Introduction
Dystopian themed novels are set in the futuristic world, and are ‘deliberately written to frighten the reader.’ Young adults respond immensely to the purpose of dystopian literature and the themes, which are all relevant to teenagers, hence why young readers can easily relate. ‘Problems that plague our world are… extreme in dystopias,’ but the author always provides hope. , , , Writing techniques impacts the reader’s experience, by creating suspense, anticipation, and eliciting a physical reaction. , ,
Purpose of dystopian literature
Young adult dystopian themed novels have been popular in the past. The first wave of dystopian novels was between the 1930’s to 1960’s. The topics revolved around the fear of the states and the target audience was mainly men. These novels featured oppressive governments and an dictatorship that inflicts harsh treatment. ‘Dystopias are often seen as cautionary tales,’ as the whole purpose of dystopian novels is ‘to warn us about the dangers of current trends.’ They often show the current trend ‘through an extreme version,’ so young readers can see how ‘terrible things will become if our deplorable behaviours continues unchecked.’ Therefore World War 2 was a major influence on the first wave of dystopian literature, because authors felt the need to put a stop to it. George Orwell talks about the dangers of totalitarianism in 1984, with a title that suggests the story could become reality. , Overall, dystopian literature is popular because of ‘their ability to push audiences to think critically about their actions.’
The cold war, identity on politics and the environmental crises were contributing events for the second popular era of dystopian novels. These events created ‘strong dystopian features in the literary texts’ forming the popular title, The Handmaid’s Tale. (See: Margaret Atwood)
The ‘recent explosion of’ dystopian novels has created a social phenomenon, with the major theme of romance and tough heroines, making the novels popular. Keeping in mind that dystopian novels were a trend, serving as ‘a greater purpose’ , authors ‘create a world the reader really does not want to live in.’ By doing this readers can picture the current trend continuing down a certain path, resulting in readers contemplating the problems in todays society. Although the novels are dark, readers really enjoy how dystopian authors are able to ‘get under your skin’ and how they can imagine it actually happening in the future. Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi allows readers to see how climate change can affect the planet, while the Hunger Games fans conceive the downfalls of pop culture. Therefore the purpose actually influences the popularity of the novels throughout the era it was published.
Providing hope
Providing hope is an essential element of what makes dystopian novels popular or not. Authors these days feel the need to emphasise that ‘dark is turned back to light’ to readers. Even if dystopian authors create dark bleak violent worlds, they like to lighten the mood with ‘uplifting endings.’ These endings leave the reader feeling optimistic, and create the mood of ‘we can make a difference in this world.’ , Lois Lowery, a famous dystopian author intentionally left the ending of The Giver unclear so readers could ‘construct an ending for Jonas and Gabriel that is as hopeful as they want it to be.’ This hopeful ending is what makes the Giver so popular.
Readers crave hopeful endings where the main protagonist makes a difference. They don’t want the happily ever after conclusions because it’s too unrealistic. Therefore it’s the ‘making things better’ aspect that provides hope and interest to the reader. These positive outcomes in the novels aren’t always glamorized but they do tend to be resolved in the end. The purpose of the Hunger Games novels was to point out the current trend of fashion and extreme reality television, ‘due to our obsession with it.’ , , Suzanne Collins explored the idea of being ‘confused between reality and reality television.’ Hence Collins created a society that people don’t want to live in, ‘where rich and poor live side by side but worlds apart.’ This allows readers to enjoy the idea of someone, even the underdog rising up to challenge society. , So Katniss Everdeen, the girl from district 12 defies the capital, to provide hope to young adult readers. Young readers believe that they too can make a difference, just like Katniss.
There is the idea of survival and resilience throughout dystopian literature, because even throughout the dark themes, the main protagonist or characters usually survives. This is what makes readers believe that they too can survive anything in the future, even in ‘a world in which children are sent to battle to the death for our amusement.’ When the main protagonist achieves great victory, it sends out a powerful message of hope to the reader, , this is what makes readers hungry for more dystopian literature.
‘Societies in breakdown’ is a recurring theme that has become quite popular with young audiences. Dystopian authors rely on adult ‘societies fears of the moment.’ For example ‘is technology tearing us further apart? Will global warming destroy the planet?’ Authors have taken these fears of the moment and created stories that demand conflict. The main protagonist’s victory and achievements emphasizes to young readers that they too can make a difference in today’s fears of society. Overall providing hope to the reader is what makes dystopian themed novels popular with young adults.
Young adults relate
Dystopian themed novels of today are so popular with young adults because they mirror everyday life in fiction stories. Dystopian authors take everyday teenage drama and hormones and place it in a dark, violent world. With the ‘amount of pressure’ put on young people today, it’s easy to see why teenagers relate so well to dystopian literature. Young adults are constantly feeling like the world we live in is our own dystopian world, because of the way our society has been established. ,
Teenagers and young adults are at a point in their life where they want to rebel because they ‘feel oppressed by those in authority.’ Like the characters in the novels, teenagers are concerned about their futures, while at the same time experiencing and ‘struggling with their emotions’. The universal themes of romance, friendship, survival, escapism, fear, individuality and death allow the reader to connect and relate to the characters and the storyline.
