1. Has American dystopia become more of a reality than fiction? Formulate a 200-250 word response to this prompt using Solnit’s article. Do you agree with her claim? Why or why not? You may approach this question in a number of other ways: write about an aspect of the article you didn’t understand or have a question about. You can even delve into something that caught your attention or develop on one of your classmate’s comment by disagreeing or reevaluating it. The main purpose of this blog post is to exercise your critical thinking skills. So don’t be afraid to share your thoughts. There are no wrong answers here!
Comment under this post with your name and class signed at the end of your response. It will be counted as a part of your homework grade. Also, don’t panic if you don’t see your comment right away. I have to approve it.
2. Don’t forget to study for the vocabulary quiz! Here is the link for it. 10G1 will have it on List 1-10 and 10G2 on List 2-10. I will be dictating the words so make sure you know the spelling and pronunciation of each word! Along with the definitions, practice writing your own sentences. You’ll be quizzed on 10 out of the 15 words and will be asked to write either definitions or sentences. Since this will be 10G1’s first quiz, you’ll only be tested on the definitions.
3. I wasn’t able to check the Independent Reading sign up sheet today, however, I hope you’ve started reading your choice of novel. We’ll speak more about it on Monday.
Enjoy your weekend! 🙂
Al Noor Literature 
I agree the the author when she said this world is becoming dystopian just like the hunger games. From the poverty and hunger to crime and lack of educational needs this world has become one of negativity and sadness . This isn’t what you would call a perfect world . Even though the authors remarks we’re a bit farfetched and extreme In regards to the fact she paired it with the hunger games but she has a very good point . 80% of people in prison is because of drugs and that one statistic alone is very alarming and the fact that the government with all the power it has is unable to stop the movement of drugs , this raises many questions as to if this drug circulation is on purpose or unintentional? Also the fact that many students must be burdened over many years to pay off loans . This all is unfair and I believe she has a point in comparing it to the hunger games . (Hope this is 200 words ) and btw don’t forget you said there isn’t any wrong answers :)))))
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In my opinion, American dystopia has become shockingly more of a reality rather than a fiction. The author claims that in today’s world we have become much like Suzanne Collin’s bestselling novel/movie “The Hunger Games”, which is fairly reasonable if we look back to our worlds dysfunctional past. although, her claim does in fact have some truth to it throughout the articles she makes overly exaggerated statements. For instance, she compared the hunger games to high school and goes on to explain the suicide of a young gay teen. Even though, high school can be hectic and overwhelming at times it has nothing to do with the hunger games which primarily focuses on the
Survival of the fittest as they kill one another until only one is left standing. On the other hand, the author does use accurate information about poverty and proves its comparison to the hunger games. Poverty is unfortunately a big issue in today’s world which is known as economic inequality because even though we live among numerous resources they are being wrongly distributed. Also, another key issue she talks about is how most stuff is being hidden from us whether through the media, newspapers etc which surely compares to the many districts presented in the hunger games . To conclude, I somewhat agree/disagree with the authors claim.
10g2
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I agree with Rebecca Solnit’s claim that the American dystopia has become more of a reality than fiction. One point she makes is “Debt Peonage”, where she stated, in “the Hunger Games” kids who face poverty are given a chance by the Capitol to enter multiple times into the lottery to earn more food for their families. Solnit compared this to the government giving students the chance to attend college, but students usually take loans from the bank and go into debt for the education. Both worlds trap young adults into a debt that can only be repaid with their lives. In class, we related this to how there are many drugs in neighborhoods filled with people who are in a low financial situation. The government is giving drugs out in these areas so that the people cannot rise above their obstacles and succeed in our world. This is similar to the Capitol promoting the Hunger Games, so that they can keep the citizens living in the Districts in a lower position compared to themselves. I disagreed with Solnit’s claim that climate change is a factor of America being a real dystopia. Most dystopian worlds are corrupted because of their society/government, and climate change is irrelevant in that context. Many innovations in America cause pollution, one of the factors of climate change, and it’s difficult to not use these innovations in this era. In my opinion, the climate change doesn’t have anything to do with living under an illusion.
