Haidyn Pyfer

Tales of Trauma: The Impact of World

Events on Dystopian Literature
Summary
Introduction

It is difficult today to browse through the aisles of a bookstore or watch the

opening trailers at a movie theater without being confronted by the narrative of
teenagers in dystopia. The popularity of young adult dystopian literature like
The Hunger Games in the last few years has created a multi-billion dollar industry.
This rampant success might deceive us into thinking these narratives are wholly
new, but they are truly just the latest development in an ever-evolving history of
dystopian and utopian literature that dates back to the 16th century.
Dystopian literature has undergone many changes since Thomas Mores Utopia
(1516) first introduced the idea of the unattainably perfect society and authors
responded by exploring the problems that arise when societies attempt to attain
that perfection. These changes in the literature can be seen as reflections of the
changes our own societies undergo, resulting in a genre of literature that
effectively chronicles the most pressing fears of citizens about the state of their
society. Understanding these trends and what they say about our society is
crucial to understanding how people respond to the actions and attitudes of their
governments and cultures.

Key Information
Dystopian literature has undergone several major phases in relation to world
events. This paper will recount some of the scholarship done on the following
phases:

World War I & World War II

The Cold War

1980s & 1990s

The Millennium

Young Adult Dystopias

Future Directions

With the rampant proliferation of dystopian literature for young adults, I

recommend more research and analysis be conducted on the changes that have
been made in this subgenre since the publication of Lois Lowrys The Giver, one
of the first popular dystopian young adult novels.

Background
Dystopian literature is a category of speculative fiction characterized by its
depiction of bleak, unpleasant civilizations. From the Ancient Greek words for
bad and place, dystopias represent unfavorable societies. John Joseph
Adams, a noted science fiction and fantasy writer and editor, describes the genre
in his article Dystopian Fiction: An Introduction:
In a dystopian story, society itself is typically the antagonist; it is society
that is actively working against the protagonists aims and desires. This
oppression frequently is enacted by a totalitarian or authoritarian
government, resulting in the loss of civil liberties and untenable living
conditions, caused by any number of circumstances, such as world
overpopulation, laws controlling a persons sexual or reproductive
freedom, and living under constant surveillance.
These dystopias arise out of a striving for their opposite: utopia. The literary utopia was
first introduced with Thomas Mores 1516 novel Utopia. More created the word from a
combination of the Ancient Greek words eutopia (good place) and outopia (no place).
This etymology suggests a paradisiacal fantasy, a place so perfect it cannot exist. And it is
this unattainable perfection that creates space for antagonistic society. Utopias are based
on ideals of universal reason and happiness, but these ideals are beyond the scope of
human nature (Sicher and Skradol 155). In order to achieve the imagined utopia, human
nature must be transformed, and the modes of transformationsocial and genetic
engineering, eugenics, genocide, the banning of literature or contrary thoughtbecome
the hallmarks of dystopia. In their article A World Neither Brave Nor New, Efraim
Sicher and Natalia Skradol describe the fundamental flaw of the utopia:
There is something inhuman (and thus potentially dysfunctional or dystopian) in
the idea of a utopia, which requires that human society as currently constituted be

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replaced (whether through natural selection or coercion) by a social order based on
different (implicitly non-human) characteristics. (155)
Canonical dystopian literature includes works such as Aldous Huxleys Brave
New World and George Orwells 1984. These World War-era works define the
characteristics of the dystopian novel and set the standard by which evolution of
the genre can be measured. After 1980, dystopian literature is characterized by
the critical dystopia. These works deviate from the canon by eschewing the
genres tone of hopelessness, instead providing the reader with at least one
eutopian enclave or . . . hope that the dystopia can be overcome and replaced with a
eutopia (Chang 4). This trend was followed by the postapocalyptic dystopia of the
millennium, and then by the movement of dystopian young adult literature that we are
currently experiencing. These trends follow distinct moments of history and signify the
changing relationships the public has with their society.

State of the Scholarship

A key way to understand the importance of dystopian literature in cultural
context is to examine literary criticism that takes a historical perspective.
Historical scholarship on dystopias focuses heavily on the influence of major,
traumatic world events. Analysis of canonical dystopian literature begins with
the trauma of the World Wars. The scholarship evolves with the beginning of the
Cold War, the hopeful peace of the late 80s and 90s, and new millenniums War
on Terror.

World War I & World War II

World War I and World War II exposed the globe
atrocity on an unimaginable scale. It is no
surprise that the academic models of dystopian
fiction come from these environments. From its
inception, technology and utopia have been
inextricably linked. Thomas Mores Utopia
includes natural science in its list of pursuits that
improve the citizens of his ideal society, and
scientific innovation has been linked to utopia
since the beginning of modern science (Hall).
However, the devastation that technology wreaked on the populace with the
advanced weaponry of World War I and the atomic bombs of World War II

to

transformed the global attitude toward technology. Mankinds innovation was no

longer moving toward advancement, but toward destruction. Alexander Halls
article A Way of Revealing: Technology and Utopianism in Contemporary
Culture examines the ways in which attitudes toward technology and the
productions of society changed after World War II, with many people believ[ing]
that technological growth in the long run generates or intensifies many more social evils
than it reduces or eliminates. This shift in the public perception of growth and the
skepticism toward societies intentions toward its people can be felt in Huxleys portrayal
of genetic engineering in Brave New World, Orwells invasive telescreens in 1984, and
Bradburys disdain for the electronic seashells and hypnotic televisions of Fahrenheit
451.

