the readers and audience to look at the reason and purpose of dystopian literature. Good work!!
I have a few more dystopias to add to my reading list now! I truly love the genre and this was a nice read. So much can be interpreted from these texts, and you do a great job summing up some of the keystones of the genre. Love this! As someone who would have once have chosen to live in the past without a question if someone had given me the choice between the past or the future, I have realised that my choice had reflected on a very limited and fearful worldview. I now realise that fear of the unknown is greater than the fear of the knowledge that some of the worst aspects of humanity have already been perpetuated in our history.
Readers realise that our world of hypernormalisation leading rise to quite a few of the iterations of the distopian futures provided could very well prove a viable possibility. In any case, I would now choose to live in a possible future, aware of my own and collective fears, a gamble I would be willing to take just for the thrill of it. Anyone else with me, or kindly disagree? I believe you are right about the lack of scholarly introspection into dystopian themes. Someone should write on that part.
So as the cost of bringing a book to market have dramatically dropped so has the desire for easy to write books increased in the sausage factory that is modern dystopian writing.
I agree with the various points in the article concerning the purpose of DF. First-the warnings of certain types of governance; the moral lessons, etc. What fascinates me the most is how authors imagine their characters overcoming or dealing with the dystopia. For instance, Tris of Divergent and Katniss of Hunger Games are both successful in leading a rebellion albeit reluctantly.
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