LibGuides: Dystopias & Utopias: Dystopias

Characteristics of a Dystopian Society

• Propaganda is used to control the citizens of society.

• Information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted/ censored.

• A figurehead or concept is worshipped by the citizens of the society.

• Citizens are perceived to be under constant surveillance.

• Citizens have a fear of the outside world.

• Citizens live in a dehumanized state.

• The natural world is banished and distrusted.

• Citizens conform to uniform expectations. Individuality and dissent are bad.

• The society is an illusion of a perfect utopian world.

Types of Dystopian Controls

Most dystopian works present a world in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through one or more of the following types of controls:

• Corporate control: One or more large corporations control society through products, advertising, and/or the media. Examples include Minority Report and Running Man.
• Bureaucratic control: Society is controlled by a mindless bureaucracy through a tangle of red tape, relentless regulations, and incompetent government officials. Examples in film include Brazil.
• Technological control: Society is controlled by technology—through computers, robots, and/or scientific means. Examples include The Matrix, The Terminator, and I, Robot.
• Philosophical/religious control: Society is controlled by philosophical or religious ideology often enforced through a dictatorship or theocratic government.

The Dystopian Protagonist

• often feels trapped and is struggling to escape.

• questions the existing social and political systems.

• believes or feels that something is terribly wrong with the society in which he or she lives.

• helps the audience recognizes the negative aspects of the dystopian world through his or her perspective.

Dystopian Novels (1725 to 1909)

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
ISBN: 9781451673319
Publication Date: 2012-01-10
Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television "family." But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn't live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television.
The Time Machine by Wells, H. G.
Call Number: Miami Dade Circulation (PR5774 .T5 1992bx )
ISBN: 0812505042
Publication Date: 1895
The novel is considered one of the earliest works of science fiction and the progenitor of the "time travel" subgenre. Wells advanced his social and political ideas in this narrative of a nameless Time Traveler who is hurtled into the year 802,701 by his elaborate ivory, crystal, and brass contraption. The world he finds is peopled by two races: the decadent Eloi, fluttery and useless, are dependent for food, clothing, and shelter on the simian subterranean Morlocks, who prey on them. The two races--whose names are borrowed from the Biblical Eli and Moloch--symbolize Wells's vision of the eventual result of unchecked capitalism: a neurasthenic upper class that would eventually be devoured by a proletariat driven to the depths.
Gulliver's Travels by Swift, Jonathan
Call Number: Miami Dade/Kendall Circulation (PR3724.G8 D46 2003 )
ISBN: 0141439491
Publication Date: 1725
Gulliver's Travels describes the four fantastic voyages of Lemuel Gulliver, a kindly ship's surgeon. Swift portrays him as an observer, a reporter, and a victim of circumstance. His travels take him to Lilliput where he is a giant observing tiny people. In Brobdingnag, the tables are reversed and he is the tiny person in a land of giants where he is exhibited as a curiosity at markets and fairs. The flying island of Laputa is the scene of his next voyage. The people plan and plot as their country lies in ruins. It is a world of illusion and distorted values. The fourth and final voyage takes him to the home of the Houyhnhnms, gentle horses who rule the land. He also encounters Yahoos, filthy bestial creatures who resemble humans.
The Iron Heel by London, Jack
Call Number: Miami Dade/Kendall Circulation (PS3523.O46 I7 1980 )
ISBN: 1556520719
Publication Date: 1908
Set in the future, The Iron Heel describes a world in which the division between the classes has deepened, creating a powerful Oligarchy that retains control through terror. A manuscript by rebel Avis Everhard is recovered in an even more distant future, and analyzed by scholar Anthony Meredith. Published in 1908, Jack London s multi-layered narrative is an early example of the dystopian novel, and its vision of the future proved to be eerily prescient of the violence and fascism that marked the initial half of the 20th century.
When the Sleeper Wakes by Wells, H. G.
Call Number: Miami Dade/Kendall Circulation (PR5772.B5 T4 1960 )
ISBN: 0812970004
Publication Date: 1899
Graham, an 1890s radical pamphleteer who is eagerly awaiting the twentieth century and all the advances it will bring, is stricken with insomnia. Finally resorting to medication, he instantly falls into a deep sleep that lasts two hundred years. Upon waking in the twenty-second century to a strange and nightmarish place, he slowly discovers he is master of the world, revered by an adoring populace who consider him their leader. Terrified, he escapes from his chamber seeking solace—only to realize that not everyone adores him, some even wish to harm him.
Erewhon by Butler, Samuel
Call Number: Miami Dade/Kendall Circulation (PR4349 .B7 E6 1955 )
ISBN: 1461053323
Publication Date: 1872
In Erewhon (an anagram of 'Nowhere') 'normal' behaviour' consists of hospitalizing fraudsters and chastising the sick; of disregarding genius and praising the insane. Erewhonians are described as "meek and long-suffering, easily led by the nose, and quick to offer up common sense at the shrine of logic" - pointed criticism of both Victorian society and contemporary 'politically-correct' repression. Butler's imaginative tale sparkles with wit and prescient insights: his discussion of the dangers posed by increasingly intelligent machines has more relevance today than when it was first written over 130 years ago.

