A dystopian story is a story that envisions a negative or dystopian future. In a personal dystopia, the protagonist must struggle against an oppressive society and its inhuman rules.
In this type of story, society is often divided into two classes: the “Scum” and the “Supremacy”.
Here is the answer for, which scenario would best fit in a dystopian story?
The protagonist may or may not be part of this division. The Scum are those who live beneath the surface of society – they work hard to earn what little food and supplies they can find, constantly fear physical attacks from Supremacists, and constantly struggle with personal survival.
Here are some more points discussed about the best scenario that will be fit in a dystopian story-
1. The protagonist must struggle against an oppressive society.
In this type of story, society is often divided into two classes: the “Scum” and the “Supremacy”. The protagonist may or may not be part of this division.
The Scum are those who live beneath the surface of society, they work hard to earn what little food and supplies they can find, constantly fear physical attacks from Supremacists, and constantly struggle with personal survival.
2. It must be an outcast for the majority of the story.
This is often true of protagonists in dystopian stories – they are different in some way, and this difference puts them at odds with their society. Typically, they are “the Wrong Sized”, meaning that they are either too short or too tall to fit into their society.
They may be considered physically ugly or just unattractive by society’s standards of beauty. They may be considered mentally handicapped, though intellectually superior to many of their peers.
They may have a special skill or talent that is outside of what society approves, from being a master warrior to being a skilled cook.
3. The protagonist must have a compelling motive for their difference from society.
Something that compels them to carry on in spite of the odds they face. A “scum” character who is driven by greed will be harder to empathize with because there’s no real reason why he should fight for survival when the best way to make money is through rebellion or crime.
A compelling difference can also come from within, a protagonist can be driven by a romantic ideal or loyalty to a cause, even if the motivation behind those drives is flawed and/or unusual for those times.
4. The setting must lend itself to a more advanced society.
A big part of what gives the story its dystopian traits is how many of the same concepts are used by modern people.
You can tell a great deal about how dystopian something is by the level of technology. If there are video cameras everywhere, people are getting information about their world from television screens, and traveling around takes no more effort than getting in a car, it’s probably just not that far removed from our own time.
5. The setting must be drastically different from the modern day.
Important for this is that there be no trace of normal society, even in very small ways. Maybe the only electricity the protagonist sees is the glow of streetlights (making travel at night dangerous) or there are no cars or planes (which also makes travel all but impossible).
This could be because technology has regressed, but it’s more likely to be because it has progressed to a point where people can’t make sense of it any longer – “Ghost in the Shell” and other things like that come to mind.
6. There must be an oppressive government, with many restrictions.
The word “oppressive” is used here to describe the feeling of the society, not how it is structured.
Also, oppressive governments don’t have to be totalitarian – for example, a country that taxes all residents at a very high rate or executes criminals without trial would both fit this category.
7. There must be constant strife between the inhabitants.
This means there must be no quiet moments of peace and relaxation; there should be constant struggles for food, shelter, and safety (or other resources).
If there is such a thing as “normal life”, it should only last briefly before the next conflict.
8. There must be a sense of lost history.
We see this often in dystopian literature – the protagonist looks back at the glory days and wonders what happened to all that progress and development.
It may even be that he or she is completely alienated from history – if so, they would probably have only a vague sense of how things used to be, rather than solid memories.
