Gavin Werner

Gavin Werner


"Dystopian narrative is largely the product of the terrors of the twentieth century." (xi). Moylan makes it very clear that he believe that dystopias of the 20th century follow common themes that modern dystopias tend to stray away from. Moylan's analysis demands that dystopias reflect upon multiple aspects of life and society and surmise outcomes that doom us all. Moylan proclaimed that modern dystopias of the 20th century all end with the inevitable defeat of the protagonist and the destruction of the hero and the idea of hope is lost. This pessimistic outlook on how society would eventually end up was intended to make us weary of our path and invoke change. In these simpler times, Moylan points out that it can be very clear as to what the fiction is warning against by listing specific causes and making the origin of the dystopia rather obvious. If Moylan was able to write about Divergent, and other fictions similar to it, he would find patterns that the protagonist frequently causes change, although differences would range from implied change and the idea of hope for the future. Moylan would find that these dystopias don't necessarily clearly critic numerous aspects of modern society but rather zero in on a specific group of topics. The fictions tend to be less of a cautionary tale made to warn the reader and invoke change, they tend to be more casual, especially when they are aimed toward the troubled youth of our time. It becomes apparent that the modern dystopias of the 21st century don't reflect on society let alone the turmoil of humanity. They tend to focus on philosophy in subtext rather than tell how the world needs to change, "Human beings as a whole cannot be good for long before the bad creeps in and poisons us again." (441)