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I agree with Rebecca Solnit and genuinely believe that our modern world today is extremely similar to, and could potentially be considered on it’s own, a dystopian world. Certain societies today mimic the behavior of a dystopian world and it’s oppressive/controlling manners. “There are thousands more Americans who… are now surviving with severe brain damage, multiple missing limbs, or other profound mutilations. And don’t forget the trauma and mental illness that mostly goes unacknowledged and untreated…” (paragraph 9) Our modern, and so-called “advanced” world, which we expect to improve and offer solutions for serious issues such as mental illnesses, is instead devolving and becoming more heartless in a similar manner to how a dystopian world is. Furthermore, another example of how our modern life parallels a dystopian world is how effortlessly we become influenced by the government. “Our wartime carnage has… been semi-hidden by most of the American media and the government, which censored images of returning coffins, corpses…” (paragraph 10) Solnit goes on to explain how although technology allows some of this undisclosed reality to surface, “most of us [do] a good job of being distracted by other things.”(p. 10) In other words, many of us remain clueless or misinformed about worldly affairs, allowing ourselves to become brainwashed by the government. Additionally, there are those who are aware, who become curious, want to speak up and spread awareness to bring justice to the matters handled immorally by the government. However, they are immediately silenced, much like how the government of a dystopian world would act. “Those whistleblowers who took the effort to reveal the little men behind the throne are facing severe punishment. Bradley Manning…turned alleged leaker, long held in inhumane conditions and now facing a potential life sentence.”(p. 10) Therefore, I believe we are very similar to a dystopian world but the fact that most of humanity today has become aware of how flawed and imperfect this world is, and how we (somewhat) have the freedom to rebel, prevents us from being considered a true dystopian world.
10G1
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Al-Noor school (10g1) Rayyaan Suleiman
Sr. Fariha 12-2-17
Prompt: Has American dystopia become more of a reality than fiction?
America has become a dystopian world to a certain degree. A dystopian world is defined as a society that is undesirable or frightening. In the text, “American dystopia more reality than fiction” by Rebecca Solnit, Solnit uses examples from sci-fi books, such as “The hunger Games” and how it relates to current events. For instance, Solnit compares the games, were a group of twenty-four peoples from the youth battle each other until only one person is left alive to the competition that goes on in high school, that at times results in catastrophes. Solnit states “After all, even such real-life situations can be fatal: witness the gay Iowa teen who took his life only a few weeks ago after being outed and taunted by his peers.” I do agree to a certain extent with Solnit that peer pressure and bullying can cause deaths, yet I don’t agree, that teens who made the decision to commit suicide makes America a dystopian world, considering that in the hunger games teens are forced to battle each other, they were left with no other choice. Solnit’s comparison was extremely week and exaggerated, because in a dystopian world there isn’t free-will. Even though I didn’t agree with this comparison, I do agree with her when she states that in the capital, the people at the top who possess power and have a surplus amount of food supply peoples who are in a lower social class, are suffering with an extremely low supply this directly relates to the rich countries who have a burdening amount of hungry and poor population. Solnit says “The wealthiest and most powerful nation the world has ever seen is full of hungry people.” I do agree with this claim that Solnit made, because there is a strong correlation between the district and its people and some countries and its civilians. This piece of evidence in my point of view proves that America to some extent has become a dystopian world. Although I agree with this reason of why America is dystopian world I don’t agree with many other reasons that Solnit claimed makes America much like the hunger games, dystopian.
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In her article Solnit discusses how American dystopia has become more of reality than a fiction and although she does make some significant arguments supporting her claim, I don’t completely agree with her idea of dystopia. One of the major points in her article was on how our society is sacrificing the young by forcing them to go to high school as the capitol does in the hunger games to the tributes. She states that high schools are “concentration camps for angst and competition”. This argument in my opinion is irrelevant and completely pointless as she’s basically encouraging our students to stop attending high school and seeking an education because as she supposedly claims, they’re concentration camps. Then she goes on to mention how there are many cases of suicide because of high schools, however she fails to take into account that there are many other factors in suicide amongst teens and it isn’t only attending high school that causes suicide. According to kids health it states, “a psychological disorder, especially depression, bipolar disorder, and alcohol and drug use (in fact, about 95% of people who die by suicide have a psychological disorder at the time of death) are leading factors in suicide”, and to put it into light these disorders can be caused by many circumstances, so it does seem a little unjust to blame teens committing suicide on high school. She does make some very important points that I do agree with such as how were ruining the environment, and how poverty is increasing in our communities, but I also do believe that she over exaggerates some issues and doesn’t really provide relevant evidence. Despite all of this I do believe that she makes a very good point in bringing to light that our society is going to become a dystopian society if we don’t strive for change.
