Think about the science fiction novels you read in school–I bet almost all of them were dystopian.
First, there’s The Giver, taught in 5th or 6th grade almost without fail. This is one of my favorite middle grade books, complete with creepy adults and indistinct ending. Lots of lessons about why memories of pain and suffering are important to society.
Then Fahrenheit 451 is taught in Jr. High or High School. Bradbury is one of my favorite authors, and his alarm over the use of television for self-medication is totally relevant to teens. Lord of the Flies is another popular choice and is probably one of the most attention-holding books read in school due to its level of violence.
Next, high schoolers are given either 1984 or Animal Farm, or sometimes Brave New World. Books I hate, like, and love in that order. These books are much darker, almost as if teachers are starting to panic at the realization that their teen students are about to enter society.
Along the way, students might also pick up City of Ember, Feed, and recently, The Hunger Games.
Why do teachers love to use dystopian novels in the classroom? I think it’s because they want to ready kids for society and to prepare them to inherit the power they will soon gain to change it. What do you think?
Parker Peevyhouse loves dystopian novels, but doesn’t mind a happy ending either.
Parker Peevyhouse
lindajoysingleton
Joni Sensel
Chris Eboch
Nick
Greg R. Fishbone
I think beyond all other genres, dystopian causes the most thought. The hugest “what if” of them all in speculative fiction. And also a great way to show a lesson without being didactic in the least.
Loved Brave New World. I read this back in 1986 and it was probably near the top of eye-opening books for me. Wow!
Great post!
Love what you say about them inheriting the earth. I’d never considered I was doing this, but you’re right!
For me, it was the opportunity for critical thinking. It was easy to say, “we have love, but it hurts…. wouldn’t it just be better to get rid of love?” (Giver example)
Also love what the above commenter, PJ Hoover, said about being less didactic. It just wouldn’t have been the same to say, “love hurts, but we need to keep it.”
These reasons are reason enough to keep dystopian stories on an educational pedestal.
Pick me! Pick me! My daytime job is as a teacher
I am planning on teaching The Giver this semester for my students, although this is the first time that I will be doing so (I usually teach World Lit, and their novels are Night, The Alchemist, Chronicle of a Death Foretold…nothing dystopic).
I can say this. The kids (in high school) understand dystopic literature better than utopic. The world is not as it should be–it hasn’t been since Eden–and we are all acutely aware of it. Even something like The Crucible is, at its heart, dystopic literature.
And besides that, good literature is literature that pushes characters to the edge, to the limit. Of thought (The Yellow Wallpaper), of humanity (The Hunger Games), of the universe (Star Trek). Whatever the edge is, pushing the characters to that edge and seeing them react to it is the heart of good fiction writing. Therefore, spec fiction on a dystopia follows the formula of what is good writing.
I think it’s partly because the students are still at an idealistic stage where the problems of the world are very clear to them, and it’s hard for them to see why adults have not just “fixed” those problems. The dystopic books show how even what seems like a good fix (e.g., The Giver) can turn out to have very negative side effects — and solving the world’s problems, which they’ll very soon have to be involved in, is not nearly as easy as it sometimes looks.
I’m glad we had some teachers chime in on this one!
I was also thinking that dystopian books take place in the future so they usually require readers to puzzle out how a particular society works and what happened to the old society (one that is more familiar to us). This provides a chance for young readers to hone their critical thinking skills.
The reason is to desensitize children to the reality of the world by presenting the truth in a safe environment where they will react calmy, analytically and with some disbelief about the books. The concept taught is that the books are about the future. Nevermind that most of these were written a fair number of decades in the past, with a view to our own time.
The reality described in dystopian novels is reality itself. If children never read a dystopian novel, and came upon these books when they were more mature and experienced, they might react less calmly. However with the experience covered in early years and mixed with all those youthful emotions and confusions, it seems logical in later life to discount the natural reactionary side to a reading of the dystopian now.
I’d agree that many dystopian novels are used to encourage critical thinking and maybe make a lesson on what is or could be. But for me, as a Social Studies teacher, it goes beyond that. Most dystopian novels provide a clear construct for class and institutional analysis, which is something that other forms of literature do not do. So it is really about skill building. Learning how to deconstruct societies and understand how they operate is a key component to developing the skills necessary to do the same for the real world.
This also means that simply using dystopians as an agent for critical thinking or a warning, while fostering creative thought processes, can actually hinder analytical reasoning if they are not used in the terms I mentioned above. Rather than developing the skills of institutional analysis, for example, they could instead simply encourage conspiracy theories about what is or could be, which, in my view, skips logical thought.
“Desensitizing” is oversimplifying the the appropriate process with these books. It’s true kids might make connections regarding “the truth” in our society, but the real value is in teaching HOW things like social conditioning, class, history, religion/culture, nationalism, etc. are created. That “how” is then applied to the real world in a way that such a connection is not direct but rather built around analytical skills.
It’s great to hear from a teacher on this, especially with such an insightful answer. I see what you mean about how these kinds of books can help kids understand the workings of society.