Faith Wheat- Blog Post 3

Moylan’s “Preface” goes over the meaning of dystopia and how it’s seen throughout 20^th century novels. While some aspects of dystopia are seen in both 20^th and 21^st century dystopia, there are many characteristics of dystopia that Moylan touches on that aren’t depicted in Divergent. Moylan states, “Dystopian narrative is largely the product of the terrors of the twentieth century” (Moylan, xi). Even though Dystopias are still based on the fears of society, the fears have changed from the 20^th to the 21^st century. Divergent isn’t about war, famine and disease, but it’s about a government that utilizes too much power and takes away peoples individuality. It also deals with fitting in and other problems that teenagers face on a daily basis. Moylan also talks about how the character usually ends up defeated in the 20^th century dystopias but in Divergent, Tris survives and saves almost everyone (Moylan, xii). 21^st century dystopia protagonists usually last longer than the protagonists of 20^th century dystopias. Moylan also states, “The classical dystopia flourished in societies besotted by greed, destruction, and death” (Moylan, xi), but Divergent was read and enjoyed by many, not just those who live within bad societies. If Moylan were writing about the 21^st century dystopia, he would have to switch out the examples of the fears of the 20^th century for ones that are found in the 21^st century. He would also have to talk about how the protagonists found in 21^st century dystopias are different than the ones in the 20^th century. Girl protagonists are seen a lot more throughout 21^st century dystopias than the 20^th century ones, and the protagonist stays alive longer.