The Pros And Cons Of Dystopian Literature

Dystopian DevicesWhen writing a novel, authors use distinct literary devices to aid in making the genre of their story apparent to their reader. Specifically, many use these literary devices to draw attention to details that establish a dystopian genre. A dystopia is somewhere where people lead dehumanized and fearful lives (Merriam-Webster). Furthermore, in dystopian societies, propaganda, societal oppression, and totalitarian control often elicit fear and obedience. An example of this is the novel 1984 written by George Orwell. This novel contains ambiguous symbols such as Big Brother, the Godlike ruler of Oceania. Aspects such as this contribute to the nature of dystopian genres. After analyzing concepts such as the all knowing Big Brother and the telescreens that are required by the government, the reader notices dystopian aspects. Accordingly, the setting of the city and symbols in everyday life expand the readers view of dystopian aspects. Orwell uses literary devices such as setting, symbolism, and euphemisms in order to portray a dystopian genre through the use of Big Brother, the city Oceania and its citizens, and other concepts in the novel. The government in 1984 controls its population by creating a setting where no one has the freedom to act without a someone watching them. The government does this by requiring all citizens of the Party to own a telescreen. By monitoring the activities of members of the party, the government can keep citizens obedient and

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Dystopia is defined as the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian. Dystopian societies feature different kinds of repressive social control methods and various forms of active and passive intimidation. Works about dystopian societies often explore the concept of humans neglecting technology and humans individually and collectively trying to manage or not being able to properly manage with technology that has progressed far more rapidly than anything else. One story that clearly demonstrates this theme of a dystopian society is "Harrison Bergeron", and a form of media that can be compared with it is, the 2005 film V for Vendetta. Both

The American Justice System is corrupt and unfair. The system favors the rich and powerful, and biased toward the minority and lower class. Wealthy people and the political elite can get away with more by paying off Judges and other government officials. The more expensive lawyers are able to acquit someone of charges no matter what the evidence against them, while the rest of the population, is at the mercy of the court system. The system is in need of a complete overhaul to stop these injustices.

Oxford dictionary defines dystopia as “an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically totalitarian or environmentally degraded to one.” In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron the government uses censorship to make everyone equal. Censorship cause utopian societies to become dystopian due to a false perception of happiness, untruthful statements and strong outliers.

The most important part of dystopia which is present in every dystopian fiction is restriction of freedom, information and independent thought. It is a very broad aspect which is strictly connected with propaganda, censorship and other forms of manipulation. Manipulation can even take form of eradicating certain words or using euphemisms to hide a scary truth behind them. Governmental control influences not only human body (e.g. like in case of restriction of freedom), but also mind. Eventually affected people may start to blindly believe in the righteousness of the government and become a fully obedient citizen. Citizens’ conviction that this is the only proper way to lead their lives despite the clearly

Through all the ups and downs, the United States justice system continues to face obvious issues in itself causing a problematic government.

Many people are enraged with the U.S. court system and feel that it does its job based on prejudice, unfair, and despicable standards in which it’s not held accountable for. This inserts a fear of the justice system within the people themselves with the resulting lack of trust created. There are countless cases of injustice that have made their way through the U.S. Court System such as the case of James Richardson was spent 21 years in jail for being accused for the poisoning and deaths of his 7 kids only to be let out later on after the real criminal had confessed to the crimes. Another crime that can be put on display is the case of James Bain who spent 35 years in prison (which is the longest time served by anyone who has been wrongfully convicted) for being wrongfully accused of multiple crimes including rape and was sent to prison for life only to finally be granted the use of DNA evidence review for his case which eventually was the deciding factor that gave him his freedom back. The case of Daryl Burton sickens many people to the core after he served 24 years in prison after being charged with murder. It was later found out that the police who were on Burton’s case pushed the “witnesses” to go against Burton and accuse him of the false crime. There are countless examples that can be used to show the devastating mistakes the court system has made over the years and the seemingly lack of effort to not only get it right the first time but to consider the importance of

