Dystopias in Literature Trivia Quiz

Answer: Brave New World

One of the common tactics of dystopian authors is to focus on a trend they see as undesirable in the society of their time and take it to its illogical conclusion in their future society. In 1931 (when Huxley wrote "Brave New World"), the dominant company on the American business scene was Ford Motors, with its assembly-line production that put every person precisely in their place.

In "Brave New World", this compartmentalization is extended to every aspect of a person's life, from birth (where they are classified as 'Alphas', 'Betas', etc.) until death.

In homage to Ford, the dates in this novel are given as years A.F., or After Ford.

Answer: Kurt Vonnegut

Universal equality sounds almost as good as universal happiness. Who could find anything wrong with such a noble idea? Vonnegut does, by showing what the true meaning of "equality" would be in such a society. Since it would be impossible to raise everybody up to the level of the smartest or the strongest, the government instead has issued a system of handicaps to make everyone equal to the least skilled member of society in every aspect. Needless to say, this is not a success.

Answer: The Handmaid's Tale

Offred isn't her real name, but is given to her because of her status as a concubine to a Commander named Fred. She lives in Gilead, a theocratic future America inspired (according to Atwood) in part by the Communist dictatorships of eastern Europe and in part on the Puritans of early Massachusetts. Gilead is ostensibly ruled according to the ideals of the first few books of the old testament, but even these may have been corrupted over time.

Despite being only 20 years old, Atwood's novel has already been made into a 1990 movie and a 2000 opera.

Answer: We

"We" was written in 1920 by an author who had just seen the 1917 Russian Revolution. In it, he started with the themes of totalitarianism and conformality he saw beginning to occur in Soviet Russia and took them to their illogical conclusion, depicting a society where free will is seen as a symptom of some terrible disease. Needless to say, Stalin was rather displeased with this novel and it was banned in Russia for several years.

Answer: All members of society must commit suicide when they reach a certain age

In Nolan's original novel, that age is 21, while in the movie made from that novel the age limit is 30. An hourglass implanted into a person's palm tells them when they have reached their limit, and those who fail to agree to painless suicide at that point suffer a rather painful death.

Answer: Ayn Rand

Similar indictments of collectivism occur in Rand's other works, particularly "Atlas Shrugged". As is common in dystopic novels, the story is told from the point of view of an individual choosing to rebel against the future he is born in; in this case it is Equality 7-2521 who finally learns the power of the word "I".

Answer: The Giver

"The Giver" depicts a society where all pain, and in fact anything which could possibly cause unhappiness, has been eliminated. Again, on the surface this seems like a great idea. However, this can only be done by removing the capacity for many other emotions as well (love, for example).

The leaders of the community think that this is a fair trade, but Jonas comes to believe otherwise.

Answer: Harry Harrison

Harrison's novel was made into the 1973 movie "Soylent Green", which tended to focus more on the ingredients used to make the title foodstuff than on the overpopulation that made its use necessary. Harrison's novel was set in 1999. Fortunately, that year didn't turn out to be quite as he envisioned it.

Answer: Robot

"R.U.R". is short for "Rossum's Universal Robots". The 'Robot' comes from the Czech word robota, which translates literally as "forced servant", the purpose for which Rossum's company created them. When a scientist starts trying to make the robots more human, they decide to revolt and replace the (now superfluous) human race.

Answer: Sinclair Lewis

Lewis didn't view Fascism as coming from any outside invasion, but instead as the result of a President who uses the Depression of the 1930's to gain popular mandate for a "reformist" agenda which turns out to involve overthrowing the Supreme Court and Congress.

The novel was also made into a play which (perhaps not coincidentally) opened only a week before the 1936 U.S. Presidential election.