Why I Read Dystopians

I go through different phases of which kind of books I am really loving at different times and right now I am definitely in the phase of dystopians. For those who do not know what a dystopia is, it is defined in literature as: "an often futuristic society that has degraded into a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian." Dystopians have become pretty popular recently which has provided me with many good books to add to my To Be Read list. I have found myself explaining to different people why I like reading them so much because, I admit, it sounds pretty weird to say you like books about the world falling apart, a corrupt society being formed, etc. It sounds like it might be pretty depressing as well, but it's not for me. I find them inspiring and thought provoking for a couple different reasons.

First, the dystopians that I read usually take one or a couple different elements of our current society and exaggerate them in a futuristic setting in order to caution against those things getting out of control and the possible consequences. For example, in the Uglies series by Scott Westerfield (which I have read the first book of and am now reading the second one) the author takes the obsession with physical beauty that our society has and exaggerates it to create a future society in which every person when they turn 16 years old receives an operation that makes them beautiful(according to what the society has defined it as) and anyone before that age is considered and treated as ugly. Many interesting ideas are explored throughout the book about what beauty is, how people's perception of beauty and other things can be altered by what they are told is the standard, etc. It is an exaggerated world, but the ideas it is based on are very prevalent. The amount of cosmetic surgery in our country is steadily increasing and the 'ideal image' that we are all told we should strive after is constantly portrayed in advertisements and fashion magazines. Another example is The Alliance by Gerald Lund. In the dystopian he creates, crime and other emotions like anger and prejudice are eliminated because of the computerized control the society has over the citizens through a computer chip that they implanted in everyone. A world without crime, anger, and hate may sound like a pretty good idea; however the book explores the importance of agency and how people are not really good if they are being forced to be good.

Another reason I read dystopian is because it gives me a greater appreciation for certain things that I may take for granted. I think a lot of the time people get caught up in all of the things that are wrong with America and lose sight of some of the many great privileges that we have by living in this free country. For example, when I read Matched by Ally Condie I realized how much freedom I have in so many different aspects of my life that I hadn't even really thought about. The society in Matched is one in which everything is taken care of by the officials...where to work, what to eat, and who to marry. Everything is based on statistics and probability and there is a pretty narrow limit on what the people are able to make decisions about, but in return they are guaranteed a safe and predictable life. In their society they had an approved list of a 100 poems and 100 songs that they were allowed to read or listen to. I read Matched right before going home for Christmas break, and when I went home I was excited to see all the new books that my dad had added to the family's bookshelf. They were books that he wanted to read and not anything at the top of my list but I still love looking at books and seeing everything that there is out there. It makes me happy and so grateful knowing that I will never run out of books to read instead of being confined to a list. I also found myself appreciating little things like being able to choose what to eat for a meal. The mere ability to choose is such a blessing, one that I sometimes take for advantage.

Another example of this is Delirium by Lauren Oliver. In this book, which takes place in future United States, love has come to be considered a disease because of all the pain, craziness, unpredictability, etc that it causes. They said that love kills you both when you have and when you don't. The society has developed a cure to eliminate love and each person receives it at their eighteenth birthday. I do not believe that we, in this country, will ever get to the point that we are fed up enough by the pains caused by love that we would actually try to eradicate it, but I have known people that have been scorned by love that, through many different variations, try to close themselves off from love and any future pains or vulnerability. And how often to people try to numb the pain through various means such as drugs and alcohol? To some small extent we already try to block out love. This book was largely a romance as the main character, who previously was very excited to be receiving the cure soon, falls in love and starts reevaluating everything she had been taught by her society. I of course liked the love story and everything it was saying about falling in love, but I also really liked all the other aspects of love that it portrayed. The main character's mother had been taken away for being considered 'infected' by love when the main character was young and as she had memories of her childhood, laughing and having fun with her mom, it was clear how different her childhood was from her peers due to the love her mother had. So many small, simple things would be lost if we did not have love...things we take for granted every day. There was one point in the story when one of the main characters, talking about a loved one who had passed away, said something about how pain serves as a reminder of the love we have for people. I really liked that perspective.

Finally, dystopians can be very inspirational as the main character decides to think for themselves, sees the flaws in the society, and makes a stand against it. The way a lot of the characters fight for their beliefs when they are not popular and there is a lot of opposition is pretty courageous and inspiring. I like the idea of society being made up a lot of individuals who can think, act, and fight for themselves rather than being pieces of a machine churning away in order to achieve the desired result.