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Salma Omran 10g2
In my stance, I agree with Rebecca Solnit’s declaration that American dystopia has become more of a reality than a fiction, in spite the fact that some of her statements are overemphasized. The author uses, “The Hunger Games” as a reference to display how our world has become more or less, identical to theirs. She explains how the arena’s in the movie relates to high school by implying that they’re both prisons and where calamities occur. In the arena, she states that the “youths battle each another to the death.” Compared to that, in high school students bully one another until one takes his life away and the other one wins their battle. This statement is an example, how she exaggerates the situations. High school students taking their life away is an option of theirs, whereas the arena, they beat each other up until they kill one. Yes, in some ways they can be compared as to how the youths are competing with one another to win their battle, however, the death calamity is different from one another in which we use to define this world as a dystopian world.
She further explains this by expressing how, “ poor families take out extra chances in their District lottery — that is, extra chances to die — in return for extra food rations.” Capitols helped the poor to get food and to survive just like how our world, the government helps college students with loans. They end up in debt in comparison to how the poor families end up in poverty. The government places high taxes on requisite that some people can’t afford. This is something that should be considered a major problem because this is creating our new “dystopian world.”
Therefore, I agree with her position on how American dystopia is becoming a reality more than fiction.
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I agree with Rebecca solint on the fact that today’s society is very similar to, and could potentially be a dystopian world of its own. The author uses several examples to convey her point like “The hunger games” which she compares to our modern world, she compares the kids in the hunger games to the kids in our world like we still have poor kids that struggle to feed their families, she also mentions how the government makes it seem like they’re giving a chance to kids who can not afford an education by using loans from the bank to help them get into college however this is just going to make them go into debt which proves her point that it is just a trap from the government that these kids will not be able to get out of. She also mentions Iraq and how thousands of civilians are being murdered, she mentions this to question herself as to is today’s society really that advanced. Overall, I believe we are very similar to a dystopian world
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in the narrative “american dystopia more reality than fiction”by the Rebecca Solnit it underlines the shocking truth of how our society has become more of a dystopia and how this “phenomenon” seems to continue as our nation grows. The many examples of a dystopian world mentioned by Rebecca Solnit supports the actuality of our world. One of the points given by solnit is when she talks of being a child a how reading her older brothers science fiction novels,but in de facto they were more like her present life.she shows that the current examples of our failing economy has led to many students drowned in the horrors of student debt,this stigma (for most students)begins with poverty and trying to receive a proper education to escape poverty but leaving most at the same stage they began in where they spend the rest of their lives paying off loans.another example that shows the reality of our dystopian world is the so called “sacrificing of the young in the arenas of the capital”,is the pattern of youth constantly having to choose suffering on the battlefield or on the streets of economic inequality. “In our society kids enlist into the military to feed their families and maybe escape economic doom”,but have to risk the danger of losing their health and happiness. These examples are just one of the many ways in which our world is more of a dystopia.
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I completely agree with all the points made by author as well but to a certain extent . I feel as if a lot of her points are far fetch .As in her comparison of the youth battling to the death in the highly competitive and cut throat world she describes as highschool to the annual hunger games in which each district is obligated to provide to adolescent tributes to compete in these games. But what she fails to state is that unlike the hunger games the so-called high school world she describes as being a concentration camp for angst and competeion isn’t a culture set by the government ,where as in the hunger games this is a system manufactured, controlled, and obtained by the government. She also fails to state that not everyone’s high school experience is the same . This argument she claims that ties our world to a dystopian world is somewhat inaccurate ,being as not everyone’s High school experience is the same .
But overall as u stated she does make some solid points.
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To some extent, I agree with Solnit’s claim, American dystopia a reality than fiction. When she says how the “24 youths battle each other,” in reference to Collin’s The Hunger Games, “to the death with one lone victor allowed to survive makes it like—and yet not exactly like—high school” there is some exaggeration in her statement. She is referring to the teens who eventually commit suicide through peer pressure, and as we mentioned in class, it doesn’t have to just do with stress, but with the social environment. Not all high schools are the same. However, there is some similarity in her statement as students do compete with one another.