The Cold War

The Cold War issues in the next big development in dystopian literature. The
threat of Communism leads to the tension between the freedom of the individual
and the benefit of the community becoming the dominant theme in works of
dystopia. Andrew Hammond explores the particular influence the Cold War had
over British dystopian fiction in his article The Twilight of Utopia: British
Dystopian Fiction and the Cold War. Great Britain found themselves in between
two rivaling, would-be utopias: Soviet Communism and American capitalism.
These clashing ideologies opened themselves up to critique through dystopian
literature in their attempt convince the word of their perfection. British utopia
both critiqued the Soviet idea of uniformity and the ideal purity of a perfect system
that had to be imposed by force on its imperfect and reluctant subjects and satirized the
American patterns of mass production, consumption, entertainment, and leisure
(Hammond 664, 669).

1980s & 1990s

Toward the end of the Cold War, dystopian literature started to become more
hopeful. The 1980s mark the beginning of the wave of critical dystopia. A
critical dystopia distinguishes itself from the dystopian movements that came
before it by including at least one eutopian enclave or by hold[ing] out hope that the
dystopia can be overcome and replaced with a eutopia (Chang 4). These works do not
leave the protagonistor the readerwith the impossibility of escaping their antagonistic
society. They are hopeful (or at least ambiguous) about the future the world. Critical
dystopias also typically distinguish themselves from Cold War-era dystopia in the
portrayal of the dystopian society. Rather than the brutal, negative collectivism of
Communism, critical dystopias offer societies that suppresses individuality by
brainwashing the disoriented majority into Disneyfied consumer contentment or at least
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stupefaction (Chang 5). This society is represented by a sluggish, unthinking herd that
criticizes transnational corporate capitalism.

The Millennium
The beginning of the millennium sees a shift from critical dystopia to postapocalyptic dystopia in the world of adult fiction. These dystopias differ from
the critical dystopia in their overall depiction of hope for the world of the
piece. The eutopian enclaveor small groups of society that are good and resist
the structure of the dystopiathat we see in the critical dystopia is either not
present or portrayed as ineffective against the dystopian power structure. In his
article "Critical Dystopia Reconsidered: Octavia Butler's Parable Series and
Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake as Post-Apocalyptic Dystopias, Hui-chuan
Chang examines the divergence from the critical dystopia that millennial
dystopias undergo and explores the cultural environment that inspired this
divergence:
. . . post-apocalyptic dystopia offers vital dystopian critique, warnings that are
particularly relevant to the new millennium, as in a mere decade one disaster has
been superseding another in scope and magnitude9/11, SARS, Katrina, Indian
Ocean tsunami, financial crisis, Japan earthquake and the ensuing tsunami and
nuclear crisis, to name but a few. (17)
The series of tragedies and disasters that characterized the beginning of the
millennium was introduced with the events of 9/11. Ephraim Sicher and Natalia
Skradol address the effect these events had on dystopian literature in their article
A World Neither Brave Nor New: Reading Dystopian Fiction after 9/11. They
argue that 9/11 acted as an intrusion of imagined dystopian tragedy into the real
world. This kind of intrusion effectively disenchants us from the hopeful
prospect of the critical dystopia and leaves room only for the post-apocalyptic.
Post-apocalyptic literature, however, has not been the largest wave of dystopian
literature to come out of the traumas of the millennium.

