Super Sad True Love Story, Noughts and Crosses, “Sultana’s Dream” and Uglies as Cautionary Dystopian Tales against Social and Moral Degradation

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to exemplify how dystopian literature cautions the readers about the plausible destruction of social order and human lives by foretelling the signs of socio-political, moral and scientific degeneration. The texts used for this analysis are Super Sad True Love Story (2010) by Gary Shteyngart, Noughts and Crosses (2001) by Malorie Blackman, “Sultana’s Dream” (1908) by Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain and Uglies (2005) by Scott Westerfeld. With a close analytical reading of these texts and Keith Booker’s approach to dystopian novels, this dissertation attempts at proving that dystopian writers warn their readers to be cautious about unbridled vices of their times to avoid a catastrophic end. The rising popularity of dystopian novels has drawn out different critical analysis depending on the aspects of dystopian novels. Almost all of them have agreed upon the premonitory aspect of dystopian novels because dystopian writers portray social evils of their own times. Similarly, all these four selected texts illustrate a dystopian society in a near-future setting. The reason behind the dystopian atmosphere of these portrayed societies is different social flaws existent in the authors’ own society. However, these authors not only criticize their own social errs, but also show the readers how to avoid the collapse by heeding the warnings stated in their narratives. This dissertation is a continuation of the analysis of dystopian writings as premonitory compositions. By bringing out different omens portrayed in these texts, I believe this dissertation could potentially enhance the chance of contributing to this genre. Additionally, the analysis of “Sultana’s Dream” will increase potential future research of other Bangladeshi dystopian writings.