9 Dystopian Novels That Will Change How You View The World
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Dystopian novels aren't just about scaring us or thrilling us or making us believe the worst in humanity. Oftentimes they are stark warnings. They are philosophical speculations. They are extrapolations on current societal behaviours into their worst possible results. Over the years many of these stories have been banned for various reasons, perhaps because they shine a light on something that is so ugly they shine a light on some of our worst human character traits.
However, they also illuminate some of humanity’s best character traits. They look at what we will sacrifice for love, what we’re willing to sacrifice for the future. In this article, we take a look at some of the most influential dystopian novels ever written, their key messages, and why you need to get your hands on a copy if you haven’t already.
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The Dystopian Novels You Need To Read
1. 1984 by George Orwell
1984 by George Orwell is the first novel I think of when I hear the word dystopia. Orwell plays with numerous ideas, ideas that have obvious and stark parallels in today's world. The idea of Big Brother, the government system that's always watching you. The idea of think-speak where language is co-opted by the totalitarian regime as a weapon of brainwashing. It gives examples, of how repeating a lie often enough can make it into truth, and in this act fundamentally calls into question what truth is.
1984 though, can perhaps be seen at heart, as a love story. It explores how love can offer hope even in the darkest of times, and just how dangerous that same love can be. Orwell has truly understood what it means to be human and then quite accurately predicted where our society could go. It's a powerful warning because it rings so true.
2. Animal Farm by George Orwell
Animal Farm is another classic from Orwell. This is a book that I, and many others, were made to read in school but it's anything but a child's book despite the fact its characters are farm animals. It’s a damning critique of fascism, drawing a direct comparison between leaders of the day.
3. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury focuses on the historical role of book burning, a particularly disturbing act that has been used by totalitarian and fascist rulers on more than one occasion in an effort to control or restrict knowledge. In the story, the lead character, Guy Montag, is a fireman, a man tasked with destroying books. Guy becomes disillusioned with his role in society, with his role in censoring literature and destroying knowledge. Eventually, he quits and commits the crime of the preservation of literature himself.
4. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley speculates where the great scientific leaps and advancements of humanity may take us. He explores the role of the fields of reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation, and classical conditioning. These are all combined into a dystopian novel that structures the society for stability, where everything is controlled.
Brave New World tells the story of a single individual, the story's protagonist who challenges this societal control.
5. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Adapted into the award-winning TV show The Handmaid’s Tale focuses on The Handmaid's, a group of women who are forcibly assigned to produce children for the commanders, the ruling class of the dystopian society. The novel itself explores themes of the subjugation of women in a patriarchal society, the loss of female agency and individuality and perhaps most importantly, the means of resistance and the attempts to regain individuality and independence.
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6. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Clockwork Orange tells the disturbing story of a group of young delinquents led by the main protagonist Stanley Kubrick. It is a commentary on juvenile delinquency. But despite the immensely disturbing violence portrayed perhaps the most disturbing part is the treatment that he receives, a treatment designed to fix his delinquency.
7. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was adapted into the award-winning film titled Blade Runner. It explores the idea of artificial intelligence gaining sentience gaining consciousness in it androids are treated as slaves to humanity. The book explores the theme of resistance and independence against an overpowering societal structure.
The novel is set in a post-apocalyptic San Francisco. Earth's life has been damaged by nuclear war. The story follows Rick Deckard a bounty hunter, who was tasked with retiring escaped Androids. In it, we get opposing views, you have the system which stipulates that these androids are just machines, machines that are out of control. But then you also have the point of view of the Nexus six models androids who seem human.
They are desperately clinging to life and hoping to escape the lives they were created for.
8. Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
Stand on Zanzibar creates a sprawling narrative that presents the complex and multifaceted view of a future world.
Stylistically, it's immensely innovative with a large cast of characters presenting a broad cross-section of this future world. It explores the effect and impact of technology alongside themes of humanity's greed and selfishness and the disparate nature of political desire.
9. IQ84 by Haruki Murakami
IQ84 is a love story and mystery and a dystopia an ambitious undertaking by Haruki Murakami that rivals George Orwell's 1984. When a young woman named Aomame follows a taxi drivers enigmatic suggestion, she begins to notice rather puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. And through these discrepancies, she suddenly realises that she's entered a parallel existence, a world where the norm governances of the universe don't seem to apply, at least not in the same way.
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