Utopia vs Dystopia 3 24

1. Definitions Images Titles Utopia vs. Dystopia in literature

2. A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive (cruel) societal control and the illusion (impression) of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic (governmental), technological, moral, or totalitarian (dictatorial) control. Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system. Utopia vs. dystopia Utopia Dystopia A place, state, or condition that is ideally perfect in respect of politics, laws, customs, and conditions. An imagined universe/world .

3. Characteristics of a Dystopian Society Propaganda is used to control the citizens of society Information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted. A figurehead or concept is worshiped 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.

4. 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 corporation controls society through products, advertising, and/or the media. Bureaucratic control: Society is controlled by a mindless bureaucracy through a tangle of red tape, relentless regulations, and incompetent government officials. Technological control: Society is controlled by technology—through computers, robots, and/or scientific means. Philosophical/religious control: Society is controlled by philosophical or religious ideology often enforced through a dictatorship or theocratic government.

5. 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 recognize the negative aspects of the dystopian world through his or her perspective.

6. Examples of dystopian novels Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant by Veronica Roth The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mocking Jay by Suzanne Collins Legend, Prodigy, Champion by Marie Lu The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure by James Dashner Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Fairest, Winter by Marissa Meyer City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare Gone, Hunger by Michael Grant I’ve already shown a presentation for these titles, so we will look at some different books!

7. The Giver, Gathering Blue, The Messenger, Son by Lois Lowry Blackout, Deadzone by Robison Wells Contaminated, Mercy Mode by Em Garner Birthmarked, Prized, Promised by Caragh O’Brien Stung, Cured by Bethany Wiggins The Bar Code Tattoo, The Bar Code Rebellion, The Bar Code Prophecy by Suzanne Weyn Dark Inside, Rage Within by Jeyn Roberts The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch The Darkest Path by Jeff Hirsch The Death Catchers by Jennifer Kogler Ship Breaker, The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigulpi The Eighth Day, The Inquisitor’s Mark, The Morrigan’s Curse by Dianne Salerni Elemental, Firebrand, Renegade by Antony John*** Matched, Crossed, Reached by Ally Condie The Enemy by Charles Higson The Testing, Independent Study, Graduation Day by Joelle Charbonneau The Lives We Lost by Megan Crewe Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve Partials by Dan Wells Sky Jumpers by Peggy Eddleman UnWind , UnWholly , UnSoulded , UnDivided by Neal Shusterman

8. The Giver by Lois Lowry https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTspwR5dEEk Lois Lowry's 1994 Newbery Medal–winning tale has become one of the most influential novels of our time. The haunting story centers on Jonas who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. Lois Lowry has written three companion novels to  The Giver,  including  Gathering Blue, Messenger,  and  Son.

9. The Darkest Path by Jeff Hirsch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO67M9WOFNQ A civil war rages between the Glorious Path--a militant religion based on the teachings of a former US soldier--and what's left of the US government. Fifteen-year-old Callum Roe and his younger brother, James, were captured and forced to convert six years ago. Cal has been working in the Path's dog kennels, and is very close to becoming one of the Path's deadliest secret agents. Then Cal befriends a stray dog named Bear and kills a commander who wants to train him to be a vicious attack dog. This sends Cal and Bear on the run, and sets in motion a series of incredible events that will test Cal's loyalties and end in a fierce battle that the fate of the entire country rests on .

10. The Death Catchers by Jennifer Kogler https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBngYaTCtGg On her fourteenth Halloween, Lizzy Mortimer sees her first death-specter . Confused at first, Lizzy soon learns from her grandmother Bizzy that as Death Catchers, they must prevent fate from taking its course when an unjust death is planned-a mission that has been passed down from their ancestor, Morgan le Fay. Only, Lizzy doesn't expect one of her first cases to land her in the middle of a feud older than time between Morgan le Fay and her sister Vivienne le Mort. Vivienne hopes to hasten the end of the world by preventing Lizzy from saving King Arthur's last descendant-humanity's greatest hope for survival. It's up to Lizzy, as Morgan's earthly advocate, to outwit fate before it's too late . With its unique spin on Arthurian legend, this fresh, smartly written story will stand out in the paranormal genre. 

11. The Eighth Day by Dianne K. Salerni https ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3EeTZDjgIc When Jax wakes up to a world without any people in it, he assumes it's the zombie apocalypse. But when he runs into his eighteen-year-old guardian, Riley Pendare , he learns that he's really in the eighth day—an extra day sandwiched between Wednesday and Thursday. Some people—like Jax and Riley—are Transitioners , able to live in all eight days, while others, including Evangeline, the elusive teenage girl who's been hiding in the house next door, exist only on this special day . And there's a reason Evangeline's hiding. She is a descendant of the powerful wizard Merlin, and there is a group of people who wish to use her in order to destroy the normal seven-day world and all who live in it. Torn between protecting his new friend and saving the entire human race from complete destruction, Jax is faced with an impossible choice. Even with an eighth day, time is running out. 

12. Matched by allie condie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaeNWL8rlBI In the Society, officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die . Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one…until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky , between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow—between perfection and passion . Matched  is a story for right now and storytelling with the resonance of a classic. 

13. The Enemy by Charlie higson https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMWDV2rJHKM Charlie Higson's The Enemy is the first in a jaw-dropping zombie horror series for teens. Everyone over the age of fourteen has succumbed to a deadly zombie virus and now the kids must keep themselves alive. When the sickness came, every parent, police officer, politician - every adult fell ill. The lucky ones died. The others are crazed, confused and hungry. Only children under fourteen remain, and they're fighting to survive. Now there are rumours of a safe place to hide. And so a gang of children begin their quest across London, where all through the city - down alleyways, in deserted houses, underground - the grown-ups lie in wait. But can they make it there - alive? 

