Synthesis

Following is a brief synthesis of my observations on young adult dystopian literature.  At this point I have read a fairly large amount of these books and think I can offer some insight on the things these books have in common and offer some final advice about how these books could/should be used in schools.

I already typed up a list of elements that these novels have in common, but I think it warrants reposting it here.  Every one of the young adult books that I read contained each of these to some extent, and the two adult novels contain all but number 5.

1. Dystopian society with members who follow blindly/unknowingly.
2. A leader/head figure/group of people who know(s) the dark secrets of the society.
3. A hero/heroine who discovers these secrets and seeks to alter and expose the travesties.
4. An emphasis on choice or the lack thereof.
5. An ending that gives the feeling of hope for change and renewal of choice.

I don't think this list needs any revising after reading more novels; it still seems pretty complete to me.  Each novel contains a dystopian society, oppressive and totalitarian.  The post-apocalyptic novels still fall into this category, as the governing bodies that are present are corrupt and total.  Each novel also contains a her, who I might also call an outsider.  This is someone who realizes the travesties committed by the new government, often through gaining knowledge about the way things used to be.  This illuminated character is the most identifiable for the reader, and seeks to dismantle, or rebel against the totalitarian government.  In young adult novels, there is always a glimmer of hope at the end of the novel or an overthrow of the corrupt government.  In the two adult novels mentioned, this is not the case.  Finally, is the focus on choice.  Each of the novels focuses on choice: how it has been taken away and how the characters plan to get it back.  This should be particularly attractive to young adults who are coming to an age where they have more responsibility and more autonomy, therefore more opportunity to make choices.  Also, young adults tend to be skeptical of authority, and these novels all teach that this is okay, and in fact they recommend it.  

Each of the novels in this blog should be enjoyed by young adult readers, though some undoubtedly more than others.  Each post contains a brief recommendation from me for use in the classroom.  I'm not expert, and the opinions are solely my own, but I think that all of these books would be valuable to have in a class library and some of them would be great gateway books to more canonical texts. 

The dystopia is probably my favorite genre, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading these books and writing about them.  I hope you enjoy reading them/about them!

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. Modern classics Ed. New York: Harper Perennial, 2006. Print

Similar to 1984 is Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.  This classic text is used in classrooms, and while it is also not classified as YA lit., it is being read by young adults in school and out.  Many of the YA novels in this blog reveal influences from Brave New World so it receives treatment here.  Here is the SparkNotes summary for this great novel.
Summary: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/bravenew/summary.html

Dystopia: This novel contains all of the dystopian elements I have pointed out as well.  The main character, Bernard Marx, fails to fit in to his society, and feels discontent uncharacteristic of a member of one of the upper strata in the society.  Everything is controlled by the government: embryos in test tubes are scientifically altered to have certain characteristics, and children are raised in ways to fit their predetermined class status.  This theme of scientific alteration is a huge dystopian theme found in YA novels such as Across the Universe.  People are often given Soma, a drug similar to LSD which makes them complacent and provides powerful trips of pleasure.  People's everyday lives are lacking in sensation, so the government sanctions these Soma "orgy porgies" in order to control its people.  Control through drugs is also found in Blood Red Road and Across the Universe.  The social class setup in Across the Universe also looks very similar to Brave New World where people are forced into a class and occupation from birth.  

An unlikely hero arises in this novel. John, a man born on an island isolated from the control of the government, used as a tourist attraction, is taken back to civilisation from his island.  He recognizes the tyranny of the government and is unable to fit into the class system set up there.  He rebels against this control, committing suicide when he realizes he does not fit in.  Like 1984, Brave New World ends without the glimmer of hope found in the YA novels, but again the message for the reader is made even more profound by this fact.  The people in Brave New World are lost, but the reader is not, unless he/she allows these travesties to become reality.  

This book is also widely read in schools, and contains themes comparable to 1984, while it might be a bit easier to read and a bit less powerful.  Again, I would recommend using a YA novel to bridge the gap between this loftier literature and students' daily lives.  With characters that students' can identify with, the YA novels become gateways to these more difficult texts where the dystopias are taken even further and are more devastating   

1984 - George Orwell

Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Signet Classics, 1949. Print.

