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Huazhang Liu (Arthur)

Professor Steven Kapica
ENGW 1102
4 April 2015
Why Dystopian Society is written: Technology, a way to Satisfy Peoples Selfishness
Introduction
In the 21th century, more and more writers create science fictions including movies and
books. Most people, especially young adults, enjoy these science fictions since they are able
to feel the futuristic world including the new and amazing technologies and see the world that
they cannot have any experiences in reality. Nearly all of science fictions authors provide a
more advanced technology. However, some of them state a dystopian world by describing the
horrible society where technologies bring about the worst of people and cause troubles. There
are a lot of conflicts in the novels so that the protagonists often disobey the common but
central ideas of the dystopian society and lead the conflicts in order to have a better and more
peaceful life. Thus, why do these authors write dystopian novels? Since they still provide
some more advanced technologies in the futuristic world, most of them do not totally deny
the development of technology. Nevertheless, they realize that technology satisfies humans
desire not only on the good sides but also on the bad sides including the bad influences of
other creatures in the world. In this case, they depict the futuristic technologies, which are
able to satisfy some peoples desire and selfishness but bring bad influences to other people,
and point that people need to control their desire and consider other results. To sum up, even
though these writers admit that technology would give benefits to the society, they point that
technology also satisfies the desire and selfishness of human to control; therefore, the authors
of dystopian novels remind readers to control their desires and selfishness and use technology
to improve their society.

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Literature Review
There are hundreds of dystopian science fictions, and many of them describe the
futuristic society where more advanced technologies are supported, but bring some troubles
to the society. However, The Hunger Games, Fahrenheit 451, The Adoration of Jenna Fox
and the first episode of Caprica all point that these futuristic technologies satisfy some
peoples desire and selfishness so that the selfish people create conflicts and troubles. In
addition, these stories give the similar points and interact with each other. The Hunger Games
and Fahrenheit 451 are two perfect examples describing the dystopian futuristic society, in
which the advanced technology satisfies peoples desire and selfishness to control others.
Although The Adoration of Jenna Fox and the first episode of Caprica do not describe the
dystopian society in the strict sense, both of them give good examples of the futuristic
technology satisfying peoples desire and selfishness to control others and bring troubles. In
this case, all four authors believe that people need to control themselves and use technology
to make their society better. In order to analyze how technology influences peoples desire
and selfishness in each story, it is necessary to understand the plots of the stories.
The Hunger Games is the first book of Hunger Games Trilogy written by Suzanne
Collins. Collins describes a totalitarian society, Panem, established in North America after the
destruction of the previous human civilization due to an unknown catastrophe. Panem is
separated into the Capitol, the wealthy central city, and other twelve districts, which are
poorer districts surrounding the Capitol. In order to control the districts, the Capitol holds the
Hunger Games, in which one boy and one girl in one district are selected randomly as the
tributes to fight to the death in the arena of the Capitol. District 12 is the poorest district in
Panem. Katniss Everdeen, a girl in District 12 who volunteers to replace her young sister,
Prim, joins the 74th annual Hunger Games with Peeta Mellark. She feels the discrimination
and unequal treatment in the arena like a toy of the Capitol. Finally, rebelling the idea of the

