Question

Which story element is most often found in dystopian fiction?

Answer 1

Dystopian novels often take place in a delusional and destroyed society which is overrun by a government with questionable morals. For example, look at Big Brother in 1984. The protagonist is generally the one who notices something ill about the world they live in. Generally this type of fiction relies on a plot of the heroine/hero questioning their government and snooping around to find out the truth despite putting themselves and their loved ones at risk. The hero learns of how their world came to exist, usually out of some sort of disaster or world wide destruction, and then tries to either fight against it and overthrow the government or escape. TYPICALLY, the hero is successful in their attempts and either a plot twist or ambiguous ending completes the story.

Answer 2

Some of the most common elements are thought control, government corruption, and government oppression.

1. thought control - in a dystopian society, free thinking is often forbidden. If you are allowed to think freely, you will realize that the government is corrupted and you will want to rebel. This is why the government is trying to control what you think about, in order to keep you in check.

2. government corruption - in dystopian societies, the government is often (if not always) corrupted. Although this topic is not really different from the state of the world today, it is more drastic in dystopian novels. The government is thinking only about money, about controlling its people, and doesn't really care about the wellbeing of its people.

3. government oppression - oppression goes along with corruption. The government is oppressing its people - nobody is living happy lives in a dystopian society. Everyone is oppressed and made to do something they don't feel like doing, usually something against their will. Their minds are also often controlled so that they don't understand that something is wrong - but there is always someone, at least one person, who is different and who will try to wake people up and fight the system.