14. Unwind by Neal Shusterman https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=9snP4HuRsr4 The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state, is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.

15. Mortal engines by philip reeve The great traction city London has been skulking in the hills to avoid the bigger, faster, hungrier cities loose in the Great Hunting Ground. But now, the sinister plans of Lord Mayor Mangus Crome can finally unfold . In a stunning literary debut, Philip Reeve has created a painful dangerous unforgettable adventure story of surprises, set in a dark and utterly original world fueled by Municipal Darwinism -- and betrayal.  In the distant future, when cities move about and consume smaller towns, a fifteen-year-old apprentice is pushed out of London by the man he most admires and must seek answers in the perilous Out-Country, aided by one girl and the memory of another.

16. Stung by bethany wiggins https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=ublGWuM38R4 There is no cure for being stung. Fiona doesn’t remember going to sleep. But when she awakens, her world no longer exists. Her house is abandoned and broken. Her neighborhood is barren and dead. And there is a tattoo on her right hand. A tattoo Fiona doesn’t remember getting…but somehow she must conceal at any cost. Because humanity has been divided. Those bearing the tattoo have turned into mindless, violent beasts that roam the streets and sewers, preying upon the unbranded, while a select few live protected inside a fortresslike wall, their lives devoted to rebuilding society and killing all who bear the mark. And Fiona has awoken branded, on the wrong side of the wall, and…normal. From the author of  Shifting  comes this remarkable reimagining of  Sleeping Beauty , where the sting of a bee, rather than the prick of a needle, can destroy the world. 

17. The Testing by joelle charbonneau https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGX9BWLwWc4 Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Isn’t that what they say? But how close is too close when they may be one and the same?  The Seven Stages War left much of the planet a charred wasteland. The future belongs to the next generation’s chosen few who must rebuild it. But to enter this elite group, candidates must first pass The Testing—their one chance at a college education and a rewarding career.  Cia Vale is honored to be chosen as a Testing candidate; eager to prove her worthiness as a University student and future leader of the United Commonwealth. But on the eve of her departure, her father’s advice hints at a darker side to her upcoming studies--trust no one.  But surely she can trust Tomas, her handsome childhood friend who offers an alliance? Tomas, who seems to care more about her with the passing of every grueling (and deadly) day of the Testing. To survive, Cia must choose: love without truth or life without trust.

18. The bar code series by suzanne weyn https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4Z_SjtsRWs Individuality vs. Conformity Identity vs. Access Freedom vs. Control The bar code tattoo. Everybody's getting it. It will make your life easier, they say. It will hook you in. It will become your identity . But what if you say no? What if you don't want to become a code? For Kayla, this one choice changes everything. She becomes an outcast in her high school. Dangerous things happen to her family. There's no option but to run...for her life. 

19. Partials by dan wells Humanity is all but extinguished after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island. But sixteen-year-old Kira is determined to find a solution. As she tries desperately to save what is left of her race, she discovers that the survival of both humans and Partials rests in her attempts to answer questions about the war's origin that she never knew to ask . Playing on our curiosity of and fascination with the complete collapse of civilization,  Partials  is, at its heart, a story of survival, one that explores the individual narratives and complex relationships of those left behind, both humans and Partials alike—and of the way in which the concept of what is right and wrong in this world is greatly dependent on one's own point of view.

20. Ship breakers by Paolo Bacigalupi https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydZ-NktRg4s In America's Gulf Coast region, where grounded oil tankers are being broken down for parts, Nailer , a teenage boy, works the light crew, scavenging for copper wiring just to make quota--and hopefully live to see another day. But when, by luck or chance, he discovers an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, Nailer faces the most important decision of his life: Strip the ship for all it's worth or rescue its lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl who could lead him to a better life...

21. 1984 by George orwell https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKI4TKENRSg Winston Smith is a low-ranking member of the ruling Party in London, in the nation of Oceania. Everywhere Winston goes, even his own home, the Party watches him through telescreens; everywhere he looks he sees the face of the Party’s seemingly omniscient leader, a figure known only as Big Brother. The Party controls everything in Oceania, even the people’s history and language. Currently, the Party is forcing the implementation of an invented language called Newspeak, which attempts to prevent political rebellion by eliminating all words related to it. Even thinking rebellious thoughts is illegal. Such thoughtcrime is, in fact, the worst of all crimes.

22. Fahrenheit 451 by ray bradberry Set in the twenty-fourth century,  Fahrenheit 451 introduces a new world in which control of the masses by the media, overpopulation, and censorship has taken over the general population. The individual is not accepted and the intellectual is considered an outlaw. Television has replaced the common perception of family. The fireman is now seen as a flamethrower, a destroyer of books rather than an insurance against fire. Books are considered evil because they make people question and think. The people live in a world with no reminders of history or appreciation of the past; the population receives the present from television.

23. A brave new world by aldous huxley https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVwTlNTDu-4 Far in the future, the World Controllers have created the ideal society. Through clever use of genetic engineering, brainwashing and recreational sex and drugs, all its members are happy consumers. Bernard Marx seems alone harbouring an ill-defined longing to break free. A visit to one of the few remaining Savage Reservations, where the old, imperfect life still continues, may be the cure for his distress...