In every dystopia that we have studied this semester, nature and the environment play a huge role in how a society can be considered a dystopia. The way we live is heavily influenced by what is around us. A dystopia is considered to be the opposite of a utopia, but some dystopian stories begin as if nothing is wrong. This gives the viewer the impression that nothing is wrong, until everything goes wrong. The Hunger Games were seen as a huge source of entertainment to viewers who had no connections to those competing. Katniss Everdeen's impact on the Hunger Games completely changed how people viewed the games, leading people to see how barbaric they are. In the beginning of "Ready Player One," the OASIS was viewed as an escape from the real world's problems to Wade. He ends the story by never wanting to go back there. Dystopian environments may seem harmless at first, but their true colors are always shown throughout the story.
Other dystopian societies are very evident through their environment. In "The Parable of the Sower," the gated community that protects Lauren from the outside becomes a chaotic environment that she must escape from. The pyro addicts invade and she must leave in order to survive. In "The Road," the boy and the father must survive through a post-apocalyptic setting where cannibals and thieves roam the street. Houses come by rare and ash falls on them. We do not know how any of this happened, but we can assume that this catastrophe has left the world pretty desolate.These stories may seem very different, but all of them share the theme of the main character(s) overcoming their conflicts to survive at the end. The source of their conflicts comes from the differences in their dystopian environment, which makes each story unique and interesting in its own way. Similarly, both of these stories share a setting found in nature. Nature is very important to survival in a dystopian environment and in the real world. In both of these stories, nature causes problems for the characters, but is ultimately the reason for their survival. Lauren would have been stuck struggling to survive in her home, and the man and the boy would not have had a sense of direction to travel to survive. Nature gives people hope and a sense of life that people need in order to survive through tough times.
Dystopian literature is commonly seen as fiction, but certain current events can be compared to dystopian stories due to similarities that can be drawn. COVID-19, better known as the corona virus, has invaded this world and put a stop to everything due to its deadly symptoms. Most of the world has gone into quarantine in order to prevent the spreading of this deadly disease to others. Although it may sound like the plot for a good dystopian novel, we can only wish that we could call it this instead. This virus could make for an interesting dystopian novel due to the threat and danger it has brought to the world.
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