While 1984 is not considered young adult literature, nor would I argue that it should be, it is being read by young adults in schools.  Usually read in high school, 1984 may be the quintessential dystopian novel and happens to be one of my favorite novels.  Because it is highly read in schools, I will give it a treatment here, not quite as thorough as I have done for the YA books.

Here is a great summary from SparkNotes: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/1984/summary.html

Dystopia: As I said, 1984 may be the ultimate dystopian novel.  Many of the YA novels contain elements of dystopia similar to those found in 1984 and they all contain the same big three I have been discussing throughout my blog.  Big Brother, the all seeing, all knowing government has become a symbol for oppression the world over.  Appearing in street art, music, etc., Big Brother has come to represent all that is controlling and oppressive about government.  Shepard Fairey is one such street artist who uses big brother in his "Obey" pieces.  

The people in 1984 live under total control from Big Brother.  In Oceania, they can even be punished for thoughtcrime - improper or rebellious thoughts.  Big Brother operates under the mantra "War is peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength."  This alone shows the warped nature of the government in 1984.

Winston, the unlikely hero of the novel, pens the phrase "down with Big Brother."  Recognizing the tyranny of the government, and discovering a book detailing the way things were before Big Brother, Winston wishes to break free from the control of Big Brother.  Along the way he meets Julia, who seems to share his goals.  Together the two slowly defy Big Brother more and more until Winston is captured and tortured for his crimes.  1984 ends without the glimmer of hope typical in YA novels.  1984 ends when Winston completely gives in and accepts the complete power of Big Brother.  This novel serves as a stern warning from Orwell about the dangers of totalitarian governments.  

Readers struggle with this novel.  It is super dense, and while Orwell's language is not that convoluted, the events in the story can be hard to follow.  The themes remain the same as the YA novels however, and that is why I recommended some of them as companion texts to be used to help understand these more difficult canonical texts.  There is so much to do with 1984 and its influence can be seen all over pop-culture, so it is definitely still relevant today, it just may take some work to help students realize this.  Pairing a YA novel with 1984 may be a powerful way to help students explore the difficult themes and messages found in these novels.

Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc., 2008. Print.

Summary: Katniss Everdean lives in District 12 in the new United States.  Her district is known for coal mining, is in Appalachia, and is one of the poorest districts.  The other 11 districts all have their own industry, but the Capitol reaps all the profits.  Each year, the Capitol holds a reaping in each of the districts in order to recruit members for their annual Hunger Games.  In The Hunger Games, two people from each district, one boy one girl, between the ages of 12 and 18, are set into a controlled field where they are forced to fight each other to the death.  There can only be one winner.  The Capitol does this in order to remind the districts of their attempted rebellion and keep the districts subservient.  Katniss volunteers as tribute for the Hunger Games in place of her younger sister at the reaping and now must fight for her life.  Along with co-tribute Peeta, Katniss must find a way to survive the Hunger Games and get back home to her family and friends. 

Here is a link to a trailer for the excellent movie adaptation of The Hunger Games: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMGRhAEn6K0

Dystopia: Katniss lives in a United States completely different from the one we know today.  Each of the twelve districts has one key resource that the Capitol needs in order to run the country.  The wealth of each district varies depending on the resource.  District 12's main resource is coal; therefore, it is a very poor district.  Appalachia, the area where this district is located is a poor section of the country today, so Collins stays true to modern life in this sense.  This may be where the similarities stop.  The Capitol uses electricity to power its hover cars, automated showers, and other extravagancies, while Katniss is forced to illegally hunt with a bow in order to provide for her family.  The disparity between wealth and poverty is even greater than the one we know today.  The Capitol uses its wealth and firepower to intimidate the other districts into obedience.  The districts, especially the poorer ones, have no say in their laws, and see practically none of the benefits of their labor.  The Capitol and its rulers collectively become the Big Brother of this story, representing the oppressive  totalitarian government.  