What exactly is a dystopia, and how is it relevant today? E.M. Forster’s The Machine Stops uses a dystopian society to show how one lives effortlessly, lacking knowledge of other places, in order to show that the world will never be perfect, even if it may seem so. A society whose citizens are kept ignorant and lazy, unknowing that they are being controlled, unfit to act if they did, all hidden under the guise of a perfect utopian haven, just as the one seen in The Machine Stops, could be becoming a very real possibility. There is a rational concern about this happening in today’s world that is shared by many, and with good reason. Dystopian worlds are often seen as fictitious, though this may not be the case in the

Not only does corruption occur in society, but however, it occurs at every stage of the criminal justice chain. It can be emphasized that the rule of law has essentially vanished astonishingly. The former Attorney General himself, Eric Holder, felt compelled to emphasize “As a prosecutor, a judge, an attorney in private practice, and now, as our nation’s attorney general, I’ve seen the criminal justice system firsthand, from nearly every angle. While I have the utmost faith in — and dedication to — America’s legal system, we must face the reality that, as it stands, our system is in too many respects broken.” at the Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association's House of Delegates. However, how is America supposed to function with a corrupted justice system? A corrupted justice system not only violates the basic rights to equality before the law, but denies procedural rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution. The justice system in America vigorously demotes justice, instead of promoting actual justice by allowing American Prosecutors within court to exercise the practice of handing out punishments and not justice. The American Justice system is corrupted because threats necessitate plea bargains, unequal incarceration rights are enforced, winning tends to trump justice, for-profit prisons are active, and public defense tends to be worthless.

In literature, dystopias have always been given a bad reputation for being detrimental to a society. However, this belief does not represent the positives of a society being dystopian. It is known that any dystopia, a detrimental society, was created originally as a utopia, a pleasant society. This means that any dystopia was started with the hope of helping people, but since no government can make everyone happy, the society eventually breaks down into a dystopia.The fact that many dystopias are rooted in good intentions means that, while contrary to popular belief, there must be some good things to a dystopian society. Despite most people thinking that dystopias are completely rotten, there are in fact some benefits to a society being dystopian.

Dystopia: a society characterized by human misery and oppression. A Dystopian world is controlled by a government that can do no wrong. They weed out the individuals and groups that have the thought or intend to commit their lives to “dethroning” the ruler; Big Brother. The government will do anything to protect their way of life. They will go to the extremes of changing the past to control the future. In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the citizens live in a definitive dystopian world where the government forces the comrades to fit Big Brother’s purpose.

In order to be a dystopia, there is normally some kind of constant surveillance within the society. 1984 has telescreens that watch them all the time. Orwell explains how technology has only made life worse for the citizens:

Dystopias are fictional displays of societal fears usually through literature. A common fear in dystopias is a corrupt government. In 1984 the author, George Orwell, brought forth his fear of the corruptness of a totalitarian government because of the events leading up to, during, and caused by World War Two. He illustrates this fear in 1984 by making a world in which totalitarianism is all that is known. However, in Divergent the author Veronica Roth shows her fears of a corrupt government by almost paralleling the events leading up to World War Two with one party placing the blame on a specific group of people to gain control through any means necessary.

A dystopian society, usually illusory, is the reverse of an idyllic utopia: it is generally tyrannical and inhibited. Dystopian societies mirror our future- they are usually a hyperbolic familiar society with satirical exaggeration. This kind of literature is written to amend other people 's idea of the kind of society they should thrive for. As well as that, they are written to express their concerns about the future and humanity. Societies of this nature appear in many works of fiction, predominantly in novels set in a speculative future. Dystopian culture is often mused by societal collapse, dehumanization, poverty, and deprivation.

Indeed, the best works of literature are those which are of relevance to our lives today. Through their relevance, these novels continue to persist and endure on. Through their relevance, we can better comprehend the messages, the themes, and the ideas that are imbued in them. Rather than literature being contradictory and in conflict with the truth and unpleasant reality of daily life, it becomes a weapon through which we can be educated about the existential crises facing our world today. In fact, the statement above could not be more far and distant from the reality of literature today. It is fatally flawed. Literature, whilst at the surface, seems whimsical and amusing is, at its very core, a medium through which we are enlightened