Also, she mentions the “young are constantly told that only a college education can give them a decent future. Then they’re told that, to pay for it, they need to go into debt” which is compared to the Hunger Games in which “kids in poor families take out extra chances in their District lottery—that is, extra chances to die—in return for extra food rations,” which in comparison is not so different. Students end up working their whole life just to pay off debt from college tuition fees, similar to the youth in the novel risking their lives to receive extra rations.
As Solnit claims America is becoming a dystopian world, I will agree to her statement, however, I believe this is a slow progression evolving within the passage of time.
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I agree with author Rebecca Solnit’s claim that American dystopia has become more of a reality than a fiction. 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, and this sadly is pretty accurate for modern day America. Solnit compares American citizens getting an education to escape poverty to the districts in the Hunger Games “an endless labyrinth”; to get an education you must go to college which is expensive so you must take out loans. Then after college you have to pay back these loans that are constantly increasing because of interest. Another example is prison. Private prisons make money off of their inmates. Prison inmate population is steadily increasing. A big factor is drugs; drugs are pumped into poor neighborhoods, especially neighborhoods with POC. Worse still, once they are released from prison, they have a hard time supporting themselves so they end up back in prison. Another factor is that many laws are outdated or regulated. Climate change is another huge issue that is not being addressed. There were a lot of tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods this year. And it will only get worse unless action is taken. For these reasons I agree with Solnit’s claim that American dystopia has become more of a reality than a fiction.
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I agree with the authors claim America has become more of reality than fiction from debt,poverty,to wars . In the beginning of the article the author gives her personal outlook on Present day society. She writes about her reading as a child and as time went by many of her readings became more of realities . In the article she mentions how in Iraq the deaths of babies, children, grandmothers, young men , and others total more than 160,000 people and even the lowest numbers represent enough kill to fill nearly 5,000 years of hunger games that’s a big example of how our world is more of a dystopian world . She also mentions how kids enlist in the military to feed their families and maybe escape economic doom . The wealthiest and the most powerful nation the world has ever seen is full of hungery and poor people. I think this article is very true the society that we live in is very corrupt and some of us may not even know it . There are many problems, violence, ignorance, and hatred. These things are major causes in the lifestyle that there are today .overall I agree with the author of our world being dystopian.
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Yasmin Hussein
10G2
I agree with Rebecca Solnit’s viewpoint that American dystopia is becoming more of a reality than a fiction. In order to support her claim, Rebecca chooses to compare present-day America to that of the Hunger Games, a dystopian society. During our class discussion on Friday, I tended to realize that many students didn’t agree with Rebecca solely because the comparisons she made between America and the Hunger Games weren’t identical situations. They continued to quote what Rebecca stated about American issues and attacked it by mentioning the little differences it had with the Hunger Games,which led them to disagree. Rebecca however was only using the Hunger Games as a reference in order to grab similarities it has to America today and therefore prove her claim of American dystopia.For example, when Rebecca compared high school kids taking there life due to statements and actions made by their fellow peers to what occurred in the Hunger Games, she intended for the readers to grab the resemblance between the two and therefore help solidify her claim, which in my opinion it did. Rebecca not only made this comparison but also compared many matters to that of the Hunger Games and though they did not completely match, there was a big similarity which was what she wanted the readers to realize. I’d also like add that there were some aspects of the article that were a bit over-exaggerated however looking at it as a whole, it was more or less accurate. Moreover I agree with Rebecca Solnit’s claim that American dystopia has become more of a reality than a fiction.
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Yasmin Hussein
10G2
I agree with Rebecca Solnit’s viewpoint that American dystopia is becoming more of a reality than a fiction. In order to support her claim, Rebecca chooses to compare present-day America to that of the Hunger Games, a dystopian society. During our class discussion on Friday, I tended to realize that many students didn’t agree with Rebecca solely because the comparisons she made between America and the Hunger Games weren’t identical situations. They continued to quote what Rebecca stated about American issues and attacked it by mentioning the little differences it had with the Hunger Games,which led them to disagree. Rebecca however was only using the Hunger Games as a reference in order to grab similarities it has to America today and therefore prove her claim of American dystopia.For example, when Rebecca compared high school kids taking there life due to statements and actions made by their fellow peers to what occurred in the Hunger Games, she intended for the readers to grab the resemblance between the two and therefore help solidify her claim, which in my opinion it did. Rebecca not only made this comparison but also compared many matters to that of the Hunger Games and though they did not completely match, there was a big similarity which was what she wanted the readers to realize. I’d also like add that there were some aspects of the article that were a bit over-exaggerated however looking at it as a whole, it was more or less accurate. Moreover I agree with Rebecca Solnit’s claim that American dystopia has become more of a reality than a fiction.
