How do you feel about dystopian stories? Do they make you want to keep reading them, or do they draw you closer to them? Do they make you escape from the real world? What’s drawing kids closer and closer to dystopian stories? Are these stories making kids feel rebellious in ways, or are they just entertaining? Let’s talk about why I feel kids are attracted to these stories. The word “utopian” is described as being perfect, while “dystopian” is the opposite. It describes a state that is unpleasant and just all around not a very happy place. When people and kids have bad days about anything they can relate to these stories on different levels.

Is it a good thing that kids can relate to some dystopian stories? Is it helping them overcome things, or is it just making them more upset and angry at whatever they are going through? In the story Harrison Bergeron, Harrison felt that people should be able to express their differences in ways and shouldn't have to hide it and be “equal” to everyone else. I think many kids my age especially can relate to this because of the problems we are facing today. In the story Harrison Bergeron the news stated, "Harrison Bergeron, age fourteen," she said in a grackle squawk, "has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. He is a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous". This shows that  Harrison didn't want to be like everyone else, he wanted to show people that it is okay to be different and unique. People can relate to Harrison because many people get bullied or hurt for trying to be themselves and embracing it. People like these type of stories because they like the idea that sometimes it is okay to break away from these norms and “rules”. Kids like the idea of it being okay to be themselves and being able to break the “norms” people have on them.

The story Harrison Bergeron shows that it was not okay to be smarter or prettier than anyone, but because of Harrison, it shows kids what would really happen if that happened to out world. In the story, the narrator states, “George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear.” This is showing kids that there really would be no safe and happy way to all try to make us equal to each other. This handicap that George had to wear in the story would an awful sound every 20 seconds so he would purposely lose his train of thought. These sounds were never the same, so everyone who had a handicap in their ear could not prepare for the sounds. This shows kids that it’s better to all be different than the same as everyone.

Do kids like the idea of an imperfect place or world? Kids like that they can read about how the world is not ever going to be perfect. In the book, Ten with a flag, they were trying to make everyone and everything as perfect as possible, but really did not succeed. In the story, Ten with a flag, Mr. White states,“ It’s how we protect your freedoms as individuals. “”The State values that highly.” He smiled. But our child is a ten, “I said. “Tens can’t be a burden on the State by definition. They are the ones that make the State better. This is showing that in this story central control showed the government what the child would be like in the future, showing them if they would be an amazing asset to the state, or if they would be a burden. Kids are drawn to this story because it’s a way for them to see that no one is ever going to be perfect and that the world is never going to be a “perfect” place. Ten with a flag tried to make the world a perfect place, but couldn't. I personally think kids like to see people fail and see the outcome of the attempts.

Another reason why I think kids love to read about how the world can never be perfect is when Mr. White, in the story Ten with a flag states, “Central has an over ninety-nine percent success rate with this test. We dont questions the results.” Mr. White says this to the parents for the baby who was a ten with a flag when they were worried about the flag, this is showing that no matter how perfect people want someone to be, they really can’t be “perfect”. The word “perfect” can mean so many different things to different people, so no one will ever be able to be “perfect” to everyone.

I understand why people love to read dystopian stories because I feel like I can escape from any problems I might be having that day when I sit down and read. The veldt is a perfect example of this because it traps the reader into wanting to read more and more. In the story The Veldt, they face many problems that make kids want to keep reading, an example of this would be when the worker states to the parents, “One of the original uses of these rooms were so that we could study the patterns left on the walls by the child's mind. We could study them whenever we wanted to, and help the child. In this case, however, the room has become a means of creating destructive thoughts, instead of helping to make them go away.” This is drawing the reader in to see how they can really fix this problem and if they really ever will fix it. I think these type of dystopian stories a very unique to any other stories, and that’s why they are pulling these kids farther into these books.

Another good example of how these type of books are pulling kids in is when the mother says to the father, “That’s just it. I feel like I don’t belong here. The house is wife and mother now, and nurse for the children. Can I compete with an African veldt? Can I give a bath and clean the children as efficiently or quickly as the automatic body wash can? I cannot. And isn’t just me. It’s you. You’ve been awfully nervous lately.” She is saying that she feels like the house is in control of them and that its been worrying her. They have a room in their house where it changes to everything they want it to be, but since the children have been in a african veldt for so long, it wont change for the parents anymore. This draws kids to want to see what the parents will do. Will the parents ever be able to change the room? How will they change the kids into what they are looking at in the room? These are all examples of a world trying to become “perfect”, but failed because “perfect” is different to everyone.

Dystopian stories are examples of how the world can never be a “perfect place. The word “dystopian” is stated as being imperfect, sad, unhappy. Kids like the fact that the world will and won’t ever be a perfect place to everyone, sometimes the best is to just be yourself and not to let anyone change who you're trying to be.