dystopia

February 25, 2014

Breaking Down Dystopia: The Hunger Games – part 3

Dear Jerry,
This week we will be bringing our series to an end by talking about what we can learn from these amazing books that we seem to love so much. The past two weeks I have talked about the capital and how they think, then I talked about how the districts work, and eventually how Katniss defied the Capital.
The Hunger Games is a great book that many, many people love, but what can we take out of it? Well for starters it gives us a reality of how powerful the government can get, and how easily it can get out of control. The districts of Panam were not always separated into districts, and they had not always had to participate in the Hunger Games. But once the country rose up against the Capital, the Capital found it necessary to split them up so they were less powerful and scare them with the Hunger Games. This is a great example of why we need to make sure our government does not become more powerful than us.
Another thing is that it gives us another perspective of “reality” T.V shows. Nowadays we have shows like Surviver, Wipe Out, or even the Bachelor, that encourage us to cheer for people to get hurt, either physically, or emotionally. I don’t know about you, but that sounds a lot like the Capital. In The Hunger Games, the Capital puts on the games and sits back to watch people die, or get hurt, and that is what we are beginning to do in our own world today. With shows like these, we are not far off from the Capital.
With all of that being said, what are you entertained by? I think The Hunger Games gives us many chances to examine ourselves and also examine our government. But if there is one thing I want to leave you with, it is that you should never stop asking questions, that is what Katniss did, and it changed her world and everyone else’s world around her, for the better.

-Maddy

February 7, 2014

Breaking Down Dystopia: Divergent – Part 1

Dear Jerry,

This is the first blog of a 3 part series that I, along with my three other high school classmates, am doing on Dystopian worlds, their breakdowns, and the outcome of those breakdowns. I am excited about doing this series and I can’t wait to break down Dystopia with you.

In Veronica Roth’s book titled Divergent, she puts you into a seemingly perfect world with a flawless system of balance. In this world, they are dedicated to pursuing and cultivating your most prominent virtue. Therefore, pretty much squelching the other virtues.

This system is separated into five factions. They are: Amity, Erudite, Abnegation, Candor and Dauntless.

Amity: The Peaceful. They value peace and seek in everything they do.

Erudite: The Intelligent. They believe ignorance is just a lack of knowledge.

Abnegation: The Selfless. They value selflessness and the service of others.

Candor: The Honest. They are very truthful and frankly and tactlessly say what they feel.

Dauntless: The Brave. They strive to become fearless and indestructible.

These are the five factions that separate this balanced society. On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-old’s must select the faction in which they will live for the rest of their lives after taking a placement test. Before that, they live in the faction their parents chose at age sixteen. On this day, all the factions come together to watch the Choosing ceremony. The ceremony takes place only after each eligible child has taken Aptitude test, which tests them and tells them what Faction matches their proficiency. But ultimately, the child still makes the choice, though it is rare for them to go against their test results. They are called up one by one to make their selection. At the end of the day they then go to their new home which is whatever faction they chose, to stay there for the rest of their lives. Then it is all balanced again until the next choosing ceremony.

Beatrice Prior is Abnegation born and there is no doubt in anyones mind that she will pick Abnegation as her faction at her Choosing ceremony. That is, in everyones minds, except hers. All her life she has been instructed in the Abnegation ways of selflessness. But she isn’t sure it is the faction for her. And when her test comes back inclusive, she is even more terrified and confused. That is where I will pick next week. What is it that threw off this perfectly balanced world?

Hannah

February 3, 2014

Breaking Down Dystopia: The Hunger Games – Part 1

Dear Jerry,

Throughout the next three weeks I am going to be on the topic of ‘The Hunger Games’. In our culture today, we have become fascinated with these dystopia books, and we (the OneRoom bloggers) want to break it down, and show what it is about these books that we love so much.

Every dystopia book starts with this idea of a utopia. Now, you may be asking, “what is a utopia? And what is a dystopia?” Well a utopia is when an author makes a perfect world, and a dystopia is when that “perfect world” breaks down and begins to fall apart, or break out of its pattern. That is where The Hunger Games starts, and that is what I am going to write about.

In The Hunger Games, the Capital has tried to make their world and culture perfect for them, by separating Panam into districts that work for them in very specific ways. They have every need of theirs met without them having to lift a finger for it. For example, district 12 contributes to this by working as coal miners, for the Capital. District 11 is agricultural, District 4 handles the fishing, and so on.

For the Capital, everything is good. They have everything they want, with nice clothes, an abundance of food, and nice houses. They even have, once a year, a reality show that they put on, called The Hunger Games.They put on these “games” that every year every district must offer up two young people, one male, and one female, to fight till the death in an arena that the Capital makes, while everyone watches on TV. They do this to try and scare the Districts, so they don’t start another uprising to destroy their “perfect” Capital. So for the Capital, their lives are pretty perfect, (or so they think) until one young lady, named Katniss Everdeen, comes along and begins to rock the boat.

That is where I will pick up next week, so stay tuned!

-Maddy

Image

February 2, 2014

Breaking Down Dystopia: Ender’s Game – Part 1

Dear Jerry,

The next three Tuesdays, I (along with the rest of my One Room colleagues) will be writing about various dystopian worlds. Dystopia. That is a word you do not hear everyday. Dystopian worlds are worlds that are regulated tightly by the government in order to produce a “perfect” society that is as free from trouble and pain as possible. The problem with these worlds is that the sin contained in human nature always causes them to break down eventually. My world that I am studying, is the world of Ender’s Game. I have to say that Enders Game is one of my favorite dystopian books. I finished reading it in about five hours. This fine piece of fiction chronicles the life of a brilliant young boy, Ender Wiggin. Ender is a third child in a word where two children is the norm and third or fourth children are despised by others outside the family. He is mocked and ostracized by his schoolmates and they try to beat him up just after he leaves school. They picked this day to attack him because he had just had his Monitor removed. The Monitor is a device that hears and sees everything that it’s wearer hears, so these bullies would have been in trouble if they had bothered him before. Even though Ender is only six, he realizes that he has to end this fight and end all other future fights in one swift stroke, so, he beats his antagonist senseless. The authority’s notice his ruthlessness and decide to recruit him to the Battle School to be trained to be a fleet commander. (All of the kids in Battle School are between 6-12) Many other children that show similar potential are recruited to fight against the relentless and powerful alien enemy, the Buggers. The commanders and staff of Battle School see his potential as an excellent and potentially world-saving commander and start training him relentlessly. It is a very rough life. Ender’s life at Battle School is exhausting and violent. As the smartest kid there, he is the natural target for the older and stronger kids. Life follows a difficult, but set pattern that is fairly predictable until he realizes the value that the school, and really the whole world, places on his own well being. He begins to be hustled through training with unusual speed. I do not want to spoil anything, so I will be careful not to ruin the plot for those of you that have not read the book yet. Next week we will be writing in depth about the breakdown of our chosen dystopian worlds.

P.S. Ender’s Game has several scenes of fairly graphic violence. There are also several crude jokes made throughout the book. I would not recommend this book to anybody younger then fourteen. Anybody younger then that would have to have their parents approve it before they read it.

Sincerely,

Zachary.