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I do not agree with Solnit’s article because she did have one or two points that were agreeable, however the rest of her points seemed to be over exaggerating and too far stretched. An example is when she states that a concentration camp is similar to high school. She does state that they aren't exactly alike but a concentration camp is way more brutal then a highschool where you are stilling and learning in a classroom. Highschool is a place of education not a place where kids are fighting to the death. Yes, teens are bullied and unfortunately commit suicide such as in the example which she states about the gay Iowa teen, but he could have changed schools or gone to counseling, and he killed himself no other person actually attacked him physically like in the hunger games. Another example is when she states that poor family’s enlisted their kids into the military for food. first of all, there are many jobs that teens can work in such as in supermarkets, the library, etc. Only in the hunger games did the kids go into the games for food. Kids in our reality dont need to kill themselves for food when there are many more options such as homeless shelters that give out food to the needy or just getting a job to pay for food themselves.
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I agree with Rebecca Solnit’s claim that American dystopia is starting to become more of a reality than a fiction. To support this claim, Solnit chooses to compare the U.S nowadays to the Hunger Games, which is a dystopian society. Rebecca was using the Hunger Games as a reference to show the similarities it has to America today and prove her claim of America becoming a dystopian society. When Rebecca compared high school kids taking their life due to statements and actions to what occurred in the Hunger Games, she wanted the readers to be aware of the similarities between the two and therefore help support her claim. Rebecca did not only made this comparison but also compared many things to the Hunger Games and even though they did not completely resemble eachother, there was a big similarity which was what she wanted the readers to realize. Anyways, I agree with Rebecca Solnit’s claim that American dystopia is starting to become more of a reality than a fiction.
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I agree with Rebecca Solnit’s claim on how American dystopia is becoming more of a reality than a fiction. Some of the authors claims we’re exaggerated a bit, but she had strong claims when comparing them to “The Hunger Games”. She states that “these 24 youths battle each other to the death with one lone victor allowed to survive makes it like — and yet not exactly like– high school…” This claim has some exaggeration in it. Shes referring to the students who end up committing suicide from anxiety. As we know, suicide isn’t always influenced by only anxiety and stress where it could be from other issues and problems. She also compares the poor kids in “The Hunger Games” and the poor kids in our world. She states “… kids in poor families take out extra chances in their District lottery — that is, extra chances to die — in return for extra food rations; in ours, poor kids enlist in the military to feed their families and maybe escape economic doom.” Another example would be the use of violence. “There, violence is truly the arbitrator of power, along with cunning, whether in the ways the teenagers survive in gladiatorial arena or the Capitol…. In our own world, the state is very good at violence, whether in its wars overseas or in pepper-spraying…”
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American dystopia has become more of a reality than fiction. I agree with Solnit’s claim, and there was one aspect in her article that caught my attention most: the poor. Such a wealthy country the US is, yet filled with countless hungry people. Our country has so much excess food, but is still greedy enough to not feed everyone. And facilities that had tried to do what is only humane, have declined, because these specific jobs pay so limited that workers can barely live off of it. There is just one place where meals are guaranteed, and population keeps growing there: prison. America has the highest percentage of prisoners per population in the world. Half of these prisoners are in jail for drug offenses, 80% of those are for simple possession. Still, we haven’t found a stop to the movement of drugs. It’s almost crystal clear that we want our people to stay in/go to jail —not to mention that prisons are profitable industries. And once these prisoners are out of jail, they have no place in this society that will give them a chance to survive. This tactic only puts our people right back into jail, where then the richest just get richer.
