Why is Dystopian Literature Seeing a Rise in Popularity? | Teen Ink

Why is Dystopian Literature Seeing a Rise in Popularity?

February 5, 2019
By Anonymous

Why are dystopias getting a rise in teen readers and why are teen readers reading dystopias? Well teens nowadays almost always have their heads in their phones or laptops or even a TV screen and that's because technology has pulled every teen into wanting more everyday. Teens see where the technology has already been going for the past years and they can believe anything that can happen for the next few years and that's why they show lots of interest in dystopias. So I believe that dystopian literature has seen a rise in popularity because teens wonder what life would be like depending on something becoming bigger and better so when they read a dystopia they get a picture and figure maybe these could happen but also find out things that are big and great isn’t so great after all.

The first story I had ever read was Harrison Bergeron and they showed the technology in the future isn’t something to be excited about because in the story they had used technology to keep smarter people from thinking like for example. ”Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts. And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains.’” George’s wife was fine and she didn't have to have sounds happen every twenty seconds because she had an average intelligence but for george he was way smarter but to keep him at the same level of Hazel they thought of the radio sending out small sounds would keep them equal. Teens would read this because this story shows technology development and it'll make them think maybe in the future this is what they could be dealing with.

Secondly the technology they had in “Ten with a Flag” they were able to tell you what your baby was gonna be like and if your baby was gonna be smart. “‘The important thing to remember is that your baby is rated a ten. Your child will be an asset to the Nation. Only one in fifty thousand couples who go through the procedure come up with these results. Its a credit to the two of you as citizens.’” In this story couples who are planning on having a baby can get a procedure done to see how their child is gonna be when they are older and if there is a flag that means they have to get rid of something bad that's gonna be in the baby’s life. Like in this stories case Johnnie and his wife got the procedure done and they were told ten with a flag and it meant they would end up getting rid of something and it just happened to be johnnie who was the flag. Teens are interested in the development of technology and this story is one they would definitely read because as they get older they would be planning to make a family and as everyone is they would want to know more about their baby and they’d admit maybe if this technology was in the future it wouldn’t be so bad.

Lastly the technology in “The Veldt” just shows if you put technology in the wrong hands it could end badly. If you let technology take over your life and that's the only way for you to live in life there is a way it can take part of your life away from you like for example. “‘The walls were white and two dimensional. Now, as George and Lydia Hadley stood in the center of the room, the walls made a quiet noise and seemed to fall away into the distance. Soon an African veldt appeared, in three dimensions, on all sides, in color. It looked real to the smallest stone and bit of yellow summer grass. The ceiling above them became a deep sky with a hot yellow sun.’” In this story they have this room called a nursery and because they got it for the whole family anyone in their house should be able to tell the nursery what they want to see. But because the kids kept replaying the fact that they were in africa it had locked to the kids mind and had locked on to africa and they played africa so much it was enough for it to become real and come to life. Although teens already can tell their phone what to do the thoughts of having a nursery is amazing and also in the story the house does almost everything for the family and teens nowadays have become lazier and they would love for their house to do everything for them if this was in the future.  

In conclusion dystopias are shown to be popular in teens today because they show ways technology can grow in the next few years like in the future they would probably like a house that does everything for them so they would love the book “The veldt” and all the other dystopian stories would open their mind to anything and make them either hate the idea of something or love something amazing that technology could do. So technology in dystopias draw the readers in and in this case it's mostly teens who are getting pulled in to these stories that make them think of the possibilities that could happen in the future and make life a little easier but can also see they aren’t always so great.


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