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Capitol, she and Peeta win the game together.
Similarly, Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury also describes a dystopian society, in
which the government controls the people by using some extreme policies. Bradbury talks
about the story of a fireman, Guy Montag, in a futuristic American city. In this world, firemen
burn the books rather than putting the fire out since the fire protection is nearly perfect to put
the fire out automatically. In this society, books are illegal like drugs, and people do not read
books, gain knowledge or think independently. They are not curious about knowledge and
books. Guy did not care about the books like others at first until he meets Clarisse McClellan,
a girl who opens his eyes about knowledge. Then, Guy starts to disobey the duty of his job
and some rules of the society.
On the other hand, The Adoration of Jenna Fox written by Mary Pearson has a relatively
smaller story about a family comparing with the first two novels. In this novel, in the
futuristic California, Jenna Fox, a seventeenth-year-old girl who survives after a car accident
but loses her memory, seeks her memory and her identity. Her parents do not tell her the truth
about the accident and the reason why she lost her memory. She investigates alone and
secretly. After she finds the data in her parents room, she knows that her body is an artificial
body created by Bio Gel, a biological organization, which saved her from death. She cannot
understand her parents and believes that they do not think about her feelings so that they
always quarrel. She finds that her parents create extra bodies as backups in order to avoid the
damages of her artificial body. After knowing the truth, Jenna tries her best to find her own
identity as the new Jenna so that she rebels her parents ideas and destroys the backups.
Lastly, the first episode of Caprica describes a similar technology in the futuristic world
as The Adoration of Jenna Fox. In this episode, Daniel Graystone is an entrepreneur who
invents Virtual Reality that provides a holographic world for people. Joseph Adama is a
lawyer. They both have a happy family. However, the explosion in the subway kills Daniels

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daughter, Zoe, and Josephs daughter, Tamara and his wife. After the accident, Daniel finds a
copy of Zoe created by his daughter in her holographic world so that he realizes that this
technology can make people to live eternally. Daniel talks to Joseph that he can save Tamara
and asks Joseph to see Tamara in the holographic world. However, Joseph sees Tamaras
crazy face when she is back from death. He refutes Daniels argument and gives up trying to
save Tamara.
Critical Analysis
Admitting the Benefits of Technology. From the summary, it is undeniable that all four
authors admit that the technology in the futuristic society that they create gives benefits to
human society. Since they talk about the futuristic society, they need to create something
more logical. Because of the development of technology, they agree that technology will be
improved and more advanced in the future. Therefore, in their writings, they describe some
more advanced technologies, which are able to improve peoples lives.
One benefit that they talk about is that technology improves the living environment,
especially for rich people. In both The Hunger Games and Fahrenheit 451, by using
technology, people build more advanced cities and live in a better environment. The urban
construction is much greater than what people have in the 21th century. In The Hunger
Games, Suzanne Collins describes that the Capitol, the central city of Panem, has skyscrapers
and other advanced facilities everywhere so that people in the Capitol own the great wealth to
enjoy their lives. On the other hand, in Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury certainly describes that
according to the perfect fire protection system, without firemen, people still can be
protected and not injured even though there is a terrible fire.
Another benefit that these writers believe is that it is possible for people to get rid of
death in the future. In The Adoration of Jenna Fox and the first episode of Caprica, the
authors both introduce the technologies that are able to save people from death. This kind of

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technologies is able to give people the eternal lives. In The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Bio Gel
saves Jennas life and brings the great benefit to Jennas family because Jenna was supposed
to die in the car accident. Similarly, in the first episode of Caprica, people with the same
appearance and memories can be copied in the holographic world so that this technology
helps Joseph to meet his daughter after the explosion. Therefore, all of four novels introduce
the technologies that can give benefits to the world.
Pointing out Peoples Desire and Selfishness. Nevertheless, since technology gives
people great powers, the authors point that some people use technology to satisfy their own
desire and selfishness to control other people or even the society. In these novels, some
characters have the ability to master technology. They are selfish and intend to control other
peoples ideas so that others are not able to disobey them and they can gain the most benefits
in the society. In this case, technology satisfies their desire and selfishness and helps them to
control other people and even the whole society.
In The Hunger Games and Fahrenheit 451, the selfish people belong to the central group
of the societythe governments of the country. The governments want to control their
citizens including behaviors, actions and ideas. They want their people to follow what they
say and what rules they give. In this case, technology becomes a kind of weapon attacking
peoples mind, limiting their freedom and forcing them to follow the rules. Since the
technology helps the selfish government forbid peoples ideas, few people are able to rebel
the government. Therefore, the government will be at the top of the society to manage the
whole country and gain the most benefits from the whole society.
In The Hunger Games, in order to gain the most benefits and manage Panem, the
government separates people into different districts. The government and rich people live in
the Capitol, a better living environment. However, the poor people living in other districts
have low living quality. As Marker Fisher states in his essayPrecarious Dystopias: The