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I agree with author Rebecca Solnit’s claim that American dystopia has become more of a reality than a fiction. When we talk about dystopian worlds we tend to associate the concept with things we have read in books or seen in movies but the irony is that we ourselves may be living in a dystopian world. Rebecca uses many examples to open the eyes of the reader and expose the truth of what is happening in modern-day America. She explains how Ameican soldiers are being sent to the Iraqi war without a choice and without being aware of what they’re getting themselves into. She talks about the fact that parents send their children to school with an ideology that only a college education can give them a decent future; then they’re told to pay for it and go into debt but in return, they are governed by special laws that don’t allow them to declare bankruptcy. She talks about how we are living in the wealthiest and most powerful nation, the world has seen yet we allow others to walk around hungry. She goes on to make important points about the disruption of food production, catastrophic floods, heat waves, and unprecedented wildfires that we are allowing to happen.I agree with my classmates, about the fact that she does over exaggerate some issues but we can’t ignore the fact that she makes excellent points about how the longer we allow the things that are happening to continue, as we live our lives and allow others to live theirs and ignore the fact that we have to change, the sooner we have to accept the fact that we are living in a dystopian world.
Thank you and goodnight everybody.
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Rebecca Solnit, writer of the article “American dystopia more reality than fiction” raises some interesting points on how the American society is very much like a dystopian one. I personally found her article to be unorganized, written poorly, very exaggerated and filled with lots of necessary information. However, there were some points that I have agreed with.
One point Solnit mentioned was that our government has a big influence on the information we receive. They are able to manipulate our news and hide the whole truth. Solnit stated in her article,
“Our wartime carnage has… been semi-hidden by most of the American media and the government, which censored images of returning coffins, corpses…”. People underestimate the horrors of not only war but any other upsetting things we may hear because our government does not allow us to see anything uncomfortable or real. Solnit even explains that the government is able to do this because of social media. She states that “most of us [do] a good job of being distracted by other things.” Social media is a perfect asset the government can use to brainwash us and keep us misinformed or ignorant about worldly affairs. And those who do find the courage to stand up, are immediately silenced. Solnit gives the example of Bradley Manning…turned alleged leaker, long held in inhumane conditions and now facing a potential life sentence.” Another point that Solnit makes is that how in America, which is a wealthy first world country there are still people who live in the deepest of poverty. Solnit gives us a clear reason as to why this is, “it’s a crisis of distribution, also known as economic inequality”. Because of the economic inequality, people who are in poverty cannot get out because they can not pay for college to get better jobs. They are stuck and the government does absolutely nothing to help them. We do not live in a dystopian society but that does not mean our society does not have its own flaws. And, I agree with Solnit that it is our responsibility to resist and fight against the wrongs in our society.
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I agree with some of Rebecca Solnit’s article that American dystopia became more of a reality than a fiction. Solnit stated many reasonable claims that make sense in the American society today. She mentioned that high school is like a, ”concentration camp for angst and competition into which we force our young”, which is similar to that of the hunger games where, ” 24 youths battle each other to the death with one lone victor allowed to survive”. I think there is a little exaggeration in this comparison because bullying in high school isn’t as extreme as kids killing each other in the hunger games because they are being forced to do so. Kids killing themselves is not always from school bullying. Every child has different ways of coping with bullying and not all schools have this cruel torment between these children. Although, kids committing suicides could come from school, it’s not as extreme as the hunger games which they have no choice but too. Schools also go against bullying and teach beneficial things about society.
Solnit indicated that we, as people, should make a change in society,and I totally agree with that. She mentioned the hundreds of thousands of people dying all over the world, for example, in Iraq, where ” even the lowest numbers represent enough kill to fill nearly 5,000 years of Hunger Games”. We are distracted by other things like the, TV, and do not focus on the important things, which she also stated. This shows how American Dystopia is more of a reality.
Kids in poor families have to join the military to feed their families which might lead to them getting seduced by military recruiters who stalk them in school. This is similar to the poor kids in the “Hunger Games”, who take out extra chances in their District lottery, which could also end up with them dying. Millions of American students have student debts, creating a large debt of almost a trillion dollars and the government doesn’t do anything to help any of this. She touched up on the kids doing drugs in our society and getting imprisoned for it but the government isn’t doing anything to stop the drugs from coming in. She pointed out all these issues and how the people should make a change and I concur.
