Dystopian literature is experiencing a big rise in popularity with readers today. A dystopia is “an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives.”

Everyone often wonders or dreams what would happen if they were to create their own little world. It often would be similar to these popular dystopian stories that our out today such as Hunger Games, Ten with a Flag, The Veldt, Harrison Bergstrom, Divergent.

A dystopian short story people enjoy to read is The Veldt, people enjoy reading this because of the world of technology they are in where they can make any setting they want to appear in their nursery. People can only dream of being wherever you want whenever you want, and that is exactly what the kids in The Veldt do. So therefore, it really just fascinates people reading this story and you can see why it would be popular.

In the Veldt it says. This house which clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them. Their approach was sensed by a hidden switch and the nursery light turned on when they came within ten feet of it. Similarly, behind them, in the halls, lights went on and off automatically as they left them behind.” This quote is basically explaining how “high-tech” the home is. So readers can escape their normal life and experience and read about what it’s like to live this type of life, that’s what I think interests people about this story.

The dystopian short story that is also popular is “Harrison Bergeron”. In the story, their world is highly controlled all by the government. The government is trying to make everyone equal. They believe everyone should have the same intelligence level, same strength, same appearance ,etc. But if you are greater than others you will be given a disability to make you equal. his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times.” So because someone was smarter than others he has to hear a loud noise every twenty seconds so he couldn’t even possibly think for long. People enjoy reading this because they can see what it would be like if everyone was really “equal”. They also could have opinions that they think the government is too controlling and they can just relate to the story in a certain way.

Ten With A Flag is another dystopian story that a lot of people like. This story also has a very controlling government that is also very “high-tech”. The government controls the movement of all cars, homes, phones and whatever they do and wherever they go. They also control all statuses of all citizens meaning they treat them like items. Greater or lesser only based on their numbers 1-10.  “As such, the state has raised both your rating to eight, effective immediately, Congratulations. The numbers effect what type of car house, spouse, phone basically everything that happens in your life is controlled by a number. People would enjoy reading this story because if it’s intense plot twists and crazy storyline of how powerful the government really is. People may also relate to it in certain ways depending on their opinions on their government etc.

So why is dystopian literature experiencing such a rise in popularity? Well the answer is simple. “McCarthy paints the world of which the characters are alive through the use of dark and depressing imagery, which unfortunately provides the ideology of suffering and loss of dignity.”