Dystopian fiction has become a staple in today's literature. Books such as The Hunger Games series, The Giver, and the Divergent trilogy have all been enormously popular; they have even had movie adaptations made. Dystopian novels have been around far longer than Katniss Everdeen, though. Both 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 were published in the mid-1900's, and they have since been made required reading material for some high schools. Each of these novels also had a movie adaptation made; perhaps they were The Hunger Games and Divergent of their time. 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 have a lot more in common than just their publication dates; the background, characters, and plot are closely intertwined, although they have some differences.
1984 by George Orwell explores the idea of a controlling, rigid, totalitarian government which is referred to as The Party and headed by Big Brother. No one knows if Big Brother is a real entity, or if he is merely an imaginary figurehead designed to threaten the citizens of Airstrip One "the district in which the story takes place. He is said to spy on people by means of a telescreen, which also runs programs venerating Big Brother. Citizens of Airstrip One are conditioned to idolize Big Brother and hate his counterpart, Goldstein. Goldstein is said to be the leader of the Brotherhood, an organization working to bring down The Party. Any thought or action even remotely in rebellion of Big Brother will cause a citizen to be vaporized "essentially, disappear from society. Proles, the working class, are kept especially ignorant about the history and current events of Airstrip One. Members of the Outer Party have slightly more freedom, but none so much as those of the Inner Party. .
In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian America, books are forbidden. Firemen do not put out fires; they start them in homes containing books. Instead of reading, going on hikes, or having conversations with friends and family, people would rather sit in their TV parlors or listen to the "seashell radio " on their ear.
