What is dystopian literature?
It is difficult to explain what a dystopia is without talking a bit about its opposite: the utopia. A utopia is the ideal society, perfect in every way; it can be likened to the city of El Dorado with its streets of gold and its citizens wanting for nothing. However, this perfect world can't exist. It is paradoxical to think that there is such a thing as the perfect world because to reach that level of "perfection" is impossible because we would have to sacrifice too much: the utopia turns into a dystopia.
Some characteristics of dystopian fiction are important to add here because I want to approach this from the view of the students who pick up the books. In dystopian fiction, what seems to be a utopian world is what is portrayed: a perfect society with perfect people leading perfect lives. Their lives are often free of pain, emotion, but the citizens often lack the ability and basic human right of exercising free will; sometimes they’re enslaved and don’t even realize it and they’re usually controlled by some totalitarian government (here are the sacrifices, again). In books, this kind of “utopian” world is actually a thinly veiled form of dystopian society, but that is not usually realized at the very beginning of the books. It is only later as the characters become wise to the power that is being exercised over them that they begin to question and sometimes rebel. In other titles, the world is portrayed as dystopian right off and readers are immediately thrust into this environment.
Burnett and Rollin (2000) say that dystopias "depict the worst of all possible societies" and "exaggerate contemporary social trends and in doing so, offer serious social criticisms" (p. 77). As I said, a lot of titles at first are presented as utopias, but they are later found to be disguised dystopias. So yes, a dystopian society is presented as a social critique, but what makes a book truly dystopian in nature? Spisak (2012) offers a concise definition:
Dystopias are characterized as a society that is a counter-utopia, a repressed, controlled,
restricted system with multiple social controls put into place via government, military, or
a powerful authority figure. Issues of surveillance and invasive technologies are often key, as
is a consistent emphasis that this is not a place where you’d want to live. (p. 55)
Dystopias, therefore, are societies whose citizens are controlled and have had most if not all of their basic human rights taken away by a faction of government or an individual. Dystopias can be thinly concealed as utopias on first glance, but other times they appear as what they are and comment on our society and are meant as a warning of what could happen to us as we strive for perfection, because really, isn't the definition of perfection different for everyone?
Some characteristics of dystopian fiction are important to add here because I want to approach this from the view of the students who pick up the books. In dystopian fiction, what seems to be a utopian world is what is portrayed: a perfect society with perfect people leading perfect lives. Their lives are often free of pain, emotion, but the citizens often lack the ability and basic human right of exercising free will; sometimes they’re enslaved and don’t even realize it and they’re usually controlled by some totalitarian government (here are the sacrifices, again). In books, this kind of “utopian” world is actually a thinly veiled form of dystopian society, but that is not usually realized at the very beginning of the books. It is only later as the characters become wise to the power that is being exercised over them that they begin to question and sometimes rebel. In other titles, the world is portrayed as dystopian right off and readers are immediately thrust into this environment.
Burnett and Rollin (2000) say that dystopias "depict the worst of all possible societies" and "exaggerate contemporary social trends and in doing so, offer serious social criticisms" (p. 77). As I said, a lot of titles at first are presented as utopias, but they are later found to be disguised dystopias. So yes, a dystopian society is presented as a social critique, but what makes a book truly dystopian in nature? Spisak (2012) offers a concise definition:
Dystopias are characterized as a society that is a counter-utopia, a repressed, controlled,
restricted system with multiple social controls put into place via government, military, or
a powerful authority figure. Issues of surveillance and invasive technologies are often key, as
is a consistent emphasis that this is not a place where you’d want to live. (p. 55)
Dystopias, therefore, are societies whose citizens are controlled and have had most if not all of their basic human rights taken away by a faction of government or an individual. Dystopias can be thinly concealed as utopias on first glance, but other times they appear as what they are and comment on our society and are meant as a warning of what could happen to us as we strive for perfection, because really, isn't the definition of perfection different for everyone?