Introduction to the Dystopian Genre

What does the word dystopia literally mean?

• Distant place

• Not a good place

• Non-existent place

Of these dystopian works, which was written earliest?

• The Iron Heel

• Gulliver's Travels

• Brave New World

Which of these was NOT a major influence of dystopian literature?

• The Protestant Reformation

• World War II

• The Industrial Revolution

What was disturbing about the future world of The Time Machine?

• A nuclear apocalypse rendering the world barely habitable

• Time travel destroying the fabric of the universe

• Economic inequality resulting in separate species of humans

What was Orwell trying to critique in his novel "1984"?

• Communism

• Capitalism

• Propaganda

What was the basic formula for dystopia established by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver’s Travels?

• Gulliver encounters societies that seem impressive, but are seriously flawed.

• Upper class and lower class becoming separate species

• Traveling to new worlds and encountering different types of people

What was a major difference between dystopian fiction of the 19th century and the 20th?

• They no longer looked at what was currently going on in the world.

• The dystopians of the 20th century seemed more unlikely to happen. They seemed to be more "make believe."

• The new dystopians seemed more real and the possibility they could happen seemed more terrifying.

What is the relationship between science fiction and dystopia?

• Many dystopians look at how science has gone wrong.

• You can't have a dystopian world unless science is involved.

• They are not connected.