dystopia essay questions

A/N: This was my research essay for my senior year of high school. I have always been very interested in dystopian societies, and doing this gave me a lot of joy. I am very proud of myself, as it is the first essay I have ever applied myself on. Tell me what you think!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Defining DystopiaImagine living in the most undesirable society, a society where the government watches and controls everything you do, a society in which you have no individual choice. It is a society where anything you think or do against the government can be punishable by isolation, torture, or death. There is no independence, no freedom, and no personal thought. It is often rampant with poverty, disease, and filth. A society where you career and social status are pre-destined and you cannot alter it. And imagine that the government of this society did everything in its power to make you believe that this was the most ideal living situation for you.This is a dystopian society. The word dystopia traces its roots back to the Greek word dys (meaning bad ) and topos (meaning place) (Dictionary). Citizens in a dystopian society never question their government. They are either brainwashed or too scared to speak up against the injustices being performed in their society. Bernard Marx from Brave New World and Winston Smith from 1984 are different. They have been woken from the stupor of obedience their governments put them in and begin questioning their society. What they find is more horrible, dangerous and hopeless than they could have imagined. Dystopian societies can be identified by the unique characteristics of its government by using examples from 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxely. These characteristics are social restrictions, strictly government controlled groups.
Dear Students, The world can be a scary place. Every generation notices things that need to be changed – devastation of the environment; pervasive poverty; continual prejudice and discrimination.  But hope seems to be a human quality that keeps us going. Some authors have explored the world of the future and have tried to imagine what could cause a major change and what the results of that change may be.  For instance, some writers consider a natural disaster that topples cities and ruins infrastructures, which once supported communication, transportation and distribution of basics like food and water.  Survival of the fittest takes over.  Other authors consider how political issues polarize a country and cause civil war.  Who wins?  How are laws and governments reorganized?  How can one group of citizens be “losers” to the other and still live side by side? Other questions that these fantasy situations may evoke include: Will a catastrophe unify us as “citizens of planet Earth,” or will an apocalypse forever alter the world as we know it?  Who will survive?  What will be left to live on?  What parts of human nature will survive and gain control – competition and fear, or compassion and humanity? These are the questions that authors of dystopian novels ponder. A dystopia is a view into the future with something gone wrong in society – it’s almost like another world, or our world turned upside down.  Usually in a dystopia, individual freedom is lost due to an authoritarian or totalitarian government.  Social controls are meant to “keep everyone safe” – from themselves.  Instead these same controls are one-sided and people who don’t fit the social norm are persecuted or destroyed.  Within such a controlled society, there is still an imbalance of power and someone ultimately gains more from the system than others.  The most unsettling question is, Are there countries.
*Click here to download this Peer Review document/assignment (this assignment can be used on all argumentative essays). Essay 1: close reading of Huxley’s Brave New World. Due: Thursday, March 27th (e-mail file + bring one printed copy to class) *If you do not turn in your essay (a printed copy and electronic copy) by the start of class the day it is due, you will receive no credit for the entire assignment. There are no extensions. Late work will not be accepted and will receive no credit. Grading: Essay 1 is worth 15% of your overall course grade. *Plagiarism, in all forms, will not be tolerated. Any essay that plagiarizes will automatically fail. Refer to City Tech’s Policy on Academic Integrity on the syllabus for more specific details. Feedback: I am more than happy to discuss your ideas/drafts in person with you, at any stage of your reading/thinking/writing process. If you would like to do so, schedule a conference with me during my office hours. Please note that I will be out of the country (and therefore unavailable to meet/respond via e-mail, in a timely manner), from Tu 3/25 on. Writing Task & Purpose In class and on our OpenLab course site you have been using close reading to generate questions and ideas about Brave New World. For this first essay, you will build on this work, using analysis to write a 4-5 page thesis-driven essay that presents a thesis (argument) about the novel and uses subsequent claims/evidence from the text to explore and support this point. This short essay is argumentative. Therefore, your thesis should be persuasive (but arguable), and your essay should be driven by analysis (subsequent claims and evidence). Remember that the purpose of this essay is not to merely summarize (simply report what the story is about) or to write about some idea (values, conflict) in general, but to critically consider how some idea is represented in a.