Dystopian Literature | Teen Ink

Dystopian Literature

February 5, 2019
By jrasmussen86 BRONZE, Lowell, Indiana
jrasmussen86 BRONZE, Lowell, Indiana
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Why does the world absolutely love Dystopian literature? In an article called Dystopian Literature Evolution stated that, “Dystopian literature has long been a vessel for political commentary dating back to the 19th century”. Since then many writers have shown people different ways to view societies and real life situations. Dystopian literature is about a more nightmarish image about what could possibly happen to the world. Dystopian Literature has became more popular because teens have started to become attached to stories that show more about reality and it educates them about what could happen to their future through a story.

Teens have started to become more attached to dystopian literature,  an example of this reason is, “We are seeing some fresh new novels that offer teens dystopian reading intended for their open–and opening–perceptions of the world and its problems” (Goldsmith).  This piece of evidence shows that teens in today’s society have begun to pay more attention to their environment and their world. By teens reading more dystopian literature it will help make them realize what their future could turn into and where it is heading and how they can fix their wrongs. This can be seen in the story “The Veldt”. This story is about how people are starting to forget about reality, also how their starting to let machinery do all of their work and then they start to realize that it has gone on for too long. This is shown in this piece of evidence, “Why don’t we shut the whole house off for a few days and take a vacation?” (Bradberry). This shows that teens and even adults are starting to realize that the machinery and everything else they do has gone on for too long. They try to stop it before it gets even worse and that is exactly what some of the author’s are trying to do. Authors are trying to get people to realize what is and could happen to our world because of all of our wrongs through the dystopian novels.

  Another reason why I believe that teens have taken such an uprise in dystopian literature is because they like to fantasize about the world and the situations they live and go through everyday. An example of that is, "Reading about other worlds and imaginary cultures is exciting. It's interesting to know that there are other ways to form a society—different from the way we have formed ours" (Richard). This quote is stated in an article by a teen that is reading about other worlds and the life authors have created to help make our minds see them as interesting and it also educates us more about what type of society we live in today. This reasoning is shown in the story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.  “Harrison Bergeron” is about a world that was created their own government to help people feel equal towards one another. This is shown in this piece of evidence, “And she had to apologize at once for her voice, which was a very unfair voice for a women to use… making her voice absolutely uncompetitive” (Vonnegut). This quote shows that even if she wasn’t physically handicapped as the others around her she felt the need to handicap her voice and her beauty so that way nobody would feel intimidated.

   Dystopian Literature can also help us understand each other better, as stated in this quote, “ It's good especially if they have children and really really want to know how we think. Also adults could learn about warning signals when things might not be right with a teen." (Jaymee). This quote explains that not only dystopian literature can help us understand each other better it can give us  better knowledge and a better understanding about how we act and how we all are especially how we think and communicate with one another.

   Teens reading dystopian literature will help enhance their knowledge as I stated before but will also help them mature more. As stated in this quote, “you can be sure you are hearing the voice of someone who is helping her- or himself to grow empathy and analytical thinking, two hallmarks of maturing young adults.” (Goldsmith). This quote shows that young adults emotions and maturity levels are escalating while reading more Dystopian Literature also when people read certain dystopian novels their mindset towards everything changes. Personally one of my favorite dystopian literature pieces are the Divergent series. They show a great deal about what happened to their society and how it led up to the way it was. I believe that each novel has a reason as to why they were written.

  In conclusion, I truly believe that teens are starting to become more involved with dystopian literature. It is starting to become more popular because of how realistic the situations can be, everyone relates to the stories. Especially when the characters in each novel have gone through a situation that really excites and gives interest to the audience. Each story also gives off a real life situation that compares to what is happening right now in current situations. That is why I believe Dystopian Literature has become more popular today.


The author's comments:

This article was an assignment for my English class and It is over Dystopian Literature. 


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