The ecology of dystopia : an ecocritical analysis of young adult dystopian texts

• Main Author: Dror, Stephanie
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2014
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/46535

Using the lens of ecocriticism combined with theories of the utopia and dystopia, this thesis focuses on the literary portrayal of nature and technology in three contemporary young adult dystopian texts: Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, The Hunger Games by Susanne Collins, and The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. This research takes a cultural studies approach and draws upon sources of environmentalist criticism and literary studies to investigate the ways in which the three primary texts represent the natural world and technology and then endeavours to uncover the relationship between the adolescent, nature and technology. This study is a part of a larger critical discussion about how the literary relationships between nature, technology and youth might influence readers’ attitudes toward the contemporary anxieties surrounding impending climate change. The study interrogates the ways that the young adult protagonist is framed in relation to the non-human world, providing insights into the young adult's indeterminate and ambiguous relationship to both nature and technology and the future of human survival.