Dystopia
An undesirable and/or a dangerous, imagined place where there may be corruption, totalitarian or environmentlly degraded - the opposite of utopia
Dystopian Novel - The Maze Runner by James Dashner
The Maze Runner is about a boy, who only knows one thing which is his name - Thomas, is trapped in a dark lift which when cranks open, is surrounded by boys who welcome him to a place known as Glade. This place is the size of a football pitch but is surrounded by 4 massive stone walls, thick with ivory, in the middle of a maze. Both the Gladers and Thomas don't know anything about how they endded up there or what happens outside of the maze. All they know is that every morning when the walls slide back, they will risk everything to find out - even the Griever, half-machine, half-animal horrors that hunt the Maze's walled corridors.
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The story starts with Thomas being trapped in a moving lift which doesn't stop for hours. When the lift stops, it is praised open by some boys all of different ages, race, heights and places help him out and dust him off. The ground was completely cracked with long grass and weeds spurting out of the cracks along with a few very deeply rooted trees around some places. There was a small field for corn, tomato plants and fruit trees to grow as well as a courtyard with sheep, pigs and cows with old wooden pens holding them back. The day was bright and blue, but there was no sight of the sun in the sky, and the atmosphere was filled with smells of dirt, manure and a rotten but sweet smell in the air. In the second chapter, Thomas is welcomed by the leader of the group, Alby, of boys who call themselves the Gladers, but some of their words in their language are strange and words which Thomas has never heard of before. Frightened, confused and panicked, he is unknowingly made fun of by others but demands for answers Ably and his friend Newt refuse to answer until 'The Tour'. Thomas is then introduced to Chuck who ends up being his only friend and his 'keeper' who gives a few answers to Thomas. Thomas goes into his dormitory shack where he meets his ugly bully Gully, who strongly believes that he should be the leader, sends him up to where the real leader are so they could answer Thomas' questions. Unfortunately, what he saw in the room of which Ably and Newt were in had haunted him. A patient with blood-shot eyes darting back and forth covered with purple bruises, bloody scratches and green rope-like veins with a face horrible and white. Ably shuts Thomas out before he saw any more and with anger was in his eyes he told him to go away.
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The Road Summary
It starts off with a man sleeping next to a child in the cold woods who has just awoken up from a terrible nightmare. From few pages, it seems like there has been an apocalyptic event which could possibly be in America. The name of the man and child is also unknown and furthermore what happened is also unknown, therefore this may mean that it can happen to anyone at anytime. The beginning of the book suggests that they are stranded in the cold, and their aim is to swiftly travel to the South where it will be much warmer. In order to survive they have equipped a cart which they use for necessities they find. They also need to rationalise the food they get as there is a shortage of food and equipment due to there being other survivors.
As the novel continues the man and the child come must avoid certain people in order to survive. They must stay away from group of 'bad people' who commit cannibalism, due to the lack of food. The man and child both have to avoid the bad people and arrive at their destined point, south.
They see sights which are never ment to be seen, like the todler roasted on a spit.At one point, the child had also seen another little child and informed his dad, the man. The man then had got paranoid telling his son to stay away from danger and other people.
As they continue to travel the man and boy run out of their food, therefore begin to search for food everywhere they go. On one occasion the boy and man go through a house and discover a basement full of humans, who are held for livestock. They suddenly realise that the person living in the house is eating the humans, so they had no choice but to leave before they got caught and locked up.
As the novel progresses they begin to move on and push towards the South. They then discover a bunker full of food, necessities and importantly shelter. They stay there for a while, but the man gets paranoid that the bad guys would end up finding them if they stay there for too long, so he decided to keep on moving to the South rather than staying safe in the bunker. The man and boy finally reach a checkpoint, which is the beach, rest there for a while with having found some food in a shipwreck a few yard out to the sea. Soon after, whilst continuing on with their journey, the boy soon after gets sick and the man is scared that he might die, which caused them to stop walking and he had to look after the boy. However it was a flu which passed by.
Towards the ending of the novel the man gets shot on his leg with an arrow, but he shoots back the man in the head that shot him with the arrow. This caused him to suffer in pain and his health also deteriorated. When they pass through the pine forest, suddenly the man’s health gets worse leaving him to constantly cough out blood. The next morning, the boy finds that his father had died, probably whilst sleeping.
Surprisingly, that morning the boy met with another family who also were on their journey down the road, and luckily for the boy, they were the good guys so the boy was in safe hands.
As the novel continues the man and the child come must avoid certain people in order to survive. They must stay away from group of 'bad people' who commit cannibalism, due to the lack of food. The man and child both have to avoid the bad people and arrive at their destined point, south.
They see sights which are never ment to be seen, like the todler roasted on a spit.At one point, the child had also seen another little child and informed his dad, the man. The man then had got paranoid telling his son to stay away from danger and other people.