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Hunger Games, In Time, And Never Let Me Go, the jobs of the districts are the extraction
of raw materials and the manufacture of commodities (Fish 30) for the Capitol. The
government holds the Hunger Games to suppress the districts and prevent them to rebel the
Capitol. According to the essay of Don Lathanm and Jonathan HollisterThe Games
People Play: Information And Media Literacies In The Hunger Games Trilogy, the failure
of reigning totalitarian governments depends on their control of information and displays of
power (Lotham and Hollister 39). As a result, in order to gain the most benefits, the
government manages a totalitarian society, and technology, as the power, helps the
government of Panem to control its people and satisfy its desire.
On the other hand, similar to the Capitol, the government in Fahrenheit 451 also uses
technology to control its citizens ideas and freedom. It builds a nearly perfect society with
the safest fire protection system so that without firemen, people will be safe from fire. Thus,
they live in a perfect living environment. However, since the technology is perfect, most
of them do not realize the shortcomings of this society and believe they do not need to think
anymore or change the society. In this case, the government uses an additional strategy to
control peoples mindforbidding reading books. According to Rodney Smollas The Life
Of The Mind And A Life Of Meaning: Reflections On Fahrenheit 451, the duty of firemen
changes into burning the books, which have been banished from society (Smolla 896).
Therefore, the government controls the ideas of people and suppresses the new and
revolutionary ideas since they will hardly think independently without reading books.
Nobody will rebel the government so that it will keep being the top of the society and gain
the most benefits to satisfy its desire and selfishness.
Unlike the Hunger Games and Fahrenheit 451, the selfish people in The Adoration of
Jenna Fox and the first episode of Caprica are not a group of people anymore; the selfish
people are the parents of the protagonists. In both of the two stories, the children of the

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parents die in the traffic accidents. They feel inconsolable and miss their children extremely.
In this case, their love to their children enhances their selfishness. They are willing to do
whatever they can if they are able to save their children from death. Thus, in these two
stories, parents use the technology, which is not morally right, to save their children from
death. They do not want to lose their children again so that they intend their children to
follow their ideas. They never consider their childrens opinions. Thus, the actions to save
their children from death only satisfy their own desire and selfishness to control their children
and avoid death.
In The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Jennas parents save Jenna from death because they
believe every parent will do this as long as they can even though Bio Gel is illegal.
Furthermore, since they are worried about the unknown factors of Jennas artificial bodies,
they keep extra bodies as backups for her to avoid her to die again. Besides, they let the new
Jenna to watch the previous Jennas video in order to let the new one become the old one. All
of their behaviors represent their desire and selfishness. They never consider Jennas
opinions. The only thing they want is to control Jenna and let the previous one back.
Similar to Jennas parents, Daniel and Joseph in Caprica also want to save their
daughters from the explosion. When Joseph understands Daniels advices about meeting his
daughter in the holographic world, Joseph agrees to do this since he misses his daughter
extremely. He cannot accept the truth about his daughters death although he understands that
every creature will die ultimately. In addition, Daniel meets the copy of his daughter in the
holographic world so that he argues that by using this technology, people are able to defeat
death and have the eternal lives. He becomes crazy and arrogant, and he intends to disobey
the human morality and control everything even death. Therefore, the technology discussed
in The Adoration of Jenna Fox and the first episode of Caprica saving people from death
satisfies some peoples desires and selfishness to control the ideas of dead people and the

