The word ‘dystopian,’ means a hellish place where people are controlled and manipulated which effects their overall quality of life. Throughout the pandemic many people have begun to recognise similarities between these movies or novels and the current world they are living in. The realisation of TV shows throughout the pandemic such as “outbreak” has made it recognisable to the genral population that there are some similarities out there. 

Studying dystopian literature at A Level has made myself more aware on situations occurring around us. The pandemic has put on a stop button on most people's life. People were confined to their houses and had to follow the government guidance or there will be consequences. When looking at books such as The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood, it is recognisable that there are similarities. In this novel the society is being constricted to the states rules or else they will suffer consequences such as being hung or being physically hurt. Although what we have just been through does not go to these extremes, there are defiantly aspects which overlap. Within the genre ‘dystopia’ there is commonly a leader who makes rules and regulations to keep order amongst society. Whether it is ‘Boris Johnson’ for us or ‘Big Brother’ for the society in Nineteen eighty-four, there are leaders which people do not entirely agree with, who set out rules in order to maintain power and control within the state or country. 

When many people don’t agree with the decisions that the party have decided, there is quite often disagreement which can therefore lead to rebellion. If you look at our society recently, there have been loads of protests against the government for putting specific rules in place. People in our society do not want to cooperate with the government as there are angry and even jealous over the hierarchy of power. 

Pandemics are not the only thing that makes cross references to dystopian literature but also the loss of humanity makes some obvious links. When reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy it is noticeable that we as humans are to blame for many issues. The novel was written in 2006 when climate change was on the rise but now in 2021 climate change is a serious issue that could mean that natural disasters are more likely. Also linking to this novel, there could be connections that are made with how people interact with others. The novel suggests the shear selfishness of humanity. The theme of everyman for themselves is very prominent as the lengths that people go for resources are dramatic. When linking this back to the modern day it is clearly recognisable that we are losing faith in humanity, the use of technology for example has manipulated peoples' mindsets making them unaware of the importance in communicating with others. 

Although there are many similarities between our society and those within these dystopian novels it is clearly recognisable that the authors have purposely created these nightmarish scenes to warn us for the future. For example, McCarthys use of making his novel surrounded around the sub-genre of post-apocalyptic makes us as readers feel a sense of warning as the scenes described are something that could occur, and change must be required.