Love & Responsibility

In May I started reading "Love and Responsibility" by Karol Wojtyla, the man who would later become our beloved St. John Paul, the Great. It had been assigned reading in a course I'd taken in college, however I didn't read it at the time. I was lamenting that I had never read anything by JPII cover to cover, so I set myself to the task. Unlike my review of "Christianity and the Crisis of Culture," I've finished the book before I set myself to the task of writing it up. You're welcome!

Rather than attack each chapter in full, I'm going to focus on the subheadings underneath the chapters, as a means of breaking up the content... because, there is so much!

CHAPTER I: The Person and the Sexual Urge
ANALYSIS OF THE VERB 'TO USE'

If you know me, you know that the sky opened up a little at that subheading title because there is nothing I love more than analyzing words! This first brick, as it were, in paving the road toward a healthy understanding of love and relationships, is of vital importance. The reason that this particular verb is of note is because you and I exist as the propelling forces of our own story, i.e. the subject. We simultaneously exist as additional characters in the stories of those around us, "an objective something or somebody." (Love & Responsibility) Interacting with others is part of the journey. How we interact with others is why this verb, 'to use,' is of particular note.

Both the subjective and objective roles of man are encompassed in another word, 'person.' Such an all encompassing word for the mind, body and spiritual wholeness of man. That man has an interior life makes him boundless in his existence. As such, ethical questions come into play, "...for a person must not be merely the means to an end for another person." (Love & Responsibility) It is this, which elevates our actions from those of the created world around us. We must not, through our thoughts or actions, willingly limit the existence of another person as an object for use. Rather we elevate ourselves and those around us when we view the person himself as the end goal in our interactions. I interact with you, because you are true, good and beautiful and your unique and unrepeatable gift is something of great value to me.

Ephesians 5: 21 "Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ."

The next word that is tackled is 'subordination.' In the light of the conviction to never use another person as a means to an end, it is important that we also see the need to steer away from subordinating another to our will. "When two different people consciously choose a common aim this puts them on footing of equality, and precludes that one of them might be subordinated to the other." (Love & Responsibility) How invaluable does the gift of subordination become in the light of this reflection. "This capacity is, however, inherent in human beings and is bound up with their freedom of will." (Love & Responsibility) To choose another, and to go one step further and offer your self, an inspired gift. The important point is that a choice, together, toward a common good is required is required to justify this gift. They must share the same end and there must be a mutual responsibility for the good of the other.

The second tier in this analysis of the verb, 'to use,' takes us to the idea of enjoyment. This idea is wrapped up into the emotional, psychological and interior responses of the person. "It is necessary here to call attention to the particular richness, variety and intensity of those emotional-affective experiences and states, which occur when the object of activity is a person of the opposite sex." (Love & Responsibility) Enjoyment is a natural and just reaction to spending time with someone, the question is what happens when enjoyment is the sole aim of the interaction? What role does the other person play in this experience of enjoyment?

There is an equality that needs to be present in the activities shared by persons. The temptation with enjoyment is to isolate that positive experience and to make it the goal of your interactions. In this respect, the person becomes another means to an end, an end, which is entirely subjective. Once the world becomes the subjective pursuit pleasure, it falls into utilitarianism. "Utilitarians regard the principle of maximization of pleasure accompanied by the minimization of pain as the primary rule of human morality." (Love & Responsibility) Every experience and relationship becomes subordinate to the pursuit of pleasure. There can be a farce of value put on the pleasure of another person, but only insofar as they inspire pleasure in the subject, which leads inevitably to egoism. Two egoists can share the road only so long as they are mutually serving this end of maximum pleasure. This sinks both parties to the level of a tool for use, another means to the end, robbing them of their inherent dignity.

Caring for the person removes the idea of using from the relationship. The reality is that love always involves some form of suffering or pain, but it is through these poignant authentic experiences that joy in the other can be experienced in its fullest. We turn here to the Cross and to God, the Father, as the most perfect personal Being.

John 13:34 "I give you a new commandment, love one another. As I have loved you, so you should love one another."

It is a commandment opposed to the utilitarian idea of love and relationship. The most vivid and piercing demonstration of love by our personalistic God, was through the death of His Son on the Cross for our sake. The ultimate willing of the good.

Romans 5:8 "That while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

The concepts pitted against each other here are that of the person as an end versus pleasure as an end. "The value of the person is always greater than the value of pleasure." (Love & Responsibility) Not only this, but the just response to another person is love, rather than use.  Love becomes a requirement of justice, but love is also something more than this concept. That you exist, unique and unrepeatable you, requires that my response to your existence be in line with the utter gift you are to this world. In love it is not only this, but that you will the good of this other person before your own. "Love which is the content of the commandment in the Gospels, can be combined only with the personalistic, not with the utilitarian norm." (Love & Responsibility)

Love is always personalistic.

Blessed

I had the great blessing to go to a women's retreat yesterday with my roommates. The retreat was led by Fr. Jacques Philippe, author of many books including "Searching for and Maintaining Peace." A book, now having feasted on his spiritual guidance, I am eager to read. He is working on a book at present on the Beatitudes and he shared some of the fruit of this topic with us. Captivated, of course, by such wisdom and life-giving content, I now rush to share it with you. I hope not to perjure myself in the summary. 

