Dystopian Realities: Analyzing 'The Giver' and 'Matched'

The definition of dystopia is "an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one." The definition of utopia is "an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect." The two books I read were The Giver and Matched. These where both dystopian books. There were many differences and similarities in both of these books. The first similarity in these two books are that they are both in a very futuristic setting. In Matched, the society is a city where everything is perfect. There are Outer Provinces and Farmlands where everything is not perfect, but in the main city it is. In The Giver, it is also a very futuristic society. The citizens don’t know where the other areas in the world are, but they suspect that there are some imperfect ones. In both books, "the officials pick who you love, where you work, and when you die." (Condie inside cover) In these societies the leaders want to control everything and make it
In Matched, they have feelings of happiness, love, sadness, and anger. The main character, Cassia, has gone to the Matching ceremony where she meets her match for the rest of her life. When the face of her match goes on the screen, another face flashes for one second. (Condie 35) She doesn't know who she is truly meant to be with. Cassia says, "I don't understand. The Society doesn’t make mistakes." (Condie 36) She has faith that The Society will do what's best for her. In The Giver, nobody in the community has feelings. They are like robots with only small "feelings" that they think are true. No one has love, happiness, or sadness. Jonas used the word "love" at his dinner table and his mother replied, "Your father mean you've used a very generalized word, so meaningless that it's almost become obsolete." (Lowery 160) This shows that the community where Jonas is living has no emotions unlike The Society where Cassia