Dystopian Novels (1960's)

A Clockwork Orange by Burgess, Anthony
Call Number: Miami Dade Circulation (PR6052.U638 C5 1986 )
ISBN: 0393312836
Publication Date: 1962
A vicious fifteen-year-old "droog" is the central character of this 1963 classic. In Anthony Burgess's nightmare vision of the future, where criminals take over after dark, the story is told by the central character, Alex, who talks in a brutal invented slang that brilliantly renders his and his friends' social pathology. A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil, and the meaning of human freedom. When the state undertakes to reform Alex—to "redeem" him—the novel asks, "At what cost?"
The White Mountains by Christopher, John
Call Number: Miami Dade/Kendall Circulation (PZ7.C457 Wh2 )
ISBN: 0689856725
Publication Date: 1967
Long ago, the Tripods--huge, three-legged machines--descended upon Earth and took control. Now people unquestioningly accept the Tripods' power. They have no control over their thoughts or their lives. But for a brief time in each person's life--in childhood--he is not a slave. For Will, his time of freedom is about to end--unless he can escape to the White Mountains, where the possibility of freedom still exists. The Tripods trilogy follows the adventures of Will and his cohorts, as they try to evade the Tripods and maintain their freedom and ultimately do battle against them. The prequel, When the Tripods Came, explains how the Tripods first invaded and gained control of the planet.

What is a Dystopia?

A dystopia is a hypothetical or imaginary society, often found in science fiction and fantasy literature. They are characterized by elements that are opposite to those associated with utopia (utopias are places of ideal perfection especially in laws, government, and social conditions). A dystopia is, therefore, a place in which humanity is dehumanized and people live fearful lives. Furthermore, governing these societies are totalitarian regimes and often are faced with severe environmental catastrophes. Common elements of dystopias may vary from environmental to political and social issues to politics, religion, psychology, spirituality, or technology that may become present in the future.

--This definition was written using the Oxford English Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, The Free Online Dictionary, and Dictionary.com.

Dystopian Novels (1921 to 1938)

