The Danger of Dystopian…

Yup… this says it all.

I noticed it when I read my first official dystopian trilogy but I chalked it up to my being a Mercy and easily swayed by others’ emotions.

I was deeply affected by it when I read another but I blamed that one on the complete distortion of Biblical truth within the story… and maybe that was part of it but it certainly does not explain how truly depressed I became after reading those three books. I’ve been disappointed too many times in my life for that to be all there was to it.

And after I read that trilogy, every book I read for a solid month was tainted. I re-read several of those books months later and each one was like reading a completely different book so I know there was more to it than I originally realized.

A few books since then have begun to have the same effect on me but nothing like the intense immersion that comes with a trilogy.

The clincher for me was one that caught my eye because it reminded me a little of another series that has been laughingly referred to by fans as “almost dystopian” because it just doesn’t quite have the same seriousness as a true dystopian. This series also has a girl on the front cover – in a pretty dress, clearly unhappy with her current circumstances, trapped in her decisions…

Only the similarity ends there with this series. In this series there are no choices. The government chooses for you and that makes them so evil that it justifies the rebels poisoning more than half the population so that they can swoop in and “save” everyone.

It’s the same story we see in most every dystopian story. The government is evil and rebellion is the only answer. What gets me is – not much changes after the running of the country changes hands. There is a tiny bit more freedom but the people are, for the most part, about as bad off as they were before they had the bright idea to rebel. Only now they’re devastated, destroyed… broken.

All HOPE is eradicated.

They have no option but to choose between the lesser of two evils.

There is no real freedom. No real living. Just survival.

Dystopian equals absolute HOPE-lessness. – CLICK TO TWEET!

As a side note here: I see now why so many people have labeled the series I mentioned above as “almost-dystopian”. Even when it looks as if all hope is lost, there is still a glimmer. You have enough to hold on to that you do not become completely despondent.

The point with a true dystopian seems to be the complete and total loss of hope. And without hope, you don’t have anything.

I wonder if this is at the heart of a lot of the issues our country has with depression. I can even remember reading stories in high school… before the term dystopian had even been coined – and high school was by far and away the darkest part of my childhood.

There are too many books/poems/novels/etc… out there that are completely devoid of hope. And our youth are at the mercy of these stories that are filled with such hopelessness.

And it is only by the grace of God that am I able to look back now and realize just how damaging such hopelessness is to my very soul.