Why is dystopian literature experiencing such a rise in popularity today? I have read and analyzed three dystopian stories, “Harrison Bergeron”, “The Veldt”, and “Ten with a Flag”. They all have a technological control and setting. All are just like utopias but with negative effects and are all such interesting and mind escaping pieces to read. Dystopias are not a perfect world. They are what you would call an illusion of a perfect world and dehumanized states. I think that is what grabs attention of young readers so much. Dystopias have very interesting characteristics. And when a good story and dystopias collide, it makes a great pair and fantastic read.

In “Harrison Bergeron”, the main example of dystopian literature shown in this story is equality. Equality is good, right? But how would you define it? Would you say equality is treating all people equal? But equity is better. In this story there is no inequality and inequity. There is straight up equality 100%. In this story, there is equality every which way. “Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution.”(Vonnegut 1)  This would be an example of the dystopian element, saying how society is an illusion of a perfect utopian world. These amendments may seem good and like this would be a perfect world but it’s not. Not at all. Everyone in this world is average. Average intelligence, looks, thoughts, jobs, everything. Information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted because the government is always in everyone's head and thought. But there are some people who aren't average, so they have a special handicap in their ear to keep their thought process average. In the story the character George has a handicap that make his thought process average since his intelligence is above average. And if these handicaps come off then they will be fined $2,000 and possible up to 2 years in prison--for each handicap they take off!

The story “Ten with a Flag” has a very controlling government and society. This dystopia is screaming technological control. “Central is in control.” Central drives your car and controls traffic. They go 120 mph with about 3 feet between each car. The vehicles in the dystopia are monitored with a microphone/speaker for Central to listen to everyone. For example, there is a center traffic computer to control traffic in the dystopia. In one scene Jonnie rented  a older car that isn't being monitored by Central so that he can talk in private with his wife.The protagonist in this story is questioning the existing social and political systems. Johnnie is the protagonist. This whole story he is questioning the flag and the whole system. He wants information that won't be given to him because everyone tells him to just trust the system. Just like in “Harrison Bergeron”, information, independent thought, and freedom are very restricted. Johnnie and his wife are having a kid. But the kid has a rating of 10 but with a flag. The parents are worried about the flag because it can cause risk and implications with the kid and Johnnie’s wife. So in the end they decide to terminate the pregnancy. That is one of their only rights in the dystopia. Johnnie is the one who decides to terminate the pregnancy. But when it’s about to be done the police come in and say “No one ever said we’d let you go through with it, though. The flag is an option not a right. Arrest him”(Haines 8), and they arrested Johnnie. They basically tricked him because he was the flag “sacrifice”. Why would anyone want to live in a world like this? Because the society is an illusion of a perfect utopian world.

     In the last dystopian story I read “The Veldt” there is also a very futuristic and technological control. The first paragraph of the story is a big intro to the technological control “They walked down the hall of their HappyLife Home, which had cost them thirty thousand dollars with everything included. This house which clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them.”(Bradbury 1)  This society is controlled by technology and humans live in a dehumanized state. The house is all controlled by technology. They don't do anything for themselves. There's a machine for everything you do in the house like brushing your teeth, combing your hair, making food, and taking your bath and shower. This house that this family lives in does everything for them, and that can lead to spoiled, naughty children. There is a room in the house called the nursery which is an automated room in the automated house that projects a very lifelike version of any location you pick. So the children of this family spend most of their time in this room with no discipline. Especially when the children start to get out of control. George the father starts to get tired of their spoiled and disrespectful behavior. He threatens to turn off the nursery and then the whole house so that the kids can learn responsibility. He says “Lydia, it’s off, and it stays off. And the whole damn house dies as of here and now. The more I see of the mess we’ve put ourselves in, the more it sickens me. We’ve been thinking of our machine assisted selves for too long. My God, how we need a breath of honest air!”(Bradbury 11)This is showing how the protagonist often feels trapped and is struggling to escape.The father us going crazy from the nursery and his kids are beginning to behave so badly. The son says I wish you were dead. After that the father said “We were for a long whole. Now were going to really start living. Instead of being handled and massaged, we’re going to live”(Bradbury 12)

The dystopian genre has many interesting elements and characteristics. Each one of these stories was escaping reality for a few moments because they are all so different from what the real world is.  Dystopian literature is what readers read to “escape” or go away for awhile. But some people might think different. Like maybe that technology is taking over their world and could take over our some day. We’ve all seen how much technology ha already formed over a few years. What if someday this world becomes in technological control. But we can all agree that dystopian literature is entertainment and shows fiction yes realistic topics.