Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Dystopian literature in today's society
Dystopian short stories
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Dystopian literature in today's society
The day it all started, the turning point. We thought we were the master race, untouchable to whatever else lay wake on this planet. Our number one enemy, killer of millions was always in our shadow. We had been in a constant war against it since the dawn of time; it evolves rapidly and is a silent killer. The year was now 2350, everyone had been affected by it, it ravaged town’s even cities with ease, and everyone knew someone who had been taken by it. The quarantine law was enacted to supposedly help the people, but it just demoralized us, taking loved ones away with little hope of return...no hope. No one had ever returned from the devils waiting room, grotesque iron gates ensured no one entered or left without permission, jagged spikes stood tall like a set of teeth which guarded the way to a more sinister path. No one knew what actually happened in the stomach of the metal monster, some believed people were selected to go and live a better life, and they thought they had a cure. Others had a darker view. We were tested regularly in a uniformly fashion. We were ordered to keep fi...
Some things are not as they seem. “Ring Around the Rosie” seems like a pleasant children’s nursery rhyme, but many believe it is actually a grisly song about the Black Death in Europe. The Black Death was a serial outbreak of the plague during the 1300s. During the Black Death, more than 20 million Europeans died. One-third of the population of the British Isles died from the plague. Moreover, one-third of the population of France died in the first year alone, and 50% of the people in France’s major cities died. Catastrophic death rates like these were common across all of Europe. However, just like the poem “Ring Around the Rosie”, the true effects of the Black Death differed from what many people believed. Though tragic, the Black Death caused several positive societal changes. Specifically, the Black Death helped society by contributing to the economic empowerment of peasants and disempowerment of nobility that led to the decline of manorialism, as well as by encouraging the development of new medical and scientific techniques by proving old methods and beliefs false.
Its oppressive force lurks everywhere you go. Burning behind the eyes of one, lapping up the souls of another. Starting wars. Destroying lives. You can try to run, but you can’t hide. It is lethal, and you can’t escape. We are all victims.
The anticipated research paper will be taking into consideration the perspectives of the individuals that lived and died as a result of the Black Death, specifically from the year 1348 CE – 1350 CE and in the better known parts of the world during that period, the reactions, preventative measure that were taken to combat the plague, the religious and governmental response. In the collection of primary sources amassed by John Aberth in The Black Death, 1348-1350: the great mortality of 1348-1350 ; a brief history with documents1 he very succinctly provides a condensed description of each document by giving a background of the author as well as the source of the primary source. Aberth manages to do this while remaining impartial, an admirable skill to have especially when it comes to examining primary sources, even in the limited way Aberth does. Aside from those brief narratives before each source, Aberth does not add any additional information or opinions. In his book From the brink of the apocalypse: confronting famine, war, plague, and death in the later middle ages2, he does go in depth regarding the reception to the Black Death. He does not immediately start with what occurred during the Black Death; he details the world before that seemingly apocalyptic event with an examination of the social structure that existed during the Middle Ages, such as the rise of chivalry and the revolutions in warfare and the Great Famine that immediately preceded the plague. In this way Aberth sets the reader up to gain a means of understanding the resulting responses to the plague from the very different yet similar mindset of a person of medieval times. For example, although Aberth considers the primary belief was that the plague was ca...
When the Black Death had finally ran it’s course on Western Europe in 1350, the population had been diminished by a great margin. The plague has reduced the whole worlds population from an approximate 450 million to about 370 million in the 14th century. Death was something that was very normal and expected at this point in time. There were hundreds upon thousands of ...
The Web. The Web. 24 Mar. 2011. The. http://liboc.tctc.edu:2058/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CH1420001374&v=2.1&u=tricotec_main&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w> The "Plague".
Throughout the 20th Century, the world was engulfed in global conflicts, engaging in one war after the next. When looking at these different conflicts, interconnected themes and issues seemed to lead to the later conflicts. The first of the conflicts to affect the globe was the Great War. Since the Great War, numerous conflicts have followed including World War II, The Cold War, and eventually the War on Terror. These wars share similar goals and themes of gaining power and prestige, seeking revenge, and fighting ideologies. Each of these conflicts results in events that eventually lead to the next conflict, creating near constant warfare around the globe. The effects and fears created by these conflicts can still be seen today as we fight
I knew what this meant. The walls were down. Señorita Rodriguez yelled at us to get ready, get into the right stance because as of this moment, we were to fight for our survival. I spin around and whip out my katana, Kian whips out his pocket knife and we move cautiously to the door, knowing full well what we were to be greeted with. Kian yanks the metallic door open, the muscles in his arm extracting and retracting. He takes a huge stride out into the open, he was vulnerable. I had to help him. I step out next to Kian and am faced with death. The rotting flesh melting off their faces, the clothing they once loved battered and torn because the plague hit Earth like a hurricane. All at once. Every country was infected. We both spun and twirled around each other as the sounds of groans from the monsters surrounded us, I could feel how introverted and cold he was just standing with him against the monsters. A shout filled my ears as Matt came running, his scalpel already tainted red from the blood of the poor souls that were taken too soon from this world. Kian’s icy demeanour diminishes as he heard Matt and his will to fight grew stronger. The schools bundle of ice melts away as Matt stood by him and fought, Matt, Kian’s personal ray of sunshine that killed the ice cold beast within
Around 1347-1348 the most well-known epidemic struck the European world. The bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death or the Black Plague, rained sickness over millions; for most people, death was the only end to the sickness. The Black Death is known as one of the most depressing occurrences in history. It attacked the three most important aspects of a person’s well-being, their mental, emotional and physical health. While the plague impacted early society, authors, Jean de Venette and Giovanni Boccaccio, described the epidemic in their own words. Modern author, Charles L. Mee Jr., describes the plague with the scientific knowledge he has living in today’s society. These three authors wrote about the bubonic plague with their own voice’s and reasoning’s but many of the accounts they mention are similar to one another. Jean de Venette, Giovanni Boccaccio and Charles L. Mee Jr. explain the symptoms, the causes and the way people acted because of the black plague.
