Teniola Emmanuel

         Having gone through a lot of dystopian novels over the course of the semester, I would say that this is the most exposure I have gotten to the dystopian genre. Dystopias definitely interest me because I have actually had exposure to them in pop culture and other means and I have always found them appealing because of how ominous they are. They carry this sense of doom that people are in denial of. What I like about the dystopian novels      Looking at the first dystopian novel we read in class, The Hunger Games, I would say that it had a very huge impact on pop culture. All of a sudden everyone wanted to have a mockingjay pin or there would be online quizzes testing which district would suit you. Having to read it in class gave a deeper meaning than just seeing it as a form of entertainment. It became a topic with different layers that we could dissect and talk about. If we take a look at the environment of the hunger games, it is terrible and foreboding and it was not

         New materialism deals with the binaries surrounding man and nature. As we see in today's world, there is a divide between nature and man. Hence, we have buildings, technology and the likes. Being able to assimilate oneself completely into nature is seen as unusual and it is not something we do on a normal day. Jane Bennet introduce new materialism in her book Vital Matter.   She says the aim of her project which she is referring to as vital materialism is "to dissipate the onto-theological binaries of life/matter, human/animal, will/determination and organic/inorganic using arguments and other rhetoric means to induce in human bodies an aesthetic-effective openness to material vitality" (Bennet, pg X).  Jane Bennet Vibrant Matter How New Materialism is portrayed in dystopian fiction               Some dystopian worlds have themes of new materialism running through them. We see this in parable of the sower and the road. In the road, humans take on these ca

           An example of an influential device in a dystopian environment is the Mockingjay pin. This Mockingjay Pin is what led to the Mockingjay being the most important figure in the Hunger Games, serving as the symbol of the rebellion of the districts.  Looking at the origin of the mockingjay pin, it is surprising to see the effect of the mockingjay pin on the country of Panem especially considering the controversial beginning of the mockingjay. History of the Mockingjay            The pin is a reminder of the actual mockingjay bird, which was a result of a spying feature gone wrong. During the days of the rebellion, the jabberjay was used to relay information back to the capitol until the rebels found out and used it against them. Eventually the jabberjays were discontinued and released into the wild where they mated with the mockingbirds, thus the mockingjays were created.                                              Agency of the Mockingjay pin and its Thing Power

          Most dystopian societies are based on pop culture. Unlike the traditional version of pop culture in today's world, pop culture in dystopian worlds tend to have an agenda and a motive behind it. For the most part, it is a way of controlling the citizens and keeping them in line. In other ways, it is a way of ensuring the unending loyalty of the citizens of the society.  For example, in The Hunger Games , the ruins of district 13 is repeatedly shown on TV in order to curb any signs of rebellion, this form of pop culture of course is meant to serve as a source of fear. In all the districts, the destruction of district 13 is commonplace and people are so used to seeing the footage that they do not pay attention to it anymore. An example is pointed out in  The Hunger games: Catching fire  when Katniss encounters two women in the woods and they say they are going to district 13 (Collins pg. 133). The women figured out that the footage was not a live one but rather the same on

      In the penguin English dictionary, a dystopia is defined as a wretched place.  Definition of Dystopia . Dystopia has been more or less incorporated as a genre of its own in literature. As a literary genre, dystopia can be said to be "a subgenre of science fiction or speculative fiction, it depicts a narrative environment in which society has all but broken down and extreme forms of governmental, societal or environmental disorder have taken over"  Dystopian Fiction by Oxford .       In dystopian fiction, most of the story is set several years into the future, and as a result there is evidence of technological advancement. Science fiction deals with technology and there is a wide range of technology in dystopian fiction. Perhaps this is why it is seen as a subset of science fiction.       A theme in dystopian environments is the assumption that it is a utopia. A utopia is meant to be a perfect place where the government and the people are working perfectly and eve