Young Adult Dystopias

It is nearly impossible to escape the market flood of young adult dystopias in
recent years. According to Jen Scott Curwoods 2013 article The Hunger Games:
Literature, Literacy, and Online Affinity Spaces, the popular young adult
dystopian novel had sold more than 50 million copies in the five years since it
had been published (417). In that time, four major motion pictures have been
made about the series, each grossing millions of dollars in ticket sales. Author
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Suzanne Collins has stated that she came up with the idea for the series while
coming across footage on television of the Iraq war (Curwood 419). The origin of
this popular series serves to illustrate how these
narratives function as tools to navigate the traumatic
environment begun by 9/11 and the War on Terror.
However, in spite of the evidence that the abundance of
young adult literature in the genre is a response to a
cultural shift, this stage in the evolution of dystopian
literature has not received the historical analysis that has
been applied to other developments in the genre. Articles
that seriously consider the role young adult dystopias
play in processing the events and traumas of our cultural
climate, like Curwoods article does, are few. Amy Elliots
article Power in Our Words: Finding Community and
Mitigating Trauma in James Dashner's The Maze Runner is another example. The
article demonstrates how another popular young adult dystopia helps guide
adolescent readers in how to manage trauma, arming them with strategies to
mitigate traumas effects so that the dystopian future does not become a harsh reality
(Elliot 180). Elliot also postulates that the recent upsurge in apocalyptic and postapocalyptic fictions reflects a state of collective trauma endemic to globalized societies
(180). This determination to teach these trauma lessons to adolescents may spring from a
new historical understanding of children as capably self-reliant, fiercely independent,
curious, interactive, and multi-tasking, as is argued in Don Lathams "Childhood
Under Siege: Lois Lowry's Number the Stars and The Giver."
One possible reason for the gap in the scholarship around young adult dystopian
literature is simply because it is young adult. It is common for young adult
literature to be considered non-academic, and therefore receive less critical
analysis than literature written for adults. However, the distinction of this
literature as young adult is what makes the shift significant. What about the
current cultural climate has made it important to arm young adults with
literature that makes them think critically about their societies? How are these
narratives distinguished from their adult counterparts and what do those
differences signify? In her essay Monica Hughes, Lois Lowry, and Young Adult
Dystopias, Carrie Hintz tries to answer those questions. Hintz suggests the
primary characteristic of the young adult dystopia is that political action is
addressed within the developmental narrative of adolescence (Hintz 254). Her argument
is that the traits of the adolescent narrative provide special significance to the narrative of
dystopia. The resilient, changing, inquisitive mind of the adolescent is the perfect catalyst
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Haidyn Pyfer
for critiquing societies characterized by apathy and stasis. Hintz also argues the value of
introducing dystopia with adolescent protagonists to adolescent readers in the cultural
climate of trauma:
These adolescents find themselves in harsh environments, or in situations, where
they must make difficulteven agonizingchoices. These individuals must
possess courage and resolve. Without doubt, the adolescents in these novels are
capable of such challenges, reminiscent of the classic theory of Bruno Bettelheim
that fairy tales prepare young people for difficult tasks and make them aware that
they have ample strength for such tests. (256)
The opportunity to arm young people with the mindset that they can change their world
and the tools to go about it has never been more important.

Future Research
It has become obvious that the movement of dystopian young adult literature is
significant, both culturally and academically. However, this significance and the
reasons for it are still under researched. The majority of work on this topic is still
in the form of unpublished theses and dissertations, indicating that the
scholarship is still in its infancy. I propose that the best next step in
understanding this literary movement is a microcosmic analysis of the evolution
only young adult literature in the genre has undergone. It would be especially
useful to research the changes this subgenre has experienced since the
publication of Lois Lowrys The Giver.
The Giver was one of the first popular dystopian novels
written for children and young adults. It is also a premillennial text, and analyzing the differences between
this piece and post-9/11 works of the same nature
would be useful for understanding the impact the
millennium has had on the ways in which we
communicate political critique to adolescents. Taking
an even more insular look, it would also be useful to
compare the novel The Giver, published in 1993, with
the recent film adaptation, released in 2014. Seeing the
impact that the newest wave of young adult dystopian fiction has on a narrative
that is so similar, yet lacks the influence of a cultural environment of terror would
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be invaluable. Understanding the impact traumatic events has on how we teach

and prepare our children gives us an important look into the greater psychology
of society and its relationship with the generations that will come up after it.

Haidyn Pyfer

References
Adams, John Joseph. "Dystopian Fiction: An Introduction." Tor.com. N.p., 11 Apr.
2011. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.
Chang, Hui-chuan. "Critical Dystopia Reconsidered: Octavia Butler's Parable
Series and Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake as Post-Apocalyptic
Dystopias." Tamkang Review 41.2 (2011): 3-20. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.
Curwood, Jen Scott. "The Hunger Games: Literature, Literacy, and Online Affinity
Spaces." Language Arts 90.6 (2013): 416-27. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.
Elliot, Amy. "Power in Our Words: Finding Community and Mitigating Trauma
in James Dashner's The Maze Runner." Children's Literature Association
Quarterly 40.2 (2015): 179-99. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.
Hall, Alexander. ""A Way of Revealing": Technology and Utopianism in
Contemporary Culture." The Journal of Technology Studies 35.1
(2009). Virginia Tech Digital Library and Archives. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.
Hammond, Andrew. "The Twilight of Utopia: British Dystopian Fiction and the
Cold War." The Modern Language Review 106.3 (2011): 662-81. Web. 10 Oct.
2015.
Hintz, Carrie. "Monica Hughes, Lois Lowry, and Young Adult Dystopias." The
Lion and the Unicorn 26.2 (2002): 254-64. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.
Latham, Don. "Childhood Under Siege: Lois Lowry's Number the Stars and The
Giver." The Lion and the Unicorn 26.1 (2002): 1-15. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.
Sicher, Efraim, and Natalia Skradol. "A World Neither Brave Nor New: Reading
Dystopian Fiction after 9/11." Partial Answers: Journal of Literature and the
History of Ideas 4.1 (2006): 151-79. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.