We by Zamyatin, Yevgeny
Call Number: Miami Dade/Kendall Circulation (PG3476.Z34 M913 )
ISBN: 081297462X
Publication Date: 1921
First published in the Soviet 1920s, Zamyatin's dystopic novel left an indelible watermark on 20th-century culture, from Orwell's 1984 to Terry Gilliam's movie Brazil. Randall's exciting new translation strips away the Cold War connotations and makes us conscious of Zamyatin's other influences, from Dostoyevski to German expressionism. D-503 is a loyal "cipher" of the totalitarian One State, literally walled in by glass; he is a mathematician happily building the world's first rocket, but his life is changed by meeting I-330, a woman with "sharp teeth" who keeps emerging out of a sudden vampirish dusk to smile wickedly on the poor narrator and drive him wild with desire. (When she first forces him to drink alcohol, the mind leaps to Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel.) In becoming a slave to love, D-503 becomes, briefly, a free man. In Randall's hands, Zamyatin's modernist idiom crackles ("I only remember his fingers: they flew out of his sleeve, like bundles of beams"), though the novel sometimes seems prophetic of the onset of Stalinism, particularly in the bleak ending. Modern Library's reintroduction of Zamyatin's novel is a literary event sure to bring this neglected classic to the attention of a new readership.
The Trial by Kafka, Franz
Call Number: Miami Dade/Kendall Circulation (PT2621.A26 P713 1995 )
ISBN: 0805210407
Publication Date: 1925
A terrifying psychological trip into the life of one Joseph K., an ordinary man who wakes up one day to find himself accused of a crime he did not commit, a crime whose nature is never revealed to him. Once arrested, he is released, but must report to court on a regular basis--an event that proves maddening, as nothing is ever resolved. As he grows more uncertain of his fate, his personal life--including work at a bank and his relations with his landlady and a young woman who lives next door--becomes increasingly unpredictable. As K. tries to gain control, he succeeds only in accelerating his own excruciating downward spiral.
Anthem by Rand, Ayn
Call Number: Miami Dade/Kendall Circulation (PS3535.A547 A7 2005 )
ISBN: 0452286352
Publication Date: 1938
Equality 7-2521 lives in the Dark Ages of the future, where all decisions are made by committee, all people live in collectives, all traces of individualism have been wiped out. But the spark of individual thought and freedom still burns in Equality 7-2521, a passion which he has been taught to call sinful. In a purely egalitarian world, he dares to stand forth from the herd -- to think and choose for himself, to discover electricity, and to love the woman of his choice. Now he has been marked for death for committing the ultimate sin: in a world where the great "we" reign supreme, he has rediscovered the lost and holy word "I". This provocative book is an anthem sung in praise of man's ego.
Out of the Silent Planet by Lewis, C. S.
Call Number: Miami Dade/Kendall Circulation (PR6023.E926 O9 1965 )
ISBN: 0020868804
Publication Date: 1938
The first novel in C.S. Lewis's classic sci-fi trilogy which tells the adventure of Dr Ransom who is kidnapped and transported to Mars In the first novel of C.S. Lewis's classic science fiction trilogy, Dr Ransom, a Cambridge academic, is abducted and taken on a spaceship to the red planet of Malacandra, which he knows as Mars. His captors are plotting to plunder the planet's treasures and plan to offer Ransom as a sacrifice to the creatures who live there. Ransom discovers he has come from the 'silent planet' -- Earth -- whose tragic story is known throughout the universe!
Brave New World by Huxley, Aldous
Call Number: Miami Dade/Homestead Circulation (PR6015.U9 B65 )
ISBN: 0060929871
Publication Date: 1932
"Community, Identity, Stability" is the motto of Aldous Huxley's utopian World State. Here everyone consumes daily grams of soma, to fight depression, babies are born in laboratories, and the most popular form of entertainment is a "Feelie," a movie that stimulates the senses of sight, hearing, and touch. Though there is no violence and everyone is provided for, Bernard Marx feels something is missing and senses his relationship with a young women has the potential to be much more than the confines of their existence allow. Huxley foreshadowed many of the practices and gadgets we take for granted today--let's hope the sterility and absence of individuality he predicted aren't yet to come.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
ISBN: 0374386137
Publication Date: 1962-01-01
Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government.

Dystopian Lit for YA

What is Dystopia?

Dystopian Novels (1940 to 1957)

Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler; Daphne Hardy (Translator)
Call Number: Miami Dade/Kendall Circulation (PR6021.O4 D3 2006 )
ISBN: 1416540261
Publication Date: 1940
Originally published in 1941, Arthur Koestler's modern masterpiece, "Darkness At Noon," is a powerful and haunting portrait of a Communist revolutionary caught in the vicious fray of the Moscow show trials of the late 1930s. During Stalin's purges, Nicholas Rubashov, an aging revolutionary, is imprisoned and psychologically tortured by the party he has devoted his life to. Under mounting pressure to confess to crimes he did not commit, Rubashov relives a career that embodies the ironies and betrayals of a revolutionary dictatorship that believes it is an instrument of liberation. A seminal work of twentieth-century literature, "Darkness At Noon" is a penetrating exploration of the moral danger inherent in a system that is willing to enforce its beliefs by any means necessary.
Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell; Christopher Hitchens (Introduction by); A. M. Heath
ISBN: 9780151010264
Publication Date: 2003-06-01
This edition features George Orwell's best known novels - 1984 and Animal Farm - with an introduction by Christopher Hitchens. In 1984, London is a grim city where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith joins a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be. Animal Farm is Orwell's classic satire of the Russian Revolution -- an account of the bold struggle, initiated by the animals, that transforms Mr. Jones's Manor Farm into Animal Farm--a wholly democratic society built on the credo that All Animals Are Created Equal. But are they?
1984 George Orwell by Orwell, George
Call Number: Miami Dade(PR6029.R8 N49 )
ISBN: 0452284236
Publication Date: 1949
Among the seminal texts of the 20th century, Nineteen Eighty-Four is a rare work that grows more haunting as its futuristic purgatory becomes more real. Published in 1949, the book offers political satirist George Orwell's nightmare vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and one poor stiff's attempt to find individuality. The brilliance of the novel is Orwell's prescience of modern life--the ubiquity of television, the distortion of the language--and his ability to construct such a thorough version of hell. Required reading for students since it was published, it ranks among the most terrifying novels ever written. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Lord of the Flies by Golding, William
Call Number: Miami Dade/Kendall Circulation (PR6013 .O35 L5 1999 )
ISBN: 0140283331
Publication Date: 1954
Few works in literature have received as much popular and critical attention as Nobel Laureate William Golding's Lord of the Flies. Since its publication in 1954, it has amassed a cult following, and has significantly contributed to our dystopian vision of the post-war era. When responding to the novel's dazzling power of intellectual insight, scholars and critics often invoke the works of Shakespeare, Freud, Rousseau, Sartre, Orwell, and Conrad. Golding's aim to "trace the defect of society back to the defect of human nature" is elegantly pursued in this gripping adventure tale about a group of British schoolboys marooned on a tropical island. Alone in a world of uncharted possibilities, devoid of adult supervision or rules, the boys attempt to forge their own society, failing, however, in the face of terror, sin, and evil. Part parable, allegory, myth, parody, political treatise, and apocalyptic vision, Lord of the Flies is perhaps the most memorable tale about "the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart". When they are marooned on a deserted island, a group of English schoolboys soon lose their civilized ways.
Bend Sinister by Nabokov, Vladimir
Call Number: Miami Dade/Kendall Circulation (PS3527.A15 B4 1964 )
ISBN: 0679727272
Publication Date: 1947
While it is filled with veiled puns and characteristically delightful wordplay, it is, first and foremost, a haunting and compelling narrative about a civilized man caught in the tyranny of a police state. It is first and foremost a compelling narrative about a civilized man and his child caught up in the tyranny of a police state. Professor Adam Krug, the country's foremost philosopher, offers the only hope of resistance to Paduk, dictator and leader of the Party of the Average Man. In a folly of bureaucratic bungling and ineptitude, the government attempts to co-opt Krug's support in order to validate the new regime.
Atlas Shrugged by Rand, Ayn
Call Number: Miami Dade/Kendall Circulation (PS3535.A547 A94 1999 )
ISBN: 0452011876
Publication Date: 1957
This is the story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world - and did. Was he a destroyer or the greatest of liberators? Why did he have to fight his battle, not against his enemies, but against those who needed him most, and his hardest battle against the woman he loved? What is the world's motor - and the motive power of every man? You will know the answer to these questions when you discover the reason behind the baffling events that play havoc with the lives of the characters in this story." "Tremendous in its scope, this novel presents an astounding panorama of human life - from the productive genius who becomes a worthless playboy - to the great steel industrialist who does not know that he is working for his own destruction - to the philosopher who becomes a pirate - to the composer who gives up his career on the night of his triumph - to the woman who runs a transcontinental railroad - to the lowest track worker in her Terminal tunnels.

Dystopian Novels (1960's)

Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle; Xan Fielding (Translator)
ISBN: 9780345447982
Publication Date: 2001-05-29
In the not-too-distant future, three astronauts land on what appears to be a planet just like Earth, with lush forests, a temperate climate, and breathable air. But while it appears to be a paradise, nothing is what it seems.
Farnham's Freehold by Robert A. Heinlein
ISBN: 143913443X
Publication Date: 2011-06-07
It’s a cross-time fight for freedom as a family retreats to a bomb shelter during a nuclear attack – only to emerge hundreds of years in the future, thrown forward in time by the blasts. There lifeboat ethics rule as they struggle to survive…until they’re discovered by up-time humans, the survivors of the apocalypse. These survivors are of African descent. Down-time humans – in fact, all of the European-descended – are held guilty for the state into which the world has fallen and designated as automatic slaves. The only escape is to find a way back down-time, to change events sufficiently to make absolute certain this nightmare future never get a chance to happen in the first place!