Dystopian novels rely on themes of totalitarianism, social fragmentation, mass surveillance, and the decline of individual freedom. Their main characters are generally rebels who reveal, question, confront, and/or dismantle harmful societal structures. These books tend to be full of action and adventure, which makes them very engaging!

What are dystopian novels about?

Sometimes, dystopian novels are more about confronting injustice, as is the case with Lord of the Flies. In other cases, characters take on multiple roles. For example, To Kill a Mockingbird involves a young girl recognizing and confronting racial discrimination in her small town. Keep reading to learn about more dystopian novels!

 

12 dystopian novels for high school students:

1. The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

Steinbeck’s powerful novel follows a family of desperate Dust Bowl refugees as they journey westward to California in search of a better life. They have been promised a land of wealth and abundance, but does that land even exist?  The story delves into themes of wealth inequality, social injustice, and political systems, while also exploring biblical motifs of judgment and redemption.

2. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck

This novel revolves around the complex friendship between ranch workers. Lenny is a disabled man with a huge heart, and George is his hardened protector and friend. They hope for a better life away from judgmental eyes, and the novel follows their attempts to break out of a cycle of poverty and discrimination. The novel explores themes like loyalty, friendship, mercy, and the harsh realities of life for those on the margins of society.

3. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

Huxley’s dystopian vision imagines a future society driven by pleasure, consumerism, and genetic engineering. As humanity succumbs to the allure of hedonism, the novel examines the loss of individuality, the manipulation of the state, and the consequences of a drug-soaked existence.

4. Night – Elie Wiesel

This haunting memoir recounts Wiesel’s experience as a young Jewish boy in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. The novel grapples with the nature of good and evil, faith and doubt, and the profound trauma of the Jewish experience during this horrific period in history.

5. Dry – Neal and Jarrod Shusterman

This gripping novel imagines a near-future California where a long drought causes the water supply to run dry. As society unravels in a desperate fight for survival, Alyssa and her neighbors must navigate a dangerous new reality of hoarding, profiteering, and violence.

6. Animal Farm – George Orwell

Orwell’s allegorical novella portrays the rise of totalitarianism through the lens of a group of farm animals who overthrow their human owner, only to fall under the rule of a ruthless pig. The story explores themes of power, propaganda, the manipulation of history, and the dangers of unquestioned authority.

7. Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell

In George Orwell’s chilling vision of a totalitarian future, the world is divided into three superstates, each under oppressive regimes. The novel explores the consequences of surveillance, mind control, and the suppression of truth, examining how totalitarianism crushes individual freedom and alters reality.

8. Lord of the Flies – William Golding

In Golding’s novel, a group of young boys stranded on a deserted island quickly descend into violence and chaos as they attempt to form their own society. This story explores the dark side of human nature, touching on themes of leadership, power structures, how power can lead to corruption, moral decay, and the breakdown of social order.

9. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

This beloved and critically acclaimed novel follows a Scout, young girl growing up in the racially segregated South. As her father, lawyer Atticus Finch, defends a black man accused of a violent crime, Scout confronts the harsh realities of racial injustice, while also learning about courage, morality, and growing up.

10. Scythe – Neal Shusterman

Shusterman’s vision of a future includes death being conquered. A side effect of this gift is that humanity faces overpopulation. To maintain balance, scythes are given the power to kill. Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe, where they must grapple with the ethics of death and their own moral choices.

11. The Giver

Lois Lowry’s classic dystopian novel follows Jonas, a twelve-year-old boy in a society that values “sameness” and eliminates pain and memory. Chosen as the Receiver of Memory, Jonas discovers the depths of human emotion, and realizes that the perfect society he lives in may come at the cost of individuality and true freedom.

12. Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel paints a future where books are banned, and firemen burn them. Guy Montag, a fireman, begins questioning the society he serves and the destructive power of censorship. This powerful warning against the dangers of controlling knowledge and the dehumanizing effects of technology remains alarmingly relevant today.