Dystopia In Literature

In today’s society, we find the demoralization of humanity a source of entertainment. Movies and books like The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, and the Divergent series have sparked the interest of the masses and have become icons in popular culture. People find comfort in reading and watching about dystopian societies because it is not their reality. A “dystopia represents [an] artificially created world or society in which [the] human population lives under the rule of the oppressive government, or is subjected to various other types of oppressions” (“All About Dystopia”). Though our society is familiar with dystopian environments through today’s popular culture, many are oblivious to the warnings they portray. Many literary works depict

From things like the wheel to the computer, we have been able to do remarkable things with our discoveries and inventions. Science has allowed us to change our fates by living longer and better lives. Through science, we have been able to go beyond our capabilities. The human species has evolved tremendously throughout time. Humans have thrived in the world for centuries because of our technological advancements. But can too much of a good thing become destructive? For decades, an occurring theme in science fiction is humans creating technology that ends up being uncontrollable. Many of our machines today can outperform humans. “This means that as jobs are lost to technological automation it is harder to find new things that people can do - and any new jobs created are likely to skip the middleman and go straight to the machines” (Walsh). Technology is a luxury that humans tend to take advantage of. By relying too much on technology, we will end up being slaves to it instead of vice versa. We would no longer need to think - so we stop thinking. We would lose our independence, our understanding, and even our morality, to become mere 'pets' belonging to the machines which take care of us. Crake in Oryx and Crake devotes most of his life researching and experimenting in attempt to fix society’s problems. He ends up creating the “perfect” species that he plans to replace humans with. These creatures called Crakers are

The government sees, hears, and controls all. They believe than in order to preserve humanity, the government must take action by enforcing total domination of the people. Their freedom must be taken away because “when people have the freedom to choose, they choose wrong, every single time” (Lowry). Since dystopian environments are usually set in a postapocalyptic setting, people are more likely to allow domination due their fear of repeating history. Those oblivious are conditioned to believe that this type of oppression should be accepted because it is for the sake of humanity. “One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them” (Huxley). In Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, the CorpSeCorpse serve as a police force who are meant to protect the people and enforce laws. In this society, people are constantly being watched. Though it is never formally addressed, the people know what’s allowed and what’s not. They don’t question things and keep to themselves. "Oryx and Crake is a political examination of a society that has seemingly abandoned culpable politics in favor of an unbounded consumerism...it examines the choices of the individual caught within a corrupt political structure" (Tolan). As for Orwell’s 1984, people are also constantly being watched. “Big Brother is watching [everyone]” (Orwell). Every aspect of society is controlled by the government. The people’s thoughts, speech, and actions