School can be its own dystopia, with teachers constantly pressuring you to do homework, frustration with peers and having to deal with ‘the teenage hangout cliques’ , . The ‘only way to describe… teenage experience is in a setting where choices’ are scarce. Teenagers responded well to the current popular series Divergent, due to the five factions. The five factions distinguish who you are by the characteristics you perceive. Defining who you are by characteristics you perceive represents young adults lives as every school or work environment has cliques. This clique’s idea is so relevant to teenagers, thus allowing them to relate profoundly to the novels.
The main protagonist, Tris, finds herself concealing the fact that she is Divergent, which means she fits into more than one faction. Readers can relate to the theme of struggling to fit in, where Tris has to conform to her society and choose one faction. In today’s modern world, every person has experienced social conformity. Maybe not to the extremes of death but most people relate to Tris, Four and Christina’s situations. Ruth conveyed to the audience that social conformity should not exist. This was done when the main characters ‘refused to play the roles written for them,’ emphasising to young adults not to ‘let anyone else define you’. Readers feel empowered because they can tremendously relate to these novels, readers will actually believe Ruth’s message of not letting anyone define you.
Scott Westerfeld’s intentions for the Uglies series was to make people think about their choices. He did this by focusing on the idea of surgery and how surgery is permanent, unlike makeup and clothes. Teenagers and young women in today’s society can relate to the Uglies series because in today’s society you have to have an ‘acceptable face… a certain kind of pretty.’ Young girls feel the need to change their appearances, but Westerfeld tried to change young girls perspectives of this. Young women are feeling the pressures brought on by the average look of today, which is why people relate to Tally who is being forced to look a certain way by her society. Young girls relate to this type of dystopia because of the amount of pressure they feel about their looks. , Therefore Westerfeld’s ability to relate young girls pressures about their looks influenced his popularity of the series.
Techniques
The techniques dystopian authors use makes the novels popular. Cliff-hangers are frequently used throughout dystopian novels, occurring in practically every single chapter. , This creates suspense and makes the reader want to continue reading. Creating anticipation, by ‘leaving you hanging’ hooks readers in, making the novels very popular.
Popular dystopian novels feature the 1st person technique, which enables the reader to walk in the main protagonist’s shoes. This often ‘draws the reader into the world’ and allows the reader to empathize with the main protagonist. Creating empathy towards the characters builds a strong connection between the reader and the character. The first person technique is what makes the novels so easy to relate to. ‘Expressing the story through the eyes of that particular character’ creates the feeling that you are the one who is the hero. Young adults love dystopian novels when they feel like the hero, the one who’s the fighter, the one who saved the day, this is achieved through the first person technique. ,
Good characters in general are the basis of all best selling novels, but dystopian novels in particular need the main protagonist to be strong to achieve popularity in the novel industry. , Authors have to make the character appeal and relate to the target audience. This is why the main protagonist is usually a sound character that has flaws and insecurities, just like a regular teenager. , The author never actually tells you the character is strong, you know by their actions. Katniss’s actions, volunteering for her sister Prim, singing a song to Rue and defying the capital all explain that she is gutsy and resilient. As dystopian novels are set in harsh settings, the character is actually required to be strong as otherwise they will not survive. Almost dead characters or weak characters would make the plot uninteresting, therefore a good independent ‘character is essential,’ in dystopian themed novels.
Dystopian authors are very skilled at ‘eliciting some type of physical reaction.’ If it’s sad tears should be running down your eyes, if it’s scary goose bumps should be appearing, if it’s funny then you should be laughing along with the novel. Evoking these physical reactions keeps the reader entertained and intrigued. ‘A little sensation makes all the difference’ when keeping the reader entertained. The main purpose of dystopian novels is to create fear of the current trend or issue, by creating fear the reader will actually feel an adrenaline rush. Eliciting a physical reaction adds to the involvement of the reader, which makes the novels very popular.
Conclusion
Dystopian themed novels are popular amongst young adults for a number of reasons. The purpose of dystopian novels is to shine ‘a light on things that are wrong with our society,’ hence why the purpose of the novels actually influences the popularity of the novels. High school itself is a dystopian world and young adults are drawn to ‘depictions of dystopian… worlds because they see themselves in them.’ Dystopia’s contain dark themes, ‘but there is always hope,’ as readers crave hopeful endings. Good writing techniques makes the novels popular as they create suspense, anticipation, and elicit a physical reaction. , , Dystopian novels are extremely popular today with young adults, which is good because they ‘always leave a candle burning in the darkness.’