By: Allie Wallace
When a genre of novels becomes popular, they shift the way an entire generation sees the world. It is no secret that the cultivation of ideas is brought about in part by books. Media shapes people’s impressionable minds – children most of all. Dystopian fiction is by no means new. It began in variations a long time ago, but most obviously with George Orwell’s 1984, a mind-bending 1940s take on what the future looked like to one man, which he pictured being devoid of privacy and dominated by thought manipulation and invasive technology. It has been said that Orwell was wrong, that there was no Big Brother in the mid 1980s. And while students reading 1984 may take this stance, dystopia is, by nature, an exaggeration of existing tragedy. This mindset is not only assigned to 1984, but to all the dystopian novels which came after, especially as debate over technology and privacy becomes more of an issue with every passing day. A literary image of what the future of a secular America would be - modeled after real governments - if it was given over to the most domineering aspects of our patriarchal society. This is, of course, Margaret Atwood’s landmark novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Because the plot is based around a government’s extreme exhibition of misogyny, racism, and homophobia, some readers feel that Atwood’s world is too far from reality to form a social commentary on issues today. But in her works, Atwood takes a satirical approach to real-world problems facing women and minorities globally. She has since spoken about the resemblances she continues to see today in the United States and all over the world, as her warnings—she notes—have been ignored. Dystopian fiction is closer to home than one may think at first glance, and it seems that there is an entire generation growing up on these stories, recognizing them for what they are: commentary on the world we live in today. Young people are so driven to take action on causes they believe in because of this culture. Fiction has never been simply falsehoods and fairy tales. Every story has meaning, and many have layers of reality interwoven in their pages. The Maze Runner is about escaping a corrupt government during a pandemic, albeit an exaggerated version of both. The Hunger Games tells the story of a young woman becoming a symbol of uprising for oppressed peoples against their elitist rulers. And hyperbolic as these plots may seem, they contain the truth that things can only get as bad as we let them. There are examples of this in every history book, as authors take inspiration from the world around them. With every chapter of history, with every new decade, comes a flood of new thinkers who grow into influential figures. Thus, every decade’s writers pave the way for people to question their world and the systems in it. Growing up in fast-paced waves of progressivism, classic literature has become what we think of as what our grandparents or great grandparents read. But if we take a closer look at any of the recurring themes of the popular novels of those eras, it becomes clear where they got some of the values they uphold today. It explains traditionalism and radical thinking alike as well as the origins of ideas that, in time, have become progressive notions. Shifting any thought process, however, isn’t something gone about lightly or with ease. Usually, it takes hundreds of years of action to change as a society. But in the 20th century, lots of technological, educational, and international change began to occur, sparking social change. And though there were certainly a number of new thinkers spanning all the way back to the 60s and the many social movements sparked during that time, it is tempting to say that Generation Z is the most open-minded and change-oriented generation to date. This is because many of Generation Z’s parents are either older Millennials or children of Baby Boomers. These parents are in a strange limbo between the seemingly out-dated styles of media their own parents grew up with and this wildly prevalent genre their Gen Z children are being shaped by: dystopian fiction. Though these dystopian novels are all about different things, the one major element they all share is that children are the leaders, the soldiers, and the symbols for peace. They are the ones who make real change and save the world. They ask us: doesn’t every kid want to be a hero? And so, for Gen Z, as these books continue to shape our worldviews and sense of self, that sense of heroism is more than dystopia - it’s rapidly becoming reality. Just as other genres did for every age group before us, our books can shape the way a generation thinks. And dystopias rise in popularity when children recognize the danger their futures are in.
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