Five Dystopic Novels

I did a great deal of reading during the COVID-19 lockdown. I did some reading before that too, although not as much. Only a few of them were dystopic novels. In fact, I was surprised that I had read so many. I usually read a variety of fiction and non-fiction books. These are the five dystopic novels:

The novel 1984 was written by George Orwell. In this one, the future is the manipulation of people by government, using the technique of thought control.

In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, the future of mankind is genetic engineering, accomplished by artificial child development.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood describes a world of forced surrogacy, combined with an authoritarian government.

In Jennifer Government by Max Barry, the future concerns the rise of private companies, with a corresponding decline of governments. In this novel, the government must be self-supporting, without taxation powers.

Finally, there was Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. The future is living life in computer games, the only entertainment available to people.

Fortunately, none of the futures described in these novels has actually happened. Still, they show how people can adapt to the situation they are in. They also show how easily people can be manipulated, although it’s never all of them. In general, they show how fragile our society can be.