Dystopian Literature Flashcards
Grade 9 · English · Flashcards
Key terms, works, characters, and concepts from the dystopian literary tradition.
Flashcards
- Dystopia
- A fictional society characterized by oppression, loss of freedom, and systemic injustice; used as social commentary.
- Utopia
- An imagined perfect society; the term coined by Thomas More in 1516 from Greek meaning 'no place' or 'good place'.
- Totalitarianism
- A form of government that exerts absolute control over all aspects of public and private life, crushing any dissent.
- Big Brother (1984)
- The all-seeing figurehead of Oceania's Party in Orwell's 1984; symbolizes the invasive surveillance of the totalitarian state.
- Newspeak (1984)
- The Party's official language, designed to reduce vocabulary and eliminate words that allow for rebellious thought.
- Doublethink (1984)
- The ability to simultaneously hold two contradictory beliefs as both true; a psychological tool of totalitarian control.
- Soma (Brave New World)
- A pleasure drug distributed by the state in Huxley's Brave New World to keep citizens docile and distracted from reality.
- Bradbury's firemen (F451)
- In Fahrenheit 451, firemen start fires rather than extinguish them—burning books to enforce state censorship.
- The Giver (Lowry)
- Jonas's community has achieved 'Sameness'—the elimination of emotion, choice, color, and memory to prevent suffering, at the cost of humanity.
- Surveillance state
- A government system that monitors citizens' behavior, communications, and movements to prevent dissent; central to 1984.
- Resistance/rebellion
- The dystopian protagonist's arc typically moves toward questioning and resisting the oppressive system, often at great personal cost.
- Social commentary
- The use of fiction to critique real societal problems; dystopian authors use exaggerated scenarios to warn about current trends.
- Speculative fiction
- The broader genre that includes dystopian literature; fiction that asks 'what if?' about society, technology, or the future.
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