As they continue to travel the man and boy run out of their food, therefore begin to search for food everywhere they go. On one occasion the boy and man go through a house and discover a basement full of humans, who are held for livestock. They suddenly realise that the person living in the house is eating the humans, so they had no choice but to leave before they got caught and locked up.
As the novel progresses they begin to move on and push towards the South. They then discover a bunker full of food, necessities and importantly shelter. They stay there for a while, but the man gets paranoid that the bad guys would end up finding them if they stay there for too long, so he decided to keep on moving to the South rather than staying safe in the bunker. The man and boy finally reach a checkpoint, which is the beach, rest there for a while with having found some food in a shipwreck a few yard out to the sea. Soon after, whilst continuing on with their journey, the boy soon after gets sick and the man is scared that he might die, which caused them to stop walking and he had to look after the boy. However it was a flu which passed by.
Towards the ending of the novel the man gets shot on his leg with an arrow, but he shoots back the man in the head that shot him with the arrow. This caused him to suffer in pain and his health also deteriorated. When they pass through the pine forest, suddenly the man’s health gets worse leaving him to constantly cough out blood. The next morning, the boy finds that his father had died, probably whilst sleeping.
Surprisingly, that morning the boy met with another family who also were on their journey down the road, and luckily for the boy, they were the good guys so the boy was in safe hands.
'The Road' Time Scale
> START: it is in winter (October), it begins in the present, in the forest/on the road
> On the road > The man then had a flashback of his childhood, when he was in his uncle's farm > On the road > Another flashback, a happy memory of his wife > On the road > Talks about his childhood to his son and about his house > On the road > Another memory / flashback of his wife, being ill and depressed > On the road > Another flashback when his wife killed herself |
The time scale is not over a long period of time, it is not explicit - the man wants to get over the mountain as quick as they can because 'winter is coming'.
This drags the narrative and emphasises getting south and going back in time (memories of his wife). This slowly releases information and questions are answered. For example, his wife killed herself because of the apocalypse. And both the man and his wife were depressed. |
This novel is chronological, but there are flashbacks through it to answer questions.
This novel ends when the man dies, because he is the protagonist and the whole novel is mainly seen through his eyes. However, the ending is not complete because the boy lives on and is taken on by another family, so it is the end of a story and a beginning of another - the boy's side of the story. But the narrative does not stop because we are still asking questions. Time drives the narrative forward, which creates emphasis, because the man has not got long (because he is dying), Time goes fast or slow depending where they are e.g. the bunker scene it is much slower. |
When the boy's father dies - page 301
'He slept close to his father that night and held him but when he woke up in the morning his father was cold and stiff. He sat there a long time weeping and then he got up and walked out through the woods to the road. When he came back, he knelt beside his father and held his cold hand and said his name over and over again.'
The boy waits 3 days after his father past away, which in the novel tells us that he stayed for 3 days, therefore quickening the pace of this scene. I think this is mainly due to the fact that if the author were to write what happened in those three days for a few pages it would drag and not get to the point quick enough. Time is significant in telling the story, because it helps to develop the narrative and help it progress so that where the parts which are more significant are spread out a few pages, more or less, and it may help the readers understand what the time actually felt like to the characters. In this scene, time is portrayed that when the boy drifts off to sleep, then wakes up he found his father has died, all happens in one short paragraph. Therefore this shows that his father's death could have happened at any time and anywhere within a very short time. As a result from this, the pace of this is very fast, so this all happens in one short paragraph, in comparison to the bunker scene where it lasted for a few pages, possibly showing how much time it must have felt for the characters at the time, even though the amount of time was stated in the novel. This scene is a very good example of the idea of verisimilitude, as quite a big event had happened in a very short amout of time. Moreover, there was a little lead up to this, but as readers and for the boy, we didn't know really when the father was going to die. So for this event to happen in a short amount of time after all the lead up really shows the true idea of verisimilitude.
The boy waits 3 days after his father past away, which in the novel tells us that he stayed for 3 days, therefore quickening the pace of this scene. I think this is mainly due to the fact that if the author were to write what happened in those three days for a few pages it would drag and not get to the point quick enough. Time is significant in telling the story, because it helps to develop the narrative and help it progress so that where the parts which are more significant are spread out a few pages, more or less, and it may help the readers understand what the time actually felt like to the characters. In this scene, time is portrayed that when the boy drifts off to sleep, then wakes up he found his father has died, all happens in one short paragraph. Therefore this shows that his father's death could have happened at any time and anywhere within a very short time. As a result from this, the pace of this is very fast, so this all happens in one short paragraph, in comparison to the bunker scene where it lasted for a few pages, possibly showing how much time it must have felt for the characters at the time, even though the amount of time was stated in the novel. This scene is a very good example of the idea of verisimilitude, as quite a big event had happened in a very short amout of time. Moreover, there was a little lead up to this, but as readers and for the boy, we didn't know really when the father was going to die. So for this event to happen in a short amount of time after all the lead up really shows the true idea of verisimilitude.
