The Role of the Dystopian Representations in Contemporary American Young Adult Fiction in Selected Works of Scott Westerfeld and Suzanne Collins

Abstract

The term “dystopia” has come into existence to describe a place in which all conditions seem to be working against individuals. However, our contemporary culture shows that dystopia is being actually realized in the current moment. This thesis aims at introducing the reader to the dystopian genre and how it has become associated with contemporary young adult fiction through examining the subversive role of the dystopian representations found in selected Young Adult best-seller trilogies: Scott Westerfeld’sUglies (2005), Pretties (2005) and Specials (2006) and Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games (2008), Catching Fire (2009) and Mockingjay (2010). In Chapter One entitled Dystopian Representations, the major thematic and technical concerns of dystopian fiction are investigated in relation to the trilogies under study. Chapter Two: Power Struggles and Resistance deals with the ways power tensions are displayed in the relationship between adults and adolescents, and the resistance adopted by Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games and Tally Youngblood in the Uglies series to overcome forms of hegemony. In Chapter Three: Dystopian Transformations, the significance of the transformations undergone by the protagonist is explored as analogous to sociopolitical changes, which embodies a hopeful spirit.