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Dystopian Fiction : Dystopian Novel

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Why is dystopian fiction important? Some may say that it is because of the high-tension environments, the action, or the gripping storylines. While those aspects certainly play a significant role in the continued success of dystopian fiction, being well-written stories is not the only goal. This paper will detail various reasons why dystopian fiction continues to be popular and successful with all audiences, using The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Giver, and Ready Player One as examples. In order to fully understand why dystopian fiction is important, the term dystopia needs to be defined. According to dictionary.com, dystopia is a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding. Merriam-Webster defines dystopia as an imaginary place where people are unhappy and usually afraid because they are not treated fairly. The Oxford dictionary defines dystopia as an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. These definitions have one thing in common—dystopia is bad. And although many aspects of dystopian societies seem like possible future situations, they are generally considered to be fictional outcomes. One cause of the continued success of YA dystopian fiction is how it examines and challenges gender stereotypes and norms. Although it is becoming more common to have female protagonists in general, it still is not quite as common to have strong feminine

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