Many stories are derived from stories from the past. Walt Disney’s popular movie, The Lion King, is based on the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. This is just one out of many things that are from the past that appears in novels and films today. Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is a novel about a mad scientist who wants to make an immense discovery as said by Brett Weiss, “The Frankenstein monster first lumbered into existence in 1818 in Mary Shelley's classic novel Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus, a work that many have called the first science-fiction story.” (Weiss, Brett). Well, this mad scientist, Victor Frankenstein, eventually makes his discovery: the secret of life. He ultimately creates a monster out of body parts he dug from graves, strikes the sewn up corpse with lightning and the monster is created. Yet, instead of being overjoyed about his creation and discovery, he is bitterly disappointed about what he has done and abandons the creature. After this, the creature murders all of Victor’s family and friends to get revenge and the monster eventually kills Dr. Frankenstein and commits suicide. On the other hand, the story of Prometheus, the man who discovered fire and wanted to show his discovery to the other humans, but the God Zeus says no, but Prometheus does it anyways and is ultimately punished by getting his heart eaten out by an eagle for an eternity. Yet, the funny thing is that even though Prometheus is in excruciating pain, he still screams at Zeus that he would do it again. Victor and the monster from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein are both like Prometheus, and Victor ultimately rises as the hero in the novel.
It burned down your cheeks, bubbling and you could feel the boils on the flesh popping, a mixture of puss and blood. Stop. Stop crying, you kept telling yourself but it was of no use. You were a small insignificant bug to them and that’s what you continued to tell yourself. The two headed creature turned back to the stove and you took it as an opportunity to escape. Your insides were burning from the acid and when you opened the door to your room, fifty or so small, colorful demons seem to rule the realm; a bunch were using your bed as a trampoline, others messing with your radio, they flew around the room cackling at each other, you saw another pee on your math book as it eyed you suspiciously.
In the last stage of conflict escalation, the drive to annihilate the enemy is so strong that even the self-preservation instinct is neglected. Not even one's own survival counts, the enemy shall be exterminated even at the price of destruction of one's own very existence as an organization, group, or individual. All bridges are burnt, there is no return. The only remaining concern in the race towards the other side is to make sure that the other side is equally destructed too.
To say people did not know much about the plague was an underestimation. From its origins, to its spread, to its cure, the doctors whose sole task was to treat this notorious slaughterer barely knew more than the poor people they were nursing. They did, on the other hand, recognize the point that it spread rapidly and without any difficulty. Mixtures of onion and butter, arsenic, bits of dried up frog, flower mixtures and even quite a few bloodlettings were unsuccessful in curing the victims. When they seemed closer to dying, the more
The plague separated people, doctors would not help the sick, guardians were abandoning their children, husbands and wives were leaving each other, even priests would not listen to people’s confessions, it was a mad house (Kreis, 2014). There were many consequences which occurred after the plague in 1351. Many people began to question their way of living and had new outlooks on life and death (Nelson, 2011). People seemed to have different reactions and their own ways of dealing with the after math of the Black Death. Some people felt that living an exciting life and fulfilling their every need would free them from the burdens of the plague, dancing the night and day away, binge drinking, and socializing with everyone around them about what happened was their way of handling things (EyeWitness to History, 2001). Others seemed to have a completely different way of viewing things. The others created small societies and isolated themselves, they lived moderately and eluded all luxurious activities, as well as having absolutely no discussion of the plague (EyeWitness to History, 2001). Many people during this time wanted answers, yet they did not understand how this disease was being spread, nor did they have the information or knowledge that it was even a disease. Therefore, most people believed that the plague was a “wrath of God”, and the people were
"Primary Megadeaths of the Twentieth Century." Twentieth Century Atlas - Death Tolls. Necrometrics. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
Science Fiction often opens the eyes of humanity so we can try to imagine what the future will hold. More specifically, Science Fiction movies allow us to explore examples of utopian or dystopian societies. They allow us to explore different planets in outer space. Due to all of the creative components found in the set designs of several science fiction movies, a viewer can watch the movie and escape reality. The interesting innovations seen in the set designs look very futuristic so the viewer’s imagination is inspired and lets you indulge in the film.