Dystopian Elements in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World

as Opposed to Utopian Elements in Suzanne Collins’

Hunger Games

I want to prove that the imagery in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World fits
the dystopian narrative way better than the utopian narrative, as is prominently
portrayed in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games. But, before we get into all of this we
should start this off by defining what the two keywords actually mean in this
context. The term “Utopia” was first introduced in Sir Thomas Moore’s widely
regarded book entitled Utopia. The name itself is a play on words, “οὐ (“not”) and
τόπος (“place”) which translates as “no-place” and literally means any non-
existent society”i. The second term that we will be focusing on today is
“dystopia”, and as you can tell from the name it represents a complete opposite
of an utopia. According to most dictionaries out there, the term is derived from
the following: “δυσ- "bad" and τόπος "place"; alternatively, cacotopia,[1]
kakotopia, or simply anti-utopia”, which subsequently means “a community or
society that is undesirable or frightening”ii

Now that we know what the keywords actually mean it’s about time that
we get into the main subject that we will be focusing on today which is of course,
the identity behind these two narratives, what makes one a dystopia and what
makes the other a dystopia.

The main reason as to why Brave New World is considered to be a Utopia is

the way that it is presented. Everything seems to be fine, everybody is happy,
there are no more wars, although the story does allude to the past being ravaged
by wars, the present seems to be completely fine. But, the more the story
proceeds the sadder it gets, and the sadder it gets the less it feels like a perfect
world, and more so resembles a place that has gotten rid of uniqueness and
originality and instead focuses on prolonging the human race’s chances of survival
over actually living their lives. ““If one's different, one's bound to be lonely.” iii Is a
very good quote to exemplify this idea, as it shows exactly how low the human
race’s standards for living have become with time. The race seems crippled,
willing to go as far as to torture children for the sake of controlling them later on.
It is a devastatingly gruesome future masquerading as a utopia, and that’s a fact.
Another interesting quote that exemplifies this is the following: “I like being
myself. Myself and nasty.”iv. The world is yet again realizing the freedom that
comes with making mistakes, with being unpleasant and rebelling against the
norm. That is what makes humanity human, but at what cost? That is the
question that the utopian ideology asks every day. That is how we know that this
is an Utopian narrative.

On the other hand we have Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games. This is a clearly
dystopian world since it never actually implies to be good, it never implies that it
is perfect, it only ever shows the outcome of war and the abuse of power by the
winners. As is known, history is written by the winners, but since this is a
dystopian novel even the nation that actually wins the war against the other
districts ends up rebelling against its rulers. Certain quotes such as the following
support this narrative: “Stupid people are dangerous.”v, “District 12: Where you
can starve to death in safety.”vi and of course, the sarcastic “May the odds be ever
in your favor”.vii

In conclusion, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is a clear example of a

utopian narrative while Suzanne Collins’ Hunger games is a very decisive example
of a dystopian narrative. The fact of the matter is that even though these two
terms, utopian and dystopian, are often times interchangeable, it is notable that
in these two cases the difference is quite obvious, obvious enough that it cannot
be mistaken for one another that easily. One is about a girl and her friends going
up against an empire that created their own dream world, destroying everyone
else’s dreams of their very own utopian society in the process, while the other is a
sad idea of a world dominated by science over feeling, progression over
individuality, the thought of the many over the thought of the self.
i
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia
ii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystopia
iii
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New world, page 129, row 36-37
iv
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, page 84, row 10
v
Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games, Book One Catching Fire, page 13, row 12
vi
Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games, Book One Catching Fire, page 83, row 15
vii
Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games, Book One Catching Fire, page 37, row 8