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I agree with Rebecca Solnit regarding her claim about America becoming a dystopian world, but to a certain extent (I somewhat disagree as well). She makes a comparison of the 24 youth forced to battle each other to high school. Although she is right in some aspects regarding “angst and competition”, this comparison is too broad and over exaggerated. She also compares the land of the 1% in The Hunger Games (the Capitol) to Fashion Week, Versailles, and the KGB/CIA. I understand that she is referring to the wealthy population but how are ones listed dystopian if she is not relating it to poorer people and unequal distribution? Fashion Week and Versailles are related to art which usually correlates with development of culture and knowledge (which is not dystopian). What does KGB/CIA have in common with them? One point I strongly agreed with, is about student loans and the immorality of corporations that feed off people’s troubles (or like the government, feed society problems like drugs). Another point she makes is about media censoring. She states, “Our wartime carnage has been on a grand scale, but it hasn’t been on television in any meaningful … been colossal).” One common element in dystopian worlds are controlling or oppressive governments. The government does filter and carefully word the media to make us think what they want. We can be easily brainwashed because we become distracted and begin to ignore worldly matters. She compares Bradley Manning, a character in the Hunger Games that was captured for leaking information to “whistleblowers who took the effort to reveal the little men behind the throne.” The government likes to keep things quiet, producing many cases of people disappearing or silenced after finding out things they aren’t supposed to know (once again, shows signs of an oppressive government). One point I half agree with is the comparison of the youth submitting their names more than once in the games in exchange to feed their families, to poor kids enlisting in the military for money. This does happen, but those poor kids can take a variety of different routes besides enlisting in the military. I agree with her point about climate change because there are many studies showing that our actions have negatively affected the Earth dramatically (causing a chain of issues to develop). She also includes “Revolution 2012”, which shows that she believes that the consciousness of these issues and acting against them as one (people power), can inhibit us from fully devolving into a dystopia. However, as citizens without much power, we cannot stop major issues, but I still agree.
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“American Dystopia more reality than fiction” is a very interesting article written by Rebecca Solnit. The writer of this article provides for her individual viewpoint on present day society. This Article compared our present world today to a Dystopian world from “The Hunger Games.” There were many true comparisons that Solnit made which leads me to agree with her claim that American dystopia is moreover a reality than a fiction. For example in the novel and movie, “The Hunger Games”, teens are chosen and forced to compete until the death of 23 teens. Although our world is not as atrocious, teens are still forced to compete in things.Though I think that this statement said by Solnit maybe have been too exaggerated comparing a bunch of teens forced to kill others in order to live to teens who are forced to make incorrect choices. One comparison that I completely agree with Solnit is how she stated that our country is one of the wealthiest in the world, but we still have starving people on the streets. In the movie “The Hunger Games”, the leaders of the nation were very rich but the citizens were not, just like America. Overall this article was very well written and makes a great comparison to how our world is killing our teens, influencing us to do the same, and shows that even a wealthy nation is not perfect.
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I agree with rebecca Solnit’s claim on how American dystopia is becoming more of a reality than a fiction. Although some of the authors over exaggerated, most of her statements were strong. The various examples of a dystopian world mentioned by Rebecca Solnit supports the reality of our world.Such as, when she referees to the teenagers whosoever practice suicide through companion pressure, however such doesn’t have in accordance with simply operate along stress, however including the environment and competition. She compares this to the yearly hunger games which is when they’re obligated to provide and compete for their life in young tributes and have no choice but to obey the government. Like in today’s world when citizens suffer poverty and debt but the government does nothing to help. In some ways the author is right however when she states the “youth battle each other to death” it shows her exaggeration. Maybe in her point of view bullying is a battlefield but i believe it’s the students responsibility.In the hunger games they’re not an option to escape it however the “student” in the high school world has the option to stand up for himself.These are a few examples of how america is becoming more and more of a dystopian world from many.
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Based on the evidence that Rebecca Solnit has provided, I would have to agree that American dystopia has become more of a reality than fiction. In her article she proves her point by comparing our worlds’ debt, wars, and poverty, to the events in Collins’,”The Hunger Games”. For example when she states, ” 24 youths battle each other to the death with one lone victor allowed to survive makes it like-and not yet exactly like- high school.” Although this is exaggerated, it does speak the truth of our corrupted society. Through this statement, Solnit is referring to the constantly worried and strained students of high school. She used the word “death” to show the connection between the kids who die in “The Hunger Games” while in battle, and the kids of our world which are students who unfortunately driven to the point of suicide because of anxiety, stress, peer pressure, and other issues. Another example that she uses are the poverty stricken kids in “The Hunger Games” who “take out extra tickets in their district lottery – that is, extra chances to die – in return for food rations”, to the kids in our world. An instance of this in our world would be the poor kids who join the military in hopes of be able to feed their families and hopefully escape economic doom. In conclusion, we have should use Rebbeca Solnits’ article as wake-up call to improve and better our unconsciously deteriorating society.
