SHIMWA ANNICK LA REINE S5 CEM TEENS AND DYSTOPIA

What if everyone was rebellious? Scott Westerfield show us in his book Uglies how the society seemed to be perfect and normal but The characters remark that something is wrong and fight for their freedom. Dystopian fictions are imaginary stories where the living conditions are characterized by oppression, propaganda, constant surveillance, and restriction of freedom and the main actress fights for change. Dystopian fictions are popular with teens and suitable for them as explained below.

Nowadays our world is characterized by politics, desolation, poverty, crimes, natural calamities, injustice and so on. Dystopian fictions are popular with teens because they are authentic; therefore they are worthy of trust. This facet attracts teenagers since teens like an environment of real things contrary to kids who like a world of fairytales and magic. In Uglies uglies were not allowed to move from ugly Ville to new pretty town, they did not know how they put immune into the brain of each and every citizen in the country and moreover the people who knew this information were killed ( SEE CHAPTER 32) this information was hidden from the rest of the world. This can be compared to back in 20s, where the USSR(Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) where citizens in Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and other countries werent allowed to move from their home countries. Here they took intellectuals from these countries and some were killed and others were dropped in areas where they couldnt be found by neither their relatives nor their friends, and all this was hidden from the rest of the world. A teenager in the 20s would have liked to read Uglies because it would be her real life experience written. This encourages teens who still live in conditions like those of 20s to fight for their right and freedom. We can take an example of Malala, who stood up and fought for the rights of women in Afghanistan. Furthermore, dystopian fictions are voices to voiceless teenagers. Teenagers picture themselves in these fictions and find the comfort in them. For example in Uglies Shay and Tally used to infiltrate the new pretty town and would come back in their dorms hiding so as not to be seen by anyone (SEE CHAPTER 7). This is also done in schools were students leave in the night without permission and come back hiding so as not be caught by matrons. By this example we can see how teens find comfort in reading dystopian fiction since they read their daily life in these fictions, and this can act as their voice since an adult reading them may start to see teenagers point of view, start to think in their shoes and maybe get to start understanding them and respect them for their views, experience and lives they live. Dystopian fictions attract teenagers of today also because we all have something we would like to change if we get the chance not only on our body like in Uglies but also in our societies. Reading Uglies meets the expectations of teens since the kind of beauty characters got after getting sixteen is what every teenager would like to have and the way tally fought against her government inspires every teen who would like to change her/his society

SHIMWA ANNICK LA REINE S5 CEM TEENS AND DYSTOPIA

One may say are they suitable for teens? In my point of view dystopian fictions are suitable for teenagers. Teenagers who read these fictions get to know more vocabularies without putting in more efforts. Through dystopian fictions teens become more creative and are able to think far from the natural things that we see and this is very useful as the quote say But the person who scored well on an SAT will not necessarily be the best doctor or the best lawyer or the best businessman. These tests do not measure character, leadership, creativity, perseverance. By William Julius Wilson. Dystopian fictions teaches teens to fight for what is right as seen in Uglies where tally stood against her government and fought for the freedom of their citizen.

In conclusion dystopian fictions are popular with teens because they are their comfort place of refuge, they are their voices, they are real as explained above and these fictions are suitable for teens since they make them think far and turns them into creative person ready to fight for what it right and productive for their society.