Ty House
ENGL112B
Doctor M.
Warner
30 April
2013
Self-Denial
in the Dystopian World:
An
Annotated Bibliography
What
human rights are worth sacrificing in order to better mankind as a whole? Is it
worth it to sacrifice rights at all? What will happen if certain fundamental
human rights are sacrificed? These are all questions that reading dystopian
books can answer. The genre of Utopia/Dystopia is a wide and diverse genre;
however, at the heart of the matter, there lie similar traits, themes, and
ideas. A common theme within the genre of Dystopia is the gain of societal
stability and peace at the expense of inalienable human rights. For instance,
the Shadow Children series, by
Margaret Haddix Peterson, is based in a world where overpopulation is rampant
and resources are scarce. The solution that is enforced, then, in order to stop
overpopulation, is to limit households to two offspring; all the rest are
killed (Haddix). In order to gain
control of the situation that Haddix�s world has gotten into, the government
decides that it is best if the people sacrifice their right to however many
offspring they want.
The Shadow
Children series is an excellent example of why books of Dystopian Fiction
are important. Key issues are raised in a raw, in-your-face context that forces
the reader to really think about and grasp the authors� intent and opinion on
the matters. The author realizes humanity�s apparent need to have ultimate
control. The author therefore creates these books as a warning to those who
believe that the sacrifice of human rights, regardless of how small, is
acceptable and beneficial at all. This curtailing of human rights brings about
a civil unrest that destroys the pseudo-peace that is gained.
Throughout
my own history, the only books that stick out in my mind are books of a
dystopian nature; for the longest time, I could not figure out why. Eventually,
I realized that one of the reasons I love this genre is the way that social and
personal issues are so blatantly addressed. Dystopian Fiction books encompass
the struggle that individuals go through when they are faced with (or become
aware of) the restraints that they have been put in. This same struggle is the
second reason why this genre is important to me.
Self-Denial
in the Dystopian World:
An
Annotated Bibliography
Bradbury,
Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster, 2012.
Print.
Summary: Ray Bradbury
writes of a future where people no longer read books. Information is given to
them via television-wall sets or directly into ear-fitted radios. Guy Montag
(the protagonist), a firefighter who burns books, begins to wonder about the
books� contents, and reads (and even steals) a few. This begins Montag�s
struggle against the society he is raised in.
Critique: A large part
of Bradbury�s philosophy is his belief in the freedom of speech. Fahrenheit
451 shows us a world where the freedom of speech through books has been
nullified with the intention to create a sameness nationwide; this negation of
the freedom of speech, a fundamental human right, is what sends Montag�s
society down a path void of knowledge and filled, instead, with mindless
information.
Collins,
Suzanne. Catching Fire. New York, New York: Scholastic, Incorporated,
2013. Print.
Summary: In this
second book of the Hunger Games
series, Collins continues to follow the lives of Katniss Everdeen and Peeta
Mellark, the co-winners of the last Hunger Games. In this sequel, a rebellion
of all districts arises against the strict and oppressive Capitol of Panem.
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York, New
York: Scholastic, Incorporated, 2010. Print.
Summary: Suzanne Collins
writes about a post-apocalyptic world in which twelve districts are ruled under
the Capitol Panem. The Capitol holds the �Hunger Games� annually, where one
person from the age of 12-18 fights to the death to win, in order to maintain
peace, and keep the districts from rebelling (again) against the Capitol.
However, this rule is taken too far, and ends up causing the exact thing it was
made to prevent, which is rebellion.
Collins,
Suzanne. Mockingjay. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale Cengage Learning,
2012. Print.
Summary: In the final
book of the Hunger Games series,
Katniss agrees to lead the districts into a further rebellion against Panem,
which has become more oppressive than before. The rebels are able to gain
control of the districts, and prepare to use them to defeat the Capitol.
Hunger Games Trilogy
Critique: Those governing Panem, in an
attempt to keep the peace and exercise control through fear over the twelve
districts, create The Hunger Games. Peace, an excellent goal to strive for,
cannot be enforced by fear. It will eventually cause an uprising, as Collins
depicts. The right to live is fundamental and applicable to all humans, and
Panem�s Hunger Games impose on that right by making anyone eligible to
participate (and die in) the Hunger Games.
