Jordyn Kopelson- Blog Post 1

1. Repetitions: 

·      Children x7

·      Hero x5

·      Apocalyptic x3

·      Autonomy x2

·      Surveillance x2

·      Embedded x2

2. Strands: 

·      (Apocalypse, catastrophe, bloodbath, failure, extinction, defeat, are all under the label of some kind of disaster)

·      (Zombie, monster, villain, alien, are all classified as terrifying creatures)

·      (Oppressive, torturous, harrowing, terrible, punishing, brutal, are all under the label of hardships)

·      (Universal standard, harmonious, genetically engineered, conditioned, are all under the label of extreme uniformity)

3. Binaries: 

·      Hope/ terror

·       Tranquil/ Combat

·      Rich/ poor

·      Broken/ new

·      Love/ rivalry

·      Safety/ Danger

4.
 In “Fresh Hell” by Laura Miller, the strand of words apocalypse/catastrophe/bloodbath/failure/extinction/final defeat are prevalent within the article. These synonyms all fall under the classification of some type of tragedy. These words are significant because they show how oppressive and overriding a dystopian society is. Overall, as a whole, they illustrate the unpleasant and or depleting arrangement of words written within the article.

5.
 Throughout Miller’s article, he uses both depressing and tragic words, such as “apocalypse”, in order to emphasis the true unpleasantness that an author aims to illustrate within their dystopian worlds. However, later on, he contradicts these words/patterns, by pointing out that authors of children’s fiction have a hard time writing only about tragedies, and therefore feel the need to include a moral within their works. These specific authors turn the catastrophes of a dystopian society into a positive message, by proving that “a new, better way of life” (3) can be created as a result of disaster. Overall, it seems completely out of place to be using optimistic words, such as "hope" within the context of a dystopian work. In addition, he uses words such as “safety”, “hope”, “love” and “tranquility”, which also go against the common strand of what Miller originally describes a dystopia to include.