The hero of this story is harder to pin down.  Throughout the Hunger Games, Katniss seems most concerned with surviving in order to get back home so she can take care of her mom and sister.  She questions the authority of the Capitol, but, in this book, challenges it but a little.  Peeta, however, seems to question the authority of the Capitol, especially in regards to the Hunger Games more deeply.  As shown in the trailer, he refuses to let the Capitol take away who he is.  Together, Peeta and Katniss force the Capitol to allow two winners in the Hunger Games, exposing a crack in the otherwise impenetrable armor of the Capitol.  This sets up the rebellion in the following novels (which I have not read but know something about).  I would call Katniss and Peeta the heroes of this story, even though Katniss is clearly the main character.

While the story remains unresolved in this novel, the novel ends with a glimmer of hope typical of dystopian novels.  The world that these characters live is so far from what we would recognize, and the people have so little control over their lives.  The dystopian rule is truly oppressive.  Students from 12 to whatever will enjoy this novel, as evidenced by its extreme popularity and adaptation to the big screen.  The main character is a girl, but she is not lacking in masculine qualities as well.  Girls and boys should both enjoy this novel.  I highly recommend it for use in the classroom, both as a standalone and a canon companion.  There is enough material in the novel itself to inspire many activities in the classroom, and the movie follows the book wonderfully and would be helpful to use as well.

BZRK - Michael Grant

Grant, Michael. BZRK. New York: EgmontUSA, 2012. Print.

Summary: Instead of a written summary for this novel, I have a link to a book trailer I made for BZRK.
https://vimeo.com/54921405

Dystopia: The world of BZRK is a strange one.  Nanotechnology, originally developed to cure diseases, is being used by the super-company Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation to control people in order to make them "happy."  By wiring everyone's brains a certain way, the AFGC will eliminate nearly all emotions, making humans impervious to emotional pain, but also incapable of any real happiness.  The rebel group BZRK wants none of this.  The book follows Sadie and Noah, two teens drafted into BZRK.  A band of teenagers, BZRK fights against the AFGC using biots, biological creatures that are connected to their controllers, the twitchers.  Most of the nanobot operators for the AFGC are teens who were incredible video game players, as controlling a nonobot is like controlling a video game.  The fighting takes place inside of people, in the "micro", but also in the "macro."  For this reason, BZRK can get confusing at times, but overall Grant does a good job of letting the reader know where the story is at.

The main dystopian element of this text is the plot from the AFGC.  The world that these characters live in now is not yet dystopian, the world AFGC seeks to create is one of total control.  The seek to provide happiness by eliminating war, poverty and sickness, but also eliminating freedom.  As mentioned earlier, BZRK fights for the "right to be miserable."  They realize that is AFGC is allowed to rewire peoples' brains, they take away the choice that makes people human.  Here comes into play a key element of what I have noticed in most of the dystopias I have read: choice is at the center of it all.  BZRK, in fighting for misery, is actually fighting for choice.  Like the other heroes I have written about, the collective heroes of BZRK recognize the foul play in AFGC's plan, and fight against the control.  BZRK is interesting in that the real fighting in this novel takes place unseen.  Unseen to anyone, nanobots and biots crawl all over, accessing people's brains through their ears and eyes. 

While the dystopian elements of this novel are not all that impressive (it is more of a science fiction novel), what is impressive are the other media elements of this texts.  With a fully functioning website and an app that allows you to control a biot, the electronic media connections for this text are impressive.   The app is mildly entertaining, but it's interesting to get a chance to control a biot!  The website, http://gobzrk.com/, is much more involved.  It offers book trailers, news on BZRK, community boards, a blog, and more.  Definitely worth a look.

This book may not be the best for assigning in your classroom, but I would definitely have it on the bookshelf and make it an option for students.  While the characters in the novel are weakly developed, the world building that Craft does is incredible.  He clearly did his research before writing about the human body and the biots' adventures underneath people's skin.  Students should particularly enjoy exploring the electronic expansions of the story and playing with the app.  The connection to video games will also be enjoyed by some students.

Specials - Scott Westerfeld

Westerfeld, S. Specials. New York, NY: Simon Pulse, 2006. Print.