Equilibrium. Dir. Kurt
Wimmer. Perf. Christian Bale, Emily Watson, Taye Diggs, Angus MacFayden.
Miramax Echo Bridge, 2002. Film.
Summary: In Libria, a
city in a post-WWIII environment, emotions have been blamed to be the cause of
war. The solution, then, is to eradicate all emotions (through a mandatory dose
of Prozium) and anything that could provoke emotions, such as art and music.
John Preston, a Grammaton Cleric (basically a member of an emotion detection
agency), skips his dose accidentally and is flooded with emotions he has never
felt before. In his attempt to share emotions, he finds an underground
resistance, and they manage to free Libria from their emotionless states.
Critique: This film
presents a world where the basic right to express or even have emotions is
denied. Libria is a classic example of a government that has created rules to
attempt a step towards Utopia but has, instead, created a Dystopia through
those very same rules. The unquestionable rule banning emotions denies a basic
human right (IMDB).
Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Among the Barons. New
York, New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2004. Print.
Summary: In the fourth
addition to the Shadow Children series, we return to the life of Luke
Garner, A.K.A. Lee Grant, who returns back to school after staying in hiding. When
the family of the actual Lee Grant sends their other son to visit Luke, he
finds out that it was not actually the brother that was sent, but a Population
Police officer, sent to find out his true identity. Due to this, Luke realizes
that he cannot trust anyone around him, and returns home.
Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Among the Betrayed. New
York, New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2003. Print.
Summary: In the third
book of the series the Shadow Children, Nina Idi, a shadow child, is
arrested, and given the choice to either reveal other the identities of other
shadow children, or to die. Instead, she manages to plan an escape for herself
and her three cellmates, succeeds, and decides to fight against the Population
Police in order to stop the murdering of shadow children.
Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Among the Brave. New
York, New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2005. Print.
Summary: This book,
starting off where the former leaves off, continues to follow the Luke Garner,
whose friends, who are also shadow children, have been caught by the Population
Police. Luke was able to hide from them and not be found. He sets off to find
and save his friend from the Population Police, and takes steps towards
destroying them.
Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Among the Enemy. New
York, New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2006. Print.
Summary: In the sixth
installment of the Shadow Children series, Matthies, Percy, and Alia are
captured by Population Police and are being taken to a work camp. Although they
are able to escape, Percy and Alia get injured and don�t make it. Matthias
meets Nina, Luke Garner, and other allies who are attempting to overthrow the
Population Police, and decides to join them.
Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Among the Free. New York,
New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2007. Print.
Summary: In the final
book of the Shadow Children series, Luke Garner, after refusing to shoot
a defiant old woman, runs away and remains in hiding from the Population
Police. After almost being captured, he discovers a village that is willing to
protect him, so when he finally goes back home, he sees that the Population
Police have been overthrown. Under the protection of an elderly news anchor,
Luke is able to reveal his true identity, his story, and the stories of his
other shadow children friends who were murdered, to everybody, and they all
come to accept the fact that the government was fully to blame. Luke immerses
believing that all the things he has ever wanted to do are possible.
Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Among the Hidden. New
York, New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2000. Print.
Summary: In a future
world that is severely overpopulated, the government outlaws parents having
more than two children. Any more are killed. Luke Garner, a third child who
must be hidden away, meets another third child, Jen, and they decide to rebel against
this unfair law.
Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Among the Impostors. New
York, New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2002. Print.
Summary: Luke Garner,
now older, attends an all-boys boarding school under the alias Lee Grant.
There, he meets other illegal third children, but is hesitant to reveal his
true identity to any of them. However, he learns that one of his friends is
actually a Population Police officer, and is attempting to get the true
identities of the illegal boys in order to report them.
The Shadow Children Critique: In order to save the world from running out of resources
and to quell overpopulation, the Population Police is created to keep human
offspring to a maximum of two per household. While this rule is created with
the best intentions and with the good of the majority in mind, the freedom for
a human to reproduce is greatly infringed upon. This enforcement makes this
book series innately Dystopian in that humans strive to better their world
through the sacrifice of certain fundamental rights.
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. Upper Saddle River,
New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2011. Print.
