This space shows excerpts and short pieces from dystopian fiction, each chosen to represent a unique literary style or technique. These selections are meant to inspire readers, offer comparison points, and reveal the creative range within dystopian literature.
Featured Excerpts and Style Spotlights
1. Octavia E. Butler – Parable of the Sower
Style: Introspective, journal-based, prophetic
Excerpt:
“All that you touch, You Change. All that you Change, Changes you. The only lasting truth is Change.”
Focus: Butler uses sparse, direct language layered with philosophical weight. The personal journal format gives the story emotional urgency.
Try This: Reflect on a quote you’d write to guide your own dystopian character’s decisions. What’s your “truth”?
2. Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale
Style: Lyrical, fragmented, emotionally restrained
Excerpt:
“We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.”
Focus: Atwood uses haunting imagery and rhythmic sentence structure to evoke erasure and resistance.
Try This: Describe your character’s life between the lines. How would they narrate a moment that goes unnoticed?
3. George Orwell – 1984
Style: Cold, clinical, declarative
Excerpt:
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
Focus: Orwell’s prose is stripped-down and unadorned, creating a world of logic without emotion.
Try This: Start your own story with a slightly “off” image. What does that detail set up in your reader’s expectations?
4. Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games
Style: First-person, fast-paced, emotionally reactive
Excerpt:
“I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!”
Focus: Collins writes with urgency and intensity, often cutting between internal thought and external action in rapid succession.
Try This: Write a paragraph where your character is under sudden pressure. Let the emotion push the sentence structure.
5. Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451
Style: Poetic, metaphorical, futuristic
Excerpt:
“It was a pleasure to burn.”
Focus: Bradbury uses unusual metaphors and poetic diction to challenge readers’ expectations.
Try This: Describe something horrifying using beautiful language. What tension does that create?
Comparison Exercise
Choose any two excerpts and answer the following:
- What kind of mood does each author create?
- Which words or sentence patterns stand out?
- What does each voice reveal about the world the character lives in?
This kind of comparative reading helps students grow more sensitive to the craft behind the story.