Setting and Place
> Pathetic fallacy - it is always cold, grey, snowing or raining, meaning that nothing good is going to happen, there is no hope or nothing to look forward to.
> Darkness - this symbolises the harsh reality of which the characters live in amongst the 'bad guys' (the cannibals). > The Fog - it represents and symbolises the character's restricted view metaphorically and physically, so that they cannot predict what is going to happen next - keeps the readers wondering. |
Page 1
"...what had gone before. Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away the world." - shows the bleakness of this world and how there is no life. "Looking for anything of colour. Any movement. Any trace of standing smoke." - The man is looking for any hope or faith in this world. There is the theme of death in this, it is not a safe place, and they don't want to be seen by anyone, showing the lack of humanity. Page 110 Describing the house they went to - every human that is still living are now all equal despite their past class, power, ethnicity etc. Page 113 "Grey trampled grass. Grey snow" - this description is emphaising that there is no life, nothing to look forward to or believe in. Page 116 "An ungodly stench" - describing the senses, that they are smelling the decaying bodies - foreshadowing the Man is slowly dying. 'ungodly' - a lack of faith in God, it is like they are smelling death. |
Time and Sequence
In the beginning of the novel, the sequence is non-linear as it contains flash backs of the Man remembering his wife. Through this we find out exposition about the wife and what happened to her.
Time is compressed and stretched out throughout this novel depending on what situation the Man and the Boy and in. |
The Bunker Scene - time here is short, as the Man and the Boy were there for a few weeks however this was only a few pages long. Therefore this would show that because they are in a safe place, time seems to be going quick which is how McCarthy is representing this.
However, when the Man and the Boy are on the road, this would take a few chapters as time seems to be going very slowly here. This is because they always have to be aware of danger, like the 'bad guys' who are cannibals. When the Man and the Boy had stopped travelling, time has now slowed down to a halt, which is how McCarthy uses time to reflect this. So when they had finally crossed the mountain and were in a safe and warmer climate, the Man had died. Therefore this was showing that time was no longer a big threat as it was before. The Man's demise is timely, as it happens at the end of their metaphorical and physical journey. At this point, the time and story for the Man had needed but it was a beginning for the child. |
Characterisation
Page 297-298 - The Beach Scene
"You need to go on, he said. I can't go with you....It's alright.
I can't.
...
I want to be with you.
You can't.
...
You said you won't ever leave me.
I know. I'm sorry. You have my whole heart. You always did. You're the best guy. You always were. If I'm not here you can't still talk to me. You can talk to me and I'll talk to you. You'll see.
Will I hear you?"
This is the beach scene where the Man had been shot and is literally on his death bed. This is the longest conversation which the Man and the Boy have had, so the Man is pouting his heart out and saying the things which he has to before he dies, which he knows will now be long.
"Is it real? The fire?" At this point, the boy is doubtful, and it is making him question if there really is any hope left in this world which they are living in. The fire represents hope or faith, because it seems to be the only thing which is alive and moving, apart from themselves. Moreover, the boy has seen so much during this journey and the fact that even the boy is questioning about hope makes us realise that there may be none at all, as he was the only one persevering.
"Do you remember the little boy?" This is internal attribute, portraying the boy's innocence and humanity in the situation that the Man and he is in. The father knows that he is going to die at any time so the father wants some reassurance that somehow goodness and hope would find the boy, so the boy would not have to suffer.
"You need to go on, he said. I can't go with you....It's alright.
I can't.
...
I want to be with you.
You can't.
...
You said you won't ever leave me.
I know. I'm sorry. You have my whole heart. You always did. You're the best guy. You always were. If I'm not here you can't still talk to me. You can talk to me and I'll talk to you. You'll see.
Will I hear you?"
This is the beach scene where the Man had been shot and is literally on his death bed. This is the longest conversation which the Man and the Boy have had, so the Man is pouting his heart out and saying the things which he has to before he dies, which he knows will now be long.
"Is it real? The fire?" At this point, the boy is doubtful, and it is making him question if there really is any hope left in this world which they are living in. The fire represents hope or faith, because it seems to be the only thing which is alive and moving, apart from themselves. Moreover, the boy has seen so much during this journey and the fact that even the boy is questioning about hope makes us realise that there may be none at all, as he was the only one persevering.
"Do you remember the little boy?" This is internal attribute, portraying the boy's innocence and humanity in the situation that the Man and he is in. The father knows that he is going to die at any time so the father wants some reassurance that somehow goodness and hope would find the boy, so the boy would not have to suffer.