Think you would like to live in a perfect world? Have you ever thought what  living in a perfect world might be like? A dystopia is a futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control. Dystopias are stories that show us of what others thought would be perfect worlds. Rebellions, futuristic settings, and escaping reality are just three reasons why these stories continue to rise in popularity with readers.

Futuristic settings can be important to Dystopias because in the future there would be more technology and more of a possibility to make a Dystopia happen. The futuristic technology makes it easier to run a Dystopia type of community because maybe some of the futuristic technology can erase a human's memory or even brainwash them to make a Dystopia.  For example, in “The Veldt”, the house takes care of even the simplest tasks. This makes it seem like society is perfect, but what about when technology fails or is turned off? People may not be able to take of themselves because they have never had to. “That sounds terrible! Would I have to tie my own shoes instead of letting the machine do it? And brush my own teeth and comb my hair and give myself a bath?

Rebellious acts are important to dystopias because without them, it would be hard to show why people wanted to change to a more “perfect” world. Without the first rebellious act, a change couldn’t occur. For example, in “Harrison Bergeron” Harrison takes off his handicaps (forced devices to force equality) to show everyone who they could be without them. However, “It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor.” Harrison was rebelling against the control of his government in order to show society how life could be.

Escaping reality could be important to Dystopias as well because to live in a world where everything is controlled one way isn’t real. If you were able to walk into a room and visit another place when your stressed out to make you in a better mood what would happen if they took that away from you? How would you be able to deal with all of the stress and the negative feelings when you aren't able to escape to a new environment? “The room was silent and empty. The walls were white and two dimensional. Now, as George and Lydia Hadley stood in the center of the room, the walls made a quiet noise and seemed to fall away into the distance. Soon an African veldt appeared, in three dimensions, on all sides, in color. It looked real to the smallest stone and bit of yellow summer grass. The ceiling above them became a deep sky with a hot yellow sun.”

So would you like to live in a Dystopian world? Where your life is controlled by a Dystopian Environment. Just think of the negatives about these Dystopian communities. Is that what you would really want?