Why have all the books we’ve read been so sad so far? Like I
understand there’s a method to this madness, to show that an ideal world isn’t
possible, but even Brave New World, which had a utopia within it was twisted. Maybe
there isn’t a way for there to be a perfect world without someone suffering…
However, I still am highly dissatisfied. The world isn’t supposed to be
sunshine and rainbows, but it shouldn’t be enslavement of women and oppressing
of Native Americans.
I’ve also noticed that there seems to be a trend of using
some method of keeping out people who are different. Whether it be from
deporting them to straight up executing them, there is always a way to keep
society tame. I feel like that is a bit of social commentary, but I still don’t
like it. The government is always in control in these utopia/dystopias, why
can’t we have one that is run by the people, for the people. I want my dystopia
to be miserable for everyone, not just women and minorities.
Side note, has anyone tried reading these stories like
nothing is wrong and the societies are ok? I feel like it would be kind of
sickening, but at the same time I feel like that’s some of the point. There are
people (in the stories and out of it) that believe that the way the government
is forcing them to live life is completely fine.
-Leslie
plenty of real-life utopias are kind of terrible for basically everyone (see: soviet union, red china, jonestown, etc). There are probably also many utopian books written to show how great a utopia would be if it worked. I suppose the reason there aren't as many utopian books as dystopian is simply that dystopias are more fun. Why write about how good an idea is when you can just tear it apart by the plot holes and show how fallible a "perfect society" can be under the right circumstances?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you point on the social commentary aspect. I think all of these dystopias are written with an agenda in mind, more so than just being entertaining. I think that's why they are so dark, because they're trying to warn us about how bad things can actually become in our world if we let people take power that have "evil" beliefs. Especially, with "The Handmaid's Tale", I think that Atwood is definitely trying to warn us about possible futures in tying together things from past societies and her own imagination.
ReplyDeleteI feel like just the fact that the dystopias we have read thus far are social commentary make them likely to not be miserable for everyone. With social commentary usually comes some perception of a lack of justice for a particular group, and most people doing social commentary don't believe that all people are being treated equally (because they aren't). It's no different with these authors, which is why their dystopias have some people for whom the dystopia sucks significantly less for. Also, I think it's interesting to ponder whether or not a perfect dystopia that absolutely sucks for everyone is equally as unfeasible as a perfect utopia, for those of us that hold the position that a real utopia is out of reach for humanity.
ReplyDeleteI also think that it is because of the purpose of these books (social commentary) that makes them all similarly miserable. When these authors are trying to imagine the darkest world that they can (that is still somewhat realistic), I think they take the worst parts of our world and exaggerate them. Because our world has always oppressed certain groups, it seems that they reflect the same pattern in their stories.
ReplyDeleteIt is important to remember the intentions of these books. As others have suggested, a social commentary is the best way to classify these books as they are filled with fears in the current society that are blown up to terrifying proportions. Usually these fears don't lead to happy books :)
ReplyDeleteBeyond the topic of social commentary, I think that the reason why dystopias are not uniformly dystopian is because of their (generally) well-intentioned origins, beginning as a utopia of some sort (either for everyone or for a certain demographic). With that said, it would be very interesting to see your take on a dystopia that is terrible for everyone. I've never heard of any books like that and I think it could be a very intriguing idea.
ReplyDeleteI think the giver is a cool example of utopia dystopia considering this blog post. Becuase i saw less blatant oppression of certain people( though it does happen) and more considering what it means to feel for better or worse
ReplyDeleteBoth books are social commentary and exaggeration of dark aspects of human nature or society, perhaps warning people of the consequences of extreme ideology. Sometimes the initial idea could be borne out of a good intention, but may eventually turn out to be a dystopia. Also, as long as there are opposing points of view in a society, the utopia-dystopia designations depend on which group is speaking.
ReplyDeleteThis is actually a really interesting question - if there's going to misery, why can't there *equal* misery, why is it always the minorities that take the hit? But I think that's probably the most realistic picture of society, and the more potentially realistic a dystopia is, the more frightening is. Because the reality is that in society there are people who are privileged (men, white people, rich people, etc.), so that when shit goes down, those people are always going to suffer the least.
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