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In her article “American dystopia more reality than fiction,” Rebecca Solnit believes that America is heading towards becoming a dystopian world. In order to explain her belief she compares America to the world of the book, “The Hunger Games.” In my opinion Solnit does point out reasonable evidence of how America is going downhill in some areas, but by using the world of the Hunger Games to help prove her point, she exaggerates it.
Within the text, one point I did believe in was the economic inequality evident in America today. In today’s world, America is the world superpower and is acknowledged all over the world as being a powerful nation. It is thought to be a wealthy nation, yet many of its people live in conditions of poverty and homelessness. According to the Center of Poverty Research, the official poverty rate is 13.5%, based on the 2015 Census. That’s about 41.3 million Americans. Now many may say that every system has a flaw, but these people suffering should not be the flaw in the system. In a nation that wastes 60 million tons or $160 billion worth of produce annually, poverty shouldn’t have such a high percentage. (theatlantic) It shouldn’t have such a high percentage if the government has immense power and could’ve been taking action by now. If food wasting is a phenomenon occurring annually, shouldn’t there be a program or a plan to help reduce these numbers.
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I disagree with Rebecca solnit’s claim about how American dystopian has become more reality than fiction. She starts off by talking about how our society has become more of a dystopia. Throughout the article, she uses many examples to prove her point. She compares the concentration camp to high school. She refers to the “hunger games” and further explains how poor kids try to get food for there families and she compares that to kids going to high school. However I disagree with this claim of her because high school and the hunger games can’t be compared. The hunger games was forced and high school is a choice. Therefore, I disagree with her claim. I feel like all her points are way too exaggerated because high school isn’t as harsh and the hunger games is. Although kids do get bullied in high school there’s other options to reach out for help by sharing those problems and by changing schools before it gets to a point of wanting to commit suicide. However, in the hunger games there is no other option other then and high school isn’t the only reason teens commit suicide but she fails to understand that. Therefore I disagree with her.
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Assalamu Alaykum,
In regards to the article, “American dystopia more reality than fiction,” Rebecca Solnit kindles the interest of many of her readers describing the comparison between the American society today and a dystopian one. However, Although many readers support many of her claims, some grasp a fallacy idea of her central idea as “exaggerated”. In my understanding, this is more or less untrue. The author of this article merely depicts certain attributes of a story and compares the general and moral aspects of it to the American society. For instance, Solnit compares the Hunger games trilogy to highschool teens. The garbled idea in this situation is that many believe she is comparing the death and murder of many teens in prosperity to one, to high schoolers and their perspective in school. However, the author is trying to allow the reader to understand the moral aspect of the Hunger games, survival of the fittest, and how the American society of teens can relate in contribution to popularity, achievement, competitions, etcetera, and the effort in gaining, again, prosperity to all. In the final analysis, Rebecca Solnit’s, “American dystopia more reality than fiction,” creates a sufficient comparison between the American society and a dystopian one, using the moral aspects of her examples to give the reader a overall view of the similarities described in her article, although many may think otherwise.
-sal.
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I agree with Rebecca Solnit’s claim that the American dystopian has become a reality.For example, when she makes the point that the Hunger Games is much like high school, I do ageee with other students that she did exaggerate it but it is true when she states 24 students compete for their lives similarly in high school students compete to become an amazing student in class to get into the college they want which takes a limited amount of students. This example also has to do with the suicide rates that rose in the last few years because of the stress or bullying that goes on in the student’s life. Another point she made referring to the Hunger Games is when she stated the Capitol brutally sacrifices 23 youth whereas our own Capitol has a war of 2 going such as Iraq in which more than 106,000 people died including Iraqis and Americans which nearly fills 5,000 years of Hunger Games; some may disagree and state that it is the person’s choice to enter the military, however this is untrue because the people that choose to enter the military may be entering it by no choice to escape economic doom or to feed their families that are suffering. I also agree with the point about the prison in which many of the people in prison are there just for a simple mistake and when they are taken out of jail they have no other way of getting money except the illegal way which will put them back in jail. This shows that the government tries to keep society steady by not letting people move from a low to a high society and the government also pumps the drugs into the poor societies to keep the people there not to move them to a higher class. I will admit that when Solnit refers to the Hunger Games it is exaggerated and far fetched but she still has a point. The American dystopian has become a reality.
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