Dystopian Novels

Definition Check: Utopian

• Utopian refers to human efforts to create a hypothetically perfect society.

• It refers to good but impossible proposals - or at least ones that are difficult to carry out.

Dystopian versus Utopian

• Dystopian is the opposite of utopian; it is often a utopia gone sour, an imaginary place or state where everything is as bad as it could possibly be.

Dystopian Novels• Dystopian novels usually include elements of

contemporary society and are seen as a warning against some modern trend.

• Writers use them as cautionary tales, in which humankind is put into a society that may look inviting on the surface but in reality, is a nightmare.

Characteristics of Dystopian Literature

• Fictional and futuristic

• Dystopias serve as warnings to contemporary man

• Comment on our own current society

• Strong focus on Technology

Ray Bradbury

• “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”

Ray Bradbury• Born in 1920

• America’s best known writer of science fiction

• Sold his first story in 1940- has written over a thousand stories since then

• Creates wildly imaginative visions of the future as entertainment but with a serious purpose

• Concerned for the future

The Times

• Anti-communist movement led by Senator Joseph McCarthy—black listed Hollywood actors, book burning, banned books—in the 1940s-1950s (McCarthy Era).

• Cold War Era

• Korean War

• Rise of TV

• Increase of technology

The 1950s and the TV• 1953- TVs began showing up in homes

– Americans quickly fell in live and everyone managed to purchase a TV for their house.

– Radios and Movie Theatres lost all business

– Ray Bradbury witnessed this, and his vision of how TV could eventually affect American life became a fundamental theme of Fahrenheit 451.

1950s and Conformity

• Suburbs began to develop

• Hairstyles, clothing, thinking, and behavior were all standardized.

• Individuality was frowned upon or laughed at.

The 1950’s Housewife • Women were mothers and homemakers.

– “A woman’s place is in the home”

– Women became addicted to daytime “soaps”

• Nicknamed “soaps” by the manufacturers of household products who sponsored the shows with the hope that their products would become as addictive as the story lines.

Fahrenheit 451

• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)– The story takes place in the twenty-first

century, in an America where books are banned.

– Society feels that “opinion” books contain conflicting theories which are disruptive to society.

– The penalty for owning one is having one's house and books burnt by "firemen."

– 451° F is stated as “the temperature at which book paper catches fire and burns…”

Themes

• Censorship

• Knowledge Vs. Ignorance

• Literature and Writing

• Technology and Modernization

• Rules and Order

Narration

• Third-person, limited omniscient; follows Montag’s point of view, often articulating his interior monologues

Characters

• Guy Montag

• Mildred Montag

• Captain Beatty

• Stoneman & Black

• Clarisse McClellan

• Professor Faber

• Mrs. Phelps & Mrs. Bowles

• Granger

Literary Devices• Symbolism – A symbol in literature is the use of one thing to

represent an entire set of ideas. In this novel the central symbol is that of fire representing the extinguishing of thinking, imagining, and appreciating.  

• Alliteration – Alliteration is the repetition of one letter sound in order to produce a desired effect.  

• Metaphor – A metaphor is an implied comparison between two seemingly unlike objects.  

• Simile – A simile is a comparison of two seemingly unlike objects which uses the words "like" or "as."  

• Irony – A situation is ironic when it becomes the exact opposite of what is intended.  

• Foreshadowing – These are the author’s hints as what is to take place in future time within the novel

Relation to the Real World• In the novel, Bradbury combined several issues

of his contemporary society:– The burnings of books in Nazi Germany.– The explosion of a nuclear weapon.

• The author also addresses the concern that the presence of fast cars, loud music, and advertisements creates a lifestyle with too much stimulation where no one has the time to concentrate.

• He also addresses concerns about censorship at the expense of personal expression.

Summary• The dystopian literature

of the period reflected the many concerns that resonated throughout the twentieth century.

• The concept of a dystopia was introduced to help reveal the potential consequences of a utopia turning against itself.