Summary: In London
(far into the future), the act of being a human has been reduced to a series of
choices that are made for you. A caste system is implemented, cloning is
commonplace, and birth, aging, and death are all seen as vile. Stability is
achieved, but humanity is lost. Only a handful of people notice.
Critique: In Huxley�s Brave
New World, every act that makes a human, human, is sacrificed and even
denounced in order for the society to gain peace and stability. The ability to
make your own decisions is constitutional for all humans, and Huxley portrays a
dystopian world in which human rights are overruled in order to keep things moving
at machine-like efficiency.
Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York, New York:
Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated, 1996. Print.
Summary: George
Orwell, in an attempt to depict the corrupted socialist ideas of the Soviet
Union, creates a world where animals take control of their own farm. Old Major,
an old and respected pig who is seen as the leader, suggests to the others a
dream in which all of the animals lived together without any humans in the way
to oppress them, and he tells them to work towards this. However, Old Major
dies three days later, and his seemingly great idea turns into a vicious power
battle between the animals.
Critique: Orwell
presents a world where a sage with great intentions dreams up equality for all
without anyone governing above them. This sage, however, is not alive long
enough to carry out his dream; instead, his followers try to enforce his dream.
The dream ends up distorted and ruined by his followers as they are corrupted
more and more by the power that they possess. While trying to enforce an
egalitarian lifestyle, the enforcers become just as bad as the humans that the
animals are rebelling against.
Orwell,
George. 1984. New York, New York: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated,
1950. Print.
Summary: Orwell�s 1984
follows the life of Winston Smith, who lives in Oceania, one of three world
regimes. Everything is watched by the government; individuality is banned, as well
as self-expression and any expression other than the expression of hate for the
other world regimes. Winston dares to defy his government, and they take
actions against him.
Critique: The
government controls every move that is made in Oceania; the government controls
every thought by giving its people ideas to think; and the government
annihilates every opposition. This book deals with the sacrifice of all human
rights in order for peace within the regime to flourish. This type of peace is
fickle, however, and is superficial. Below the surface, however, are humans in
desperate need of individualism and self-expression.
Works Cited
"1984
By George Orwell 1984 at a Glance." 1984 by George Orwell
CliffsNotes. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/1984.html>.
"Animal
Farm Theme of Power: Leadership and Corruption." Shmoop.
Shmoop University, Incorporated, 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.shmoop.com/animal-farm/power-leadership-corruption-theme.html>.
Bradbury,
Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster, 2012.
Print.
"Brave
New World By Aldous Huxley Book Summary." Brave New World by
Aldous Huxley CliffsNotes. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2013. Web.
25 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/brave-new-world.html>.
"Catching
Fire Summary." Shmoop. Shmoop University, Incorporated, 2013.
Web. 25 Apr. 2013. <http://www.shmoop.com/catching-fire/summary.html>.
Equilibrium. Dir. Kurt
Wimmer. Perf. Christian Bale, Emily Watson, Taye Diggs, Angus MacFayden.
Miramax Echo Bridge, 2002. Film.
"Fahrenheit
451." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/451/themes.html>.
Haddix,
Margaret P. "Shadow Children Series Guide." Shadow Children
Series Guide. Margaret Peterson Haddix, 9 July 2012. Web. 26 Apr. 2013.
<http://haddixbooks.com/books/series_guide.html>.
"The
Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins Book Summary." The Hunger Games:
Book Summary. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/hunger-games/book-summary.html>.
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. Upper Saddle River,
New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2011. Print.
Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York, New York:
Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated, 1996. Print.
Orwell,
George. 1984. New York, New York: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated,
1950. Print.
Roiphe,
Katie. "Survivor." New York Times. New York Times, 8
Sept. 2010. Web. 25 Apr. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/books/review/Roiphe-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.
"Shadow
Children (Boxed Set): Among the Hidden; Among the Impostors; Among the
Betrayed; Among the Barons." Barnes & Noble.
Barnesandnoble.com, 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. <http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shadow-children-margaret-peterson-haddix/1017832603?ean=9780689033674>.
"The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UDHR, Declaration of Human Rights, Human
Rights Declaration, Human Rights Charter, The Un and Human Rights."UN
News Center. UN, 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/>.