Since I learned how to read I have always taken an interest in Dystopian Fiction. The authors always create the most interesting worlds, worlds that with a few small changes could really happen to us. They can start with revolutions and uprisings, and suddenly there is no going back to the world we once knew, a world where voices and people were equal, and free speech was encouraged rather than feared. Where laws were there to protect people instead of restrict their human rights.
I’ve visited quite a few different worlds created by these authors, some of my go to ones are classics like 1984, Children of Men and Brave New World. Some of them are more recent releases I’ve been recommended or have found out of chance. such as: When She Woke, Matched and 2084. There is also The Hunger Games trilogy which I’ve not only seen in my own mind, but I’ve witnessed it on the big screen.
The most recent one I read was When She Woke by Hilary Jordan, after it was recommended to me by a friend, and now as each week passes I see part of our world slipping slowly into this world, a world where a woman’s right to chose what to do with her own body is being controlled and regulated. Some states in the US, a place I remind you that is advertised to the rest of the world as ‘land of the free’, are trying to overturn the monumental decision of the “Roe v. Wade” Supreme Court case of 1973 that protects a pregnant woman’s right to chose to have an abortion.
In the book When She Woke, the main character Hannah is convicted of murder, the victim being her unborn child. The abortion is carried out in secret, and when it’s discovered that it happened Hannah is convicted and branded a murderer, having to live her life now as a ‘Red’. In this world, the colour of your skin represents your crime and when convicted your skin is dyed to show this. Green for robbery and arsonists, Yellow for misdemeanors, Blue for child predators, Purple for sex crimes and finally Red for murder.
While the events leading up to the book aren’t exactly the same as where we are today it’s scary to think that one day they might be, and I can see it happening. The question is, how long will it be before they realise there’s no turning back?
Llama Symphony 