Summary:  Finishing the story that began with Uglies and Pretties, Specials is the final book in the Uglies trilogy.  It continues to follow Tally Youngblood and her adventures in the world where everyone is turned Pretty.  After being captured from the Smoke at the conclusion of Pretties, Tally has been turned into a Special: a human enhanced by surgery in order to become super-human.  While in the previous books Tally fought against the city and Special Circumstances, she is now one of them, and works alongside her best friend Shay trying to find the New Smoke and stop the spread of the cure for pretty-headedness.  Tally is no longer a free-thinking Pretty.  She is a fierce predator, and will go to all ends in order to find the New Smoke.  Things go wrong, though, when Tally and Shay attempt to free Zane so that they may track him to the New Smoke.  Zane tries to convince Tally to remember the way she was before, when she thought her way out of pretty-mindedness.  Tally does begin to release herself from the rage and pressure of being a Special, but cannot completely do so before she reaches the New Smoke, which turns out to be an entire city filled with people who do not have brain lesions.  This new city, Diego, comes under attack from Tally's city under the premise that Diego destroyed Tally's city's armory.  In reality, Shay and Tally were responsible for the demolition of the building.  In the end, Tally is able to end the war between the two cities, but promises she will remain to protect the earth from the New Smoke if need be.


Dystopia: Specials continues the story of Tally and her adventures as a Pretty.  This book is probably the least relevant to dystopia out of all of the series, but it still continues the themes.  Most intriguing is the war between the dystopian city which Tally hails from and Diego, a city much more tolerant of differences than Prettytown.  Tally finds herself in the middle of this war, and in fact is the partial cause of it.  Prettytown wishes to promote sameness throughout the world, and the policy of no city interference is jeopardized when Prettytown singles out Diego as the source of the cure for Prettyheadedness.  Prettytown attacks Diego in order to wipe out the cure.  Most interesting is Tally's role in all this.  In the beginning of the novel, Tally is now a Special, a member of a special band of Specials in fact that is allowed freedom to roam wherever they want so long as they attempt to stop the spread of the cure.  It's a bit unclear in the novel, but in the surgery to make her a special, the Dr. relesioned Tally's brain in order to make her mostly Prettyminded again.  For this reason, she now helps Shay in seeking out and destroying the source of the cure: The Smoke.  Tally's role as the hero of the dystopian novel is now somewhat blurred, and the novel becomes hard to read, not knowing who exactly to root for.  At this point, my list breaks down a bit.  Tally, however, still remembers being able to think for herself, and in the end plays a role in helping protect Diego, regaining her status as the hero.

At the expense of spoiling the ending, I would like to talk about it.  In the end of the novel, it is decided that Diego shall become the new model for how society should be governed.  Diego, though, practices some of the same behavior as the Rusties, exploiting the earth for materials, and encroaching into forestry in order to make room for civilization.  While they're practices are more ethical and responsible than the Rusties (they replant the forest, etc), Tally worries that Diego's practices will cause the same devastation to the earth that the Rusties did.  In the end, when everyone else decides to undergo surgery in order to revert back from being a Special, Tally runs away and elects to keep her enhancements, vowing to become a guardian of the earth.  This ending is slightly disappointing as it completely shifts the focus from the exploitation of humans, and the manipulation of humans through science to the exploitation and manipulation of nature.  While this is a worthwhile theme and and issue that arises throughout the series, I though that Westerfeld really pulled the focus away from the main theme of tyrannical governments and human modification.

Despite this last flaw, Specials overall is a very satisfying finale for the Uglies series (although Westerfeld later added another novel).  The plot gets confusing at times, and it seems that Westerfeld might be going for the wow factor, but in the end, our hero Tally ends up the hero after all.  I would argue that Uglies is still the most valuable for use in schools as it discusses the human modification and government control indicative of a dystopian novel more than the other two.  As an entertaining read, appropriate for kids in secondary education, this novel comes recommended.

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Blood Red Road - Moira Young

Young, Moira. Blood Red Road. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2011. Print.

