Amazing Essays

Dystopian Characteristics in Novels

This essay is by Dinotrash.

Both of the novels Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and The Selection by Kiera Cass show characteristics of a dystopian world. Though Fahrenheit 451 is speculative fiction and The Selection is not, they share many similarities in their societies. Two characteristics they share are how society is dehumanized and how it is an illusion of a dystopia.

The novel Fahrenheit 451 demonstrates people living in a dehumanized state. Instead of actually learning at school, Clarisse McClellan said they had,
"An hour of TV class, an hour of basketball or baseball or running, another hour of transcription history or painting pictures, and more sports, but do you know, we never ask questions, or at least most don't; they just run the answers at you, bing, bing, bing, and us sitting there for four more hours of film-teacher...It's a lot of funnels and a lot of water poured down the spout and at the bottom, and then them telling us it's wine when it's not." (Bradbury 27)
Everything they were being taught had no significance, so even though they went to school, they were completely uneducated. Also, their emotions seem inhuman, for they have lost all sympathy and empathy. Montag, the protagonist, is feeling sick and stressed, so the only thing his wife, Mildred tells him is, "The keys to the beetle are on the night table. I always like to drive fast when I feel that way. You get it up around ninety-five and you feel wonderful. Sometimes I drive all night and come back and you don't know it. It's fun out in the country. You hit rabbits, sometimes you hit dogs. Go take the beetle" (Bradbury 61). She is telling him to go out and kill, just for the fun of it. She does not understand how she is taking away a life, and how bad that is, since she is just an average person in society. All of their lives have become completely apathetic and dehumanized.

The novel The Selection also demonstrates a dehumanized state, even though it is demonstrated in a different way. In America's conversation with the prince of Illéa, she is cornered into explaining the lives of the lower castes to him, since he does not understand what she and others have been through. America explains to Maxon,
"I know of families where people give up their share for their children or siblings. I know of a boy who was whipped in the town square for stealing food. Sometimes you do crazy things when you're desperate.' 'A boy? How Old' 'Nine,' I breathed with a shiver. I still could remember the scars on Jemmy's tiny back, and Maxon stretched his back as if he felt it all himself." (Cass 156)
Maxon was oblivious to this event and others like it, and he felt awful. He felt even worse when America explained her own experiences. He responded with,
"Have you' - he cleared his throat - 'have you ever been like that? Starving?' I ducked my head, which was a dead giveaway. I really didn't want to tell him about that. 'How bad?' 'Maxon, it will only upset you more.' 'Probably,' he said with a grave nod. 'But I'm only starting to realize how much I don't know about my own country. Please.' I sighed. 'We've been pretty bad. Most times if it gets to where we have to choose, we keep the food and lose electricity. The worst is when it happened near Christmas one year. It was very cold, so we were all wearing tons of clothes and watching our breath inside the house. May didn't understand why we couldn't exchange gifts. As a general rule, there are never leftovers at my house. Someone always wants more." (Cass 156)
Maxon had no idea how to react, and he realized that his society has more people in suffering than he thought. He knew the lower classes have less money, and are in a worse situation, but he didn't known the extent of their suffering. In "1984 and all that" by Adrian Mitchell, society being dehumanized is also demonstrated. The author says, "Outside the house, seasons change and murder wears a fine uniform. Inside, her senses are slack; she does not notice the smell of dead love, stale in the bright house" (Mitchell 226). People are completely oblivious to what is really going on in their world, and are trapped in their own state of ignorance.

The society in Fahrenheit 451 is described as being a utopia, and that everyone is happy, and everyone's lives are easier. Beatty, Montag's boss says, "Speed up the film Montag, quick. Politics? One column, two sentences, a headline! Then, in mid-air, all vanishes! Whirl man's mind around about so fast under the pumping hands of publishers, exploiters, broadcasters that the centrifuge flings off all unnecessary, time-wasting thought." (Bradbury 52)
Nothing in the society requires any thought or effort, so it seems like it would be a perfect lifestyle. Beatty also explains that, "All the minor minor minorities with their navels to be kept clean. Authors, full of evil thoughts, lock up your typewriters. They did. Magazines became a nice blend of vanilla tropica. Books, so the damned snobbish critics said, we're dishwater. No wonder books stopped selling, the critics said. But the public, knowing what is wanted, let comic books survive... We must all be alike. Not everyone born free equal... Each man the image of every other; then all are happy..." (Bradbury 55)
Everything that could be offensive has been removed from the society, so nobody could be upset. In their eyes, if society was not miserable, they must be happy, so everything seemed amazing to them. They all thought that without books and knowledge, the world was perfect. Also, in "The Day After Tomorrow" by Ray Bradbury, people also are antisocial, and lost in their own worlds. Bradbury writes, "The woman with the radio thimble crammed in her ear the other night symbolizes my failure to count on certain psychological needs which demanded satisfaction earlier than I supposed" (Bradbury 189). While one observing the situation may think that, the other person in the situation probably is having the time of their lives, and thinking that nothing could be better.

In The Selection, some things that may seem ridiculous to modern society, were considered an honor in their society. America's mom found out about an event that could potentially make their lives so much better, even though America is clearly not interested. Her mom explains the entire event to her anyway, saying,
"Our beloved prince, Maxon Schreave," Mom continued, "is coming of age this month. As he ventures into this new part of his life, he hopes to move forward with a partner, to marry a true Daughter of Illéa... One woman from each province Will be drawn at random to meet the prince. Participants Will be housed at the lovely Illéa Palace in Angeles for the duration of their stay. The families of each participant will be generously compensated" - she drew out the words for effect - "for their service to the royal family." (Cass 9) Almost every single eligible girl in the country had entered this contest, and America seems to be the only one who realizes how messed up the whole thing is. When she is picked, she honestly doesn't know what to do with herself. She just follows the rules, and "I thought about the cameras following me in the terminal and pictured my family watching my entrance on TV. I hoped they'd be proud" (Cass 63). She knew what she was doing was not right, but since everyone was in the illusion that this whole situation was perfect, she had absolutely no choice to go along with it.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and The Selection by Kiera Cass both are dystopian worlds. They share many common dystopian themes. Any of these seemingly outworldly ideas can happen, even if they don't happen any time soon. Any society can go downhill.