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Diana Juarez
Professor Jorgenson
English 114 B
8 May 2014
What Makes a Text Dystopian?
Have you ever read The Hunger Games or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Have you ever wondered what genre it was or which it fit into? Both these stories are considered
dystopian fiction novels. Dystopia being the opposite of utopia, one can get an idea of what it
might contain. A utopia is a place or society where everything is peaceful and pristine. Dystopian
fiction often includes futuristic settings, degenerated societies and advance technology. Most
dystopian societies are its a genre that offers a reader much more than pure entertainment. It
offers a reader and insight to poverty, the aftermath of war, and again degenerated societies.
As I mentioned before dystopian fiction is often in a futuristic setting, it would be rare to
find one that isnt. The futuristic setting could be twenty years from present day or decades from
the time it was written. For example the setting for The Hunger Games it mentions the Capitol
was built in a place once called the Rockies. District 12 was a region known as Appalachia.
(Collins 41) The novel doesnt mention an exact year but as you read, one comes to realize that
the United States isnt a presence in its story line. The novel is taking place in a time where one
can assume any trace of an American government is long from gone. The novels sense of time
could be 100 years from today or 100 years from the next decade. That isnt clear but what is
clear its in the future far from present day.
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A dystopian novel also includes degraded societies. Societies that arent what one would
call ideal. With a degraded society one sees things such as segregation in between classes, and a
sort of dictatorship. The Hunger Games shows example of class segregation, having the capitol
in control of twelve other districts which are separated from each other. Taking the kids from
each districts and forcing them to kill one another while they all watch was the Capitols way of
reminding their people that they remain their mercy and the how little of a chance they would
have if they rebelled. (Collins 76) This separation between districts prevents them from
communicating with each other which overall keeps the districts in a weak state as shown by the
example given above. This is done to keep control, for if there is a chance of communication
between districts, those districts wouldnt feel so helpless and rebellion wouldnt cross their
minds.
Whereas Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? doesnt seem to have a dictating
government fighting to keep control, yet it does indeed have separation of class; androids,
specials, regulars and mars immigrants being at the top. As the world of this novel is in ruin and
most of the earth is inhabitable, many humans immigrated to the Mars colony and for that are
considered at the top of social class. Unlike specials who are humans affected by the nuclear
cloud, which degenerated there bodys into disfigured creatures in some way or androids that are
built to be servants for humans in Mars yet grow tired of it and result in killing their masters for
their freedom becoming fugitives.
Both novels show that the class separation is done for a reason. In The Hunger Games to
keep the districts from rebelling making it easier for the capitol to maintain control and to instill
fear into them. As to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? it seems to be a way from keeping
those who are contaminated i.e. specials away from those who are still normal i.e. regulars and
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the mars immigrants. For both novels its clear that communication is a big issues, in The
Hunger Games without communication the districts are left weak and powerless and in Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? it keeps social classes apart for one another.
Then there is the technology, in dystopian novels the technology is advanced compared to
real technology; technology that can be outrageously imaginative. Both The Hunger Games and
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? indicate advance technology, Genetically engineered
creatures for example mockingjays (Collins 212), jabberjays (Collins 185), and electric
sheep (Dick 11). There are mood boxes thats regulate what mood you wanted it to be (Dick 6),
androids (Dick 30). Mocking jay or jabberjays just seem to be just two words stuck together, but
in the world of The Hunger Games these creatures are real. Animals that were created in a lad
and let to flourish in the wild. All of which one can only dream of at the moment.
The creativity in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a good example of what
society expected the 21
st
century to be like, many from the rea that this novel was written
believed the world would be very advanced by now; with hover crafts, robots and a prefect
utopian society. Yet the novel show the exact opposite of what people expected, instead of
perfection the is a world falling apart. Both novels show very unique ideas of what future
technology has in store for us. It is a bit outrageous but thats what dystopian novels do
exaggerate what the future can become.
Dystopian fiction is an exaggeration of a grim future can be like, with androids and
electric sheep or killer jabberjay wasps. Dystopian is a very imaginative and detail orientated
genre, by using detail it allows a reader to true picture this grim world. In a dystopian novel not
only do you get the opposite image of what a utopian future can hold, you also are left with a
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thought of what the novel is really trying to convey. The message its trying to give out. As I
mentioned before dystopian fiction not only offers pure entertainment but it also offers a
message to the audience leaving them thinking.