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Dystopian Novels

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Title: Dystopian Novels


1
Dystopian Novels
2
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.

3
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.

4
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.

5
Characteristics of Dystopian Literature
  • Fictional and futuristic
  • Dystopias serve as warnings to contemporary man
  • Comment on our own current society
  • Strong focus on Technology

6
Ray Bradbury
  • You dont have to burn books to destroy a
    culture. Just get people to stop reading them.

7
Ray Bradbury
  • Born in 1920
  • Americas 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

8
The Times
  • Anti-communist movement led by Senator Joseph
    McCarthyblack listed Hollywood actors, book
    burning, banned booksin the 1940s-1950s
    (McCarthy Era).
  • Cold War Era
  • Korean War
  • Rise of TV
  • Increase of technology

9
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.

10
1950s and Conformity
  • Suburbs began to develop
  • Hairstyles, clothing, thinking, and behavior were
    all standardized.
  • Individuality was frowned upon or laughed at.

11
The 1950s Housewife
  • Women were mothers and homemakers.
  • A womans 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.

12
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

13
Themes
  • Censorship
  • Knowledge Vs. Ignorance
  • Literature and Writing
  • Technology and Modernization
  • Rules and Order

14
Narration
  • Third-person, limited omniscient follows
    Montags point of view, often articulating his
    interior monologues

15
Characters
  • Guy Montag
  • Mildred Montag
  • Captain Beatty
  • Stoneman Black
  • Clarisse McClellan
  • Professor Faber
  • Mrs. Phelps Mrs. Bowles
  • Granger

16
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 authors hints as
    what is to take place in future time within the
    novel

17
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.

18
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.
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