Why Is Dystopian Literature So Popular? | Teen Ink

Why Is Dystopian Literature So Popular?

February 5, 2019
By Anonymous

It is interesting that there are very few examples of dystopian novels written before the late nineteenth century, such as Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and George Orwell’s 1984. Dystopian literature is a kind of writing that portrays a terrifying society or manipulative government. The general public can be on total alert for many reasons. It has at least one of the following problems: technology advances, horrible disasters, destruction of families, cultish religions, limited resources, and unchecked violence. I believe that dystopian literature is popular because it emotionally affects people, it is very interesting to read, and the protagonist is a female most of the time.

To begin, in my opinion one of the reasons why dystopian literature is popular because it emotionally affects people. The hunger games had a televised event when every citizen must fight to the death until one person is left standing. “They're already taking my future! They can't have the things that mattered to me in the past!” (Collins).  One reason that it is more relatable to the audience is that the genre of books has an emotionally affects on people and how they feel about the world and on various issues they face. The basic focus of dystopian literature is to make the readers consider how these dystopian societies relate to the real world.

The looking glass inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Alice enters a bizarre world, by climbing through a mirror into the world that she can see beyond it. “Never go crazy over power” (Carroll).  Power is like a scar, and it can ruin your life. I think dystopian books can help kids because the themes and lessons they have can help people with problems they might have and can give answers about what they want to talk about.
An another reason that dystopian literature is popular because it is very interesting to read. The Veldt is a science fiction short story and dystopian novel based about Wendy and Peter Hadley and their mom and dad, and they live in a technology household with a nursery that make your thought come alive.  The child thought zebras, and there were was zebras. Suns - sun, Giraffes - giraffes. Death and death.” (Bradbury). Dystopian novels can help you escape life for a quick second. Readers can interest themselves in a world of danger, have great adventures, and be the hero. George and Lydia Hadley are the parents of Wendy and Diminish Hadley, and they live in an technologically household that will take care of its occupants by transport you upstairs, brush your teeth, cook the food, and clean the house. Furthermore, when the story finishes up, the Hadley’s can come back to the security of their own home and realize that the story was pretend.

“One of the original uses of these rooms was 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.” (Bradbury).  You are reading out about as opposed to living through the awful stuff occurring in the near or far future however that terrible stuff is regularly happen in a troubled world. Furthermore, while dystopian novels are discouraging, there's a certain rightness in finding out about a future that is negative. Since we realize that politicians, military people and corporate investors can do horrendous things which means that tragic books feel sort of real.

Most popular dystopian novels have a protagonist that is a female most of the time. Ten with the flag is based about a young woman who must choose between her husband or the state controlling her destiny with a price to be paid. “What are you doing?” This is our decision.” And you made it”... You said that you wouldn’t interfere. We didn’t “No one said we'd let you go through with it the flag is an option not a right.” (Haines). In spite of the fact that the primary character is a female, and have a powerful male presence in the story and goes up against stereotypical male obstacles. This may because the writers of these books want to make the character relatable to both genders or want to make solid female characters as a challenge to society's gender standards.


Harrison Bergeron is about about society whose attempt to achieve perfection goes horribly wrong. “He is a genius and an athlete, is  under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous." (Vonnegut). The writers makes it appealing for both genders to read instead of a specific one. Dystopian novels support diverse mindsets about gender and sexuality, leaving from what is ordinary and showing acknowledgment of changing types of character. The possibility of a female assuming a non-feminine job has quickly pulled in a huge audience and made this genre extremely popular among all ages.

As a result, the dystopian literature has been alive and thriving for a long time. Teenagers love for dystopian novels have made an entirely new business for movies, merchandise, and more. Nobody can decide whether this will continue to proceed. The real question is will dystopian literature continue to proceed with it's famous writing or will it gradually break down and start another new kind of literature?



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