Featured: 5 Must-Read Dystopian Novels in the 20th Century

I am sure that most of us have dreamed of a perfect world – a utopia for ourselves. Although imagining utopia is easy, have you ever thought of a world that was the complete opposite of your perfect world? A society that is the opposite of utopia, where disorder and misery thrive, is called dystopia. Recently, books such as The Hunger Games and Divergent have popularized dystopian societies. Even though the books published today are good, these five books below are some dystopian novels of the twentieth century.

1. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

Nineteen Eighty-Four tells the story of Winston Smith, a member of the Party in the nation of Oceania. Like what most people wish for today in our society, Winston wishes to have freedom but cannot do so because it is considered as thoughtcrime, a crime punishable by death. Yet amidst the danger of being discovered, he rebels against Big Brother, fighting for privacy, love and the like. Published in 1949, Nineteen Eighty-Four serves as a haunting, vivid yet disturbing tale of totalitarianism with a pinch of oligarchy.

2. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Hedonism is the devotion to pleasure as a way of life. In other words, hedonism holds pleasure as the highest good. Huxley took this concept and created a society called “World State” which is controlled by “World Controllers.” It is divided into a five-tier caste system: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. In addition to that, people are given drugs so they will not feel unhappiness or pain. Aside from these, the formation of relationships and families are discouraged and looked down upon. People are forced unto promiscuity since birth thus leading to a world where excessive carnal pleasures take place. Aldous Huxley perfectly combines satire and science to create a society that is controlled through technology and science. The novel conveys that technology and hedonism taken to the extreme will turn one’s utopia into one’s dystopia, instead.

3. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

The novel follows Guy Montag, a fireman in an American society where he burns books for a living. Yes, in this dystopian society, a fireman isn’t called to put out fire; he is asked to start fires instead. What do they burn exactly? Aside from houses, they mainly burn books because they spur intellectual thoughts and like thoughtcrime in Nineteen Eighty-Four, the government represses the freedom of expression. Guy is happy with his job until a series of events make him question the act of book burning. Unlike the previous novels, Fahrenheit 451 is quite easy to understand. You can read it in one sitting and you don’t have to bring out your dictionary to find the meaning of the words. Fahrenheit 451 values the freedom of expression and highlights our society’s dependence on technology which makes us unable to live without it and leads us to the ignorance of nature and the like.

4. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

There must be a time where you have thought if you really fit in the world. David Strorm, the novel’s protagonists, thought the same way. David lives in a district that lies on the edge of the Unknown. This community lives in awe of the “Old People” and their mighty inventions but they believe that God had sent the “Tribulation” (in the form of a nuclear war) to punish them for being amoral. This leads to the ridiculous belief of these people that anything or anyone that deviates from the norm should be burned (if it’s an animal) or banished (if it’s a human). They live in fear and isolation, only existing in a state of constant alert for any mutation. At first, he hardly questions his people’s beliefs but as a series of events occur, he slowly realizes that he, too, is not an ordinary person and the power he possesses can either bring him to his demise or thrust him towards a world of freedom and speech. Wyndham’s The Chrysalids brings fundamentalism into focus and warns us of ignorance that will destroy anything that is not normal.

5. The Running Man by Richard Bachman

First published in 1982 under Richard Bachman, the not-so-secret penname of Stephen King, The Running Man is a novel set in the dystopian future of America, when a totalitarian government runs it. The protagonist, Ben Richards, is desperate for money to pay for his daughter’s medical bill so he decides to enlist in a brutal reality game show where the main objective is to stay alive, much like the The Hunger Games. The contestants are declared as “enemies of the state” and to win the prize of 100 billion “New Dollars,” they must survive being chased and killed for 30 days. Despite not being Stephen King’s greatest novels, The Running Man still tells the tale of a desperate man, willing to do anything to save his family from poverty.

Thanks to Formaldehyde and sheepcat; for editing!