What are the characteristics of a dystopian novel?

BY AVERY MALONEY, ARYAN MALHOTRA AND ENOLA BOUET

Essential Question: How do dystopian themes in art and literature help us to question the way we look at the world?

What is a dystopia?

A dystopia is the exact opposite of a utopia. What that means is basically everything is as bad as it can be. An example of a dystopian novel would be The Giver by Lois Lowry. This is how most dystopian novels are written, disguised as a utopia, while the truth of it actually being a dystopia is slowly revealed. Also, in most dystopias, the novels are mainly based on world hunger, war or poverty.

Examples of dystopian books

The giver– lack of awareness from the citizens of what would happen if their world wasn’t perfect.

Divergent- futuristic and government oppressing the population.

Uglies- the world runs by beauty and people have to become pretty to be accepted

The Maze runner- young children are tested by the creators and futuristic world

Characteristics of a Dystopia

 A world in which nothing is perfect The government is very harsh and controlling towards the society Most often, a book starts of utopian and later becomes a dystopia ex.- The Giver The citizens don’t have a choice in what to think or believe Neither are they allowed to disagree with the government or give their opinions Most dystopian books are based on problems like famine, war, disease and poverty There are huge gaps between the poor and the wealthy

How do dystopian themes in art and literature help us to question the way we look at the world?

Themes in a dystopia help us to change the way we look at the world because they help us to make better, smarter choices in our lives and to also realise how lucky most of us are. By this we mean a dystopian novel might have made you think about things differently for example if you can relate to a book, then the theme might help you to think twice about your actions. We also mean that unless you live in very restricted countries like North Korea or Iran, reading a dystopian book will make you realise how lucky you are to live in such a free world where everyone is mostly equal, where war is a rare thing and where famine is not a problem.

Citations

Lowry, Lois. “The Giver (Essential Modern Classics).” Google Books, Google, 20 Dec. 2012, https://books.google.co.za/books/about/the_giver_essential_modern_classics.html?id=y_db_7kzyeyc&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y.

Roth, Veronica. “Divergent.” Google Books, Google, 7 Nov. 2013, https://books.google.co.za/books/about/divergent_divergent_trilogy_book_1.html?id=ox8laaaaqbaj&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y.

Westerfeld, Scott. “Uglies.” Google Books, Google, 4 Mar. 2010, https://books.google.co.za/books/about/uglies.html?id=d9kwscjtr8mc&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y.

Dashner, James. “The Maze Runner.” Google, 6 Oct. 2009, http://tinyurl.com/hd2aq5z. Pryor, Megan. "Utopia & Dystopia: Definition, Characteristics & Examples."Study.com. Study.com,

n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2016. http://study.com/academy/lesson/utopia-dystopia-definition-characteristics-examples.html .

"Dystopian - Dictionary Definition." Vocabulary.com. Vocabulary.com, n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2016. https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/dystopian .