Dystopia, I hardly know her

Dystopia is genuinely the one genre I always come back to and fall more in love with it every single time. The dystopian genre has developed so much over time: from macrocosms to microcosms of pretty much anything you could think of. With each book I read, I find myself submerged in this fictional universe and that feeling never quite leaves. 

But there is one thing that sticks with me after each dystopian novel I read: these worlds and societies within this type of fiction really aren’t dissimilar to real life. There genuinely isn't a single text in this genre that doesn't echo real life in some way, shape or form. So, this poses the big question: are these books simply fiction, or instead a politically charged warning? 

Let's start with the classics. I can’t talk about this genre without mentioning 1984 by George Orwell. This was my first introduction to the genre and it had me hooked straight away. Influenced by the events of World War 2 and the Soviet Union, this is a novel about surveillance, secrets and quiet resistance. Very modern for this time, Orwell focuses on technology as a mode of indoctrination and surveillance, specifically through intercepting phone lines and TV screens. Winston and his peers in the fictional state of Oceana have every move tracked through these devices, limiting any form of respite away from the tyrannous Big Brother. 

We live in a society where our day-to-day lives are in some way dominated by technology and our social media algorithms somehow know exactly what we want to watch or interact with. A lot of our socializing is done through this too, and our work or education would not be possible without it. Have you ever been speaking about a specific thing, or place, and then the next day it appears on your social feed? Yeah, me too. We have our digital home devices we can talk to and receive information. Yes, I know my little Alexa isn’t the same as Big Brother controlling my every move, but can you see the similarities? I’m not saying we're going to end up like Winston having every element of our lives watched by our tech, but technology is developing at crazy speeds, and we don't know what it could be capable of in the future, so maybe Orwell is trying to tell us something here, even if only in a subtle way. 

Talking of Big Brother, that rings a bell, doesn't it? Yes, the popular reality show was in fact based off of this concept. And I can't help but think that it's rather ironic: we dedicate our evenings to watching people we don't know, through our screens and witnessing their daily lives and drama. Nothing they do on the show is kept from us and we witness all. Therefore, it's not just a reality show but a microcosm of the possible world that Orwell is directly warning us about in 1984. We also have the power of deciding who stays and who goes. Does that whole concept not seem slightly dystopian to you?

We’ve also got novels in this genre that we can explicitly associate with the current and political climate. Take the Handmaid’s Tale: women’s bodies are completely defined by their ability to reproduce and to “serve” the men of society and their want for the nuclear family. I don’t see how in any way we can say that is purely fictional. The novel demonises women having abortions, having children outside of marriage and the LGBTQ+ community amongst other minority groups. With Roe v Wade being overturned in America and trangender lives at risk in the UK, this novel becomes scarily real. Margaret Atwood has said herself that the fictional world of Gilead is based on history, but now also serves as a clear warning for our future, and especially the future of women, under current government administrations. 

On the topic of government, have you heard about Trump’s blueprint for what he’s called the “Patriot Games”? Does that sound familiar? At least to me, the concept seems to have a few (which is still two many) similarities to my childhood favourite: The Hunger Games. Young people are forced to compete against each other for fame and survival whilst it's all broadcasted to the elite as a mode of entertainment. President Snow uses force and threats to force the districts into submission; he forces Katniss and Peeta’s relationship to frame romance as a desired trait rather than both individuals’ personalities, strengths or identities. Reading this for the first time in my Year 5 classes book corner, I didn't see the political side of these novels. It was only until my late teenage years that I realised this Young Adult series is deeply political: but really, are there any dystopian novels that aren't? 

We are not in Gilead, or Oceana, or standing in apprehension on reaping day, but we are all worried. Worried about the state of our world and our society that seems to be working against us. The novels I've mentioned are only a few of many that point a spotlight on what could happen and I strongly believe we should be reading these critically rather than simply believing that every single aspect of the dystopian genre, and the novels within it, are pure fiction. 

Written by, Charley Sands