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What to Know About Dystopia

Dystopia is an unjust or unfair society after a cataclysmic event took place, such as an environmental destruction or a fall of a democratic government, in an imagined society or world. The masses in a dystopian world suffer from deprivation of human rights or uncontrolled dominance by technological advancements. The term “dystopia” is used as an antonym of “utopia,” meaning an ideal place of perfection.

The Handmaid's Tale

A book cover of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Author	Margaret Atwood
Language	English
Published	1985
Publication place	Canada
Media type	Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
ISBN	0-7710-0813-9

Dystopian fiction is an independent genre of literature, also known as speculative fiction. The typical elements of dystopian literature include monolithic control over humanity, looming catastrophic industrial, weather, or nature-related disasters, indoctrination by a totalitarian government, just to name a few. The aim of dystopian literature is to encourage readers to take on more critically responsible views on the social, political, and cultural tendencies of today. In this sense, many dystopian novels function as cautionary tales.

Common Characteristics

Oppressive control: In a typical dystopian society, there usually is a tyrannical power structure or the absence of a governing power. The powers that be use propaganda to control the citizens of society and restrict or eliminate the freedom of individual thoughts, possession of information, or freedom of speech or act. They monitor the citizens’ lives for the purpose of control by means of intimidation, and if there is an overseeing figurehead or a prevailing concept to produce the effect of enforced conformity, the citizens are made to worship it in order not to face the consequences of disobeying the figurehead or going against the concept.

Dehumanization: In a dystopian society, an authoritative figure or tyrannical and unjust power structure uses propaganda, fear, dominance against its citizens through constant surveillance, depriving them of their basic freedoms. The effect is citizens having a fear of the outside world, being made to conform to uniform expectations to the exclusion of individuality and dissent.

Environmental degradation: A dystopia is often set in an inhabitable environment in the aftermath of the natural environment collapsing or getting destroyed by global warming, overpopulation, pollution, or by an act of God, including but not limited to earthquakes or floods. The old way of living now must be modified in often astonishing ways for survival in a post-apocalyptic world.

Squalor and suffering: Citizens in a dystopian society often face widespread economic hardships, impoverishment, and massive gaps in wealth that create a ruling class of elites and relegate everyone else to a life of scarcity and hardship. They must resort to extreme measures for survival, and one such way is for the masses to revolt against the ruling class or the powers that be to secure the resources of their sustenance.

Rampant technological advancements: In a dystopian setting, technology tends to go beyond means for enhancement of life, it becomes an omnipresent, malignant and overseeing entity that controls, restricts, and enforces conformity on the lives of its citizens. It functions as an effective tool for fear-mongering and marginalizes human dignity.

Themes & Setting of Dystopian Fiction

Dystopian literature uses common themes to construct stories:

- Government Control: In dystopian fiction, there is often an authoritarian figure, system, or group of people that resorts to extreme forms of oppression or to a violent anarchy to force the masses into submission and conformity.

- Environmental Destruction: Dystopian societies are often the remnants of the world order today in the aftermath of war or use of arms of mass destruction. Environment is rendered inhabitable.  

- Technological Control… In dystopian stories, the advancement of technology is frequently used as a means for control and threat and to take control over humanity and exert dominance over it.  

- Survival… Under a catastrophic society, characters in dystopian novels have to make tough decisions for their survival.

- Loss of Individualism… Dystopian works often depict a society that requires excessive conformity  at the expense of individual freedom and expression.

Purpose of Dystopian Fiction

The main purpose of dystopian narratives is to warn readers of the probable future where the dark facets of human nature take hold of the world order and bring it to an end, creating anarchy or a totalitarian world in which humanity is subjected to unimaginable suffering. No wonder many dystopian narratives begin their stories in a fictional place that reflects with insight many social problems in today’s world we live in. Given this aspect of dystopian narratives, their stories often function as a caution, alerting us of the perils of not-mended societal flaws.

Subgenres of Dystopian Fiction

Dystopian fiction is a subgenre of science fiction or also called speculative fiction. Dystopian literature has its subgenres as below:

- Eco-dystopian fiction ; It is a dystopian fiction that develops with environmental issues related to conservation or destruction.

- Climate fiction ; The story of this category involves climate changes or other environmental issues.

- Young adult dystopian novels ; It is explained in the book titled “Contemporary Dystopian Fiction for Young Adults” that young adult dystopian fictions are written with pressing concerns young people tend to have in which not only their individual issues as finding identities or self-determination, but also global issues as environmental destruction or fragile boundaries between technology, etc.

The aim of young Adult dystopian literature is to help young readers understand what their place in the current world is.

- Feminist dystopian novels ; The genre of this dystopia depicts women's oppression in a patriarchal society. One of signature novels is “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood.

As the world develops, new issues or aspects of existing issues have emerged in our lives. In light of this, besides those basic four subgenres shown above, brand new ideas are created by dystopian writers, adding new dystopian subgenres to the mainstream dystopian themes, including: society, politics, religion, overpopulation.

Top 10 Dystopian Novels of All Time

Author	Title	Year	Subgenre	Summary
Ray Bradbury	Fahrenheit 451	1953	Science fiction	Set in a future society where books are banned and firemen burn any that are discovered.
Aldous Huxley	Brave New World	1932	Science fiction	In this society, emotions and individuality are conditioned at a young age, and there are no lasting relationships because “every one belongs to every one else.”
George Orwell	1984	1949	Science fiction	The story is set in an imagined future in a super state called Oceania, which is ruled by an authoritarian government that maintains power through constant surveillance and other insidious means.
Cormac McCarthy	The Road	2006	post-apocalyptic	It follows an unnamed man and boy, a father and son as they travel to safety after most of the Earth is wiped out by an apocalyptic event.
Lois Lowry	The Giver	1993	Young-adult	It is about a society where citizens have no memories of their past, except for the individual known as the Receiver of Memory.
Suzanne Collins	The Hunger Games	2008	Young-adult	The Hunger Games follows Katniss Everdeen as she is forced to fight in a yearly gladiatorial contest. Katniss's struggle and ultimate survival, along with Peeta Mellark's, sparks a revolution to overthrow the tyrannical Capitol.
Anthony Burgess	A Clockwork Orange	1962	satirical black comedy novella	Alex, a young man who leads a gang of “droogs” and takes pleasure in “ultra-violence.” After being arrested and convicted of murder, Alex undergoes an experimental procedure that is intended to cure him of his violent tendencies.
Kazuo Ishiguro	Never Let Me Go	2005	Science fiction	The story follows three friends who discover the unsettling truth about their existence and are forced to confront their fate.
Emily St. John Mandel	Station Eleven	2014	Post-apocalyptic	It takes place in the Great Lakes region before and after a fictional swine flu pandemic, known as the "Georgia Flu", has devastated the world, killing most of the population.
George Orwell	Animal Farm	1945	satirical allegorical novella	It is a satirical allegory that explores the Russian Revolution and the subsequent rise of Stalinism.

External Links

Dystopia

Dystopian fiction