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death of creatures.
Using the Protagonists to be Against the Selfish People. After pointing out the
selfishness of some characters in their books, the authors use the thoughts of the protagonists
to be against the idea of selfish people in order to tell readers to control their desires and
selfishness and use technology to improve the society. The main story of the books is to talk
about the conflicts between the protagonists and the selfish people. In the four novels, the
four protagonists disagree with the ideas of the selfish people and they are against the selfish
characters. In The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen is angry about the suppression of the
Capitol and the unfair treatment. When she and Peeta become the only two tributes in the
arena, she chooses to be against to the rules of the Capitolonly one can surviveand try to
suicide with Peeta together. In this case, the Capitol lets them win together. Similar to
Katniss, Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451 also chooses to be against the government and tries
to keep the book in order to read them. He gradually realizes the importance of knowledge.
On the other hand, Jenna Fox in The Adoration of Jenna Fox and Joseph Adama in
Caprica are against that the technology should save people from death. Jenna thinks though
his father is a scientist, he still does not have an authority on everything (Pearson 129). Her
parents need to consider her opinions and perspectives. Similarly, Joseph has the same
opinion after he sees his daughters crazy and panicky face. Joseph totally disagrees with
Daniel and believes he is crazy. Joseph gives up the opportunity to meet his daughter again.
Therefore, exhibiting the conflicting ideas to the selfish people, the authors point that a truly
peaceful and great society does not need extremely selfish people. Their ideas to control
everything are definitely wrong. The authors intend to tell readers to not be so selfish but
control their desire.
Conclusion
In the opinions of the dystopian novel writers, the futuristic technology is the way for

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people to satisfy their desire and selfishness. The authors of The Hunger Games, Fahrenheit
451, The Adoration of Jenna Fox and Caprica point the mistakes of the selfish people.
Although the futuristic technology indeed gives benefits to the society, it satisfies the desire
and selfishness of some people and gives them the power to control other people and even the
whole society in the novels. Therefore, the authors set up the protagonists to be against the
selfish people. In this way, they tell readers that in order to have a better world, it is necessary
for people to control their desire and use technology appropriately. People need to use the
benefits of the technology to create a better society not in their own perspectives but in
everyones perspective.

Work Cited
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. 15. Rist. ed. Milano: Mondadori, 2001. Print.
Caprica. Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2010. Film.
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic, 2008. Print.
Fisher, Mark. "Precarious Dystopias: The Hunger Games, In Time, And Never Let Me Go."
Film Quarterly 65.4 (2012): 27-33. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
Latham, Don, and Jonathan Hollister. "The Games People Play: Information And Media
Literacies In The Hunger Games Trilogy." Children's Literature In Education 45.1
(2014): 33-46. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
Pearson, Mary. The Adoration of Jenna Fox. New York: Henry Holt, 2008. Print.
Smolla, Rodney A. "The Life Of The Mind And A Life Of Meaning: Reflections On
Fahrenheit 451." Michigan Law Review 107.6 (2009): 895-912. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
Acknowledgement
To sum up, I really appreciate the help from Mr. Kapica, my Writing Center consultant

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Jonathan F. and two of my classmatesPeng and Aek. They help me a lot to finish this
research paper. Honestly, I almost changed nearly my whole essay for three times, especially
for three times. However, every time I think my revision is worth and I learned a lot. For the
first time, I finished writing my first draft after discussing the ideas with Jonathan F. I
received the comments from Peng and Aek in the peer review. They believe that I needed to
explain the plots clearly to my readers. In this case, I know that the plot summary is
important for my paper. I added them and made my critical analysis more clear. Then I went
to the Writing Center to meet with Jonathan for the second time. He suggested me to discuss
with my professor before the deadline. In this case, I asked for suggestions and received the
comments from Mr. Kapica, which are strongly helpful for my essay. Although this time, I
changed a lot about my draft, I realized the way I narrate and the interaction between all four
books is really important. I spent a night to think about and listed a new outline. I sent to Mr.
Kapica and I was so happy to see his agreement about my outline. In this case, after I
finishing my fourth draft, I went to see Jonathan for the third time and he said this is much
better than the previous one. He was so happy to see my effort on this paper. By writing and
revising this research paper, I do learn a lot. I know that thinking and talking about the
interaction between issues is much important. I learn a new way to write a good essay. I
appreciate their help so much.