Summary: Blood Red Road follows Saba in her quest to free her brother after mysterious men kidnap her from their home.  Saba and Lugh are eighteen-year-old twins who live with their father, Pa, and younger sister, Emmi, in a civilization that follows the modern age of the "Wreckers."  One day, three mysterious men in dark robes arrive at Saba and Lugh's home and capture Lugh, taking him away on horseback and killing Pa in the process.  It appears the reason they have taken him is because he is an eighteen-year-old boy born at midsummer.  While he is being taken, Saba vows to Lugh that she will find him and set him free.  Thus begins her journey.  Saba sets out with her sister Emmi and heads for a safe place to keep her while she hunts for Lugh.  Emmi, however, follows Saba through a desert where the two are captured by a woman who sells cage-fighters.  After living as a fighter for a month, Saba is able to escape with the unlikely help of a group known as the "Freedom Hawks."  When she escapes from the fighters' camp, she rescues a man named Jack from a fire, and he tells her he can lead her to "Freedom Fields" and her brother.  Together, Saba and her new found friends voyage to Freedom Fields, conquering many trials and challenges along the way.  Saba realizes that she is falling in love with Jack, and he makes no attempts to hide his mutual feelings for her.  Eventually, they find Lugh and free him from his captors heading off to a new land and a better way of life.

Dystopia: This book continues in the vein of post-apocalyptic dystopian novels, similar to While I Live, Fever Crumb and Ashes, Ashes.  Saba and her companions live in a time after the Wreckers, or modern day.  The civilization has collapsed, and now the people live under no governance, or in the case of Hopetown, the only city, there is a king and a corrupt governing body.  The king uses a plant that seems to be similar to tobacco called chaal to control his subjects and keep them compliant.  This is similar to the ruler of the ship in Across the Universe dumping chemicals into the water supply in order to keep control over the ship and dull the thinking of the passengers.  This book then has something in common with the others.  It seems to be a trend to set a dystopian novel in a post-apocalyptic world.  Perhaps this allows the author to easily demolish the current society structure and construct their own in a believable fashion without having to do much work.  Also, the thought of what society would be like after our own has ended is intriguing and makes for an exciting setting.  The world Young set up is quite similar to the other novels I listed above, and it was interesting that, again, the hero of the story is female.  Saba, at eighteen, is slightly older than the other girls I have encountered, but Young still builds her as a fairly angsty teenager who is still shy around men.  

Saba is initially in the dark about the state of the society she lives in because she has grown up isolated from it.  She and her family live on a plot of land that is in a desert, far away from the city.  It is not until she is taken to Hopetown that she realizes the corrupt state of affairs.  Saba, however, does not act as the main force against the dystopian society.  She meets, and falls in love with a man named Jack who wishes to take down the king, while Saba's only real goal is to retrieve her brother.  Throughout the course of the novel, with Jack's influence, Saba does become disgusted with the king and wants to help Jack.  This book is the first in a series, so it is possible that, in the following novels, Saba and her friends further attempt to change the society.  This book also follows the guidelines because it ends with a feeling of hope.  Saba does get her brother back, and the band are able to kill the king in the process.  Saba achieves her goals, and is now able to start a new life with her brother and sister.  

The dystopia in this novel is slightly less convincing than those of the other novels because it takes a side role to the rescue of Saba's brother.  Young does not need to develop the state of things as much because the conflict is not between the hero and the society because it is corrupt, but between Saba and the king because he is holding her brother.  As such, this book would not come as highly recommended as the others.  Also, the language used in the book is a form of English similar to a heavy Southern or Old-Western dialect, and can be quite cumbersome and distracting at times.  The themes in this novel also do not match up as well with the others because, again, the dystopia does not play a prominent role.  It acts almost exclusively as a setting, and does not become an enemy itself like it does in other novels.  Rather, Young chooses to emphasize the quest for Saba's brother and the romance between Saba and Jack.  There is also quite an interesting relationship between Saba and her younger sister Emmi which develops throughout the novel.  The book was an enjoyable read all said and done, and I would definitely put it on the shelf.