"Blessed those who weep, for they will be comforted." Matthew 5:4

Fr. Philippe depicted God as faithful through suffering. In the beatitude we have the promise of consolation in suffering, though we may be asked to wait in the valley of tears to experience the fulfillment of this promise. These are words, which came to me in the midst of a week, through which I have stood at the precipice between hope and despair. The fatigue of pain in the every day has welled up to overwhelm my senses again, as it is apt to do. Through which the active choice to hope is required of me at each moment. This persistent pain bears a particular form of suffering, which requires me to ride to meet it each day with the will I can muster to actively participate in the color of pain brings to the day. In moments such as these, the most I can do is give voice to it and beg for prayers from those around me, to support me in my weakness and to assist me in allowing Christ to cover me in the shadow of his Cross.

Once we experience the consolation of God, we are called to share this consolation with others. The vocation of the sufferer becomes to turn away from the pity of self toward the good of others. The acceptance of humility brought through trials would bring also a desire to see others consoled before ourselves. That the consolation of others brings its own hope in the fulfillment of God's promise. This life of hope requires us to surrender our suffering into the hands of God, for whatever time He should allow. Hope breathes life into suffering, hope for the future, and trust that God may bring good through it. The outward focus on others should also open us to ask for prayers. To be seen in our weakness and lifted up by the generosity of intercession. This poverty opens us to see, receive and experience the goodness of others.

Since suffering is an interior and subjective experience, it brings a certain form of solitude. We must become aware of the unique opportunity this provides to become a student of empathy. It is, indeed, very hard to help someone who is suffering, there is always a real struggle to find the right attitude. To sit with someone in their weakness and call them into the light of hope is delicate. Without empathy, you remain poor. Empathy provides the grace of the resources to reach through suffering and to dwell with your friend. This  call into the desert may become the means to teach us to affirm and gaze on the dignity of others. In this desert solitude, Christ is very near to us, covering our weakness in the shadow of the cross. He shares in our suffering and consolation.

This promise of consolation helps us to gaze toward the end, the first and final cause of suffering as an opportunity for union with God. Through this we regain peace, hope in a future and the interior fortitude to live in the present suffering. The more we desire to live suffering in holiness, the more we realize that we are poor. This poverty may teach us to surrender our burden to God, which is the work of suffering.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. " Matthew 5:7

This was a particularly convicting spiritual talk. I find in my own life, that in light of the solitude of suffering it is a constant struggle to stave off bitterness. My natural cynicism is also a hindrance, as my natural inclination is to doubt the sincerity of others. It is yet another battlefield of my heart, and I share it with you to allow you to show me mercy. 

Matthew 6:38: "Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you." 

Fr. Philippe began this talk, by siting the above verse, urging us to stretch our minds past the understanding of reward and punishment. It is the reality that we are bound by our own hardness of heart. That we do not show mercy to ourselves when we withhold it from others. We become attached to our wound. In this light it is man who punishes himself. 

The experience of God's mercy can help us to forgive in humility and patience. Jesus, from the cross, reveals that it is only by the grace of God that we can forgive. "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34) It is God alone who can forgive absolutely. Forgiveness then is an act of faith, hope and love. Without this gaze, forgiveness is impossible. We ask that our wounds may be transfigured from the darkness in which they seek to fester. 

If I refuse to forgive, I condemn the other and enslave myself to my wound. In Romans 12, St. Paul uses the imagery of showing kindness to those who persecute you as heaping burning coals on their heads. These acts of kindness are acts of surrender and hope for the future of our persecutor, they prepare the way for the coming of the Holy Spirit. This is also an act of forbearing patience, trusting in the will of God, that the healing fire of purification may yet come to pass.

More intimately, it is an act of faith, that the other is not bound by their sin, and is in fact more than their sin. We free the other of our condemnation and free ourselves from the bonds of resentment and vengeance. This too should apply to relationships where we have done good for another. We should not seek to keep a ledger of good or ill actions, that we might seek to be repaid one day. Love ought to be given freely, no one owes me anything by grace, through which I renounce all power over others.

Authenticity

"Authenticity: A Biblical Theology of Discernment" by Fr. Thomas Dubay, S.M.

Books find us when they are meant to. I had started this book two years ago and then put it down. Having found it again, I applied myself more diligently. It bothered me for the entire first chapter that the tag line was "Theology of Discernment." Having heard the word "discernment" used by many different people in many different ways throughout my life, I found that I had become a bit jaded toward the word.

This interior resistance was cause to stop and examine myself. This particular word shouldn't inspire a knee jerk reaction of fear. Yet it did. The age old fear of the soul: that God's will won't coincide with your own. In the midst of this revelation, I challenged myself to open my heart to make room for this word in my life again. The more time I spent with this book and Fr. Dubay's patient words, the words of a Father, the more alive the word 'discernment' became. Discernment as the cornerstone to an authentic life brings with it the joy of the discovery of the day and its call for your life.

A very minimalist summary of this book is that it is possible to know God's will in your life, however, it is difficult to know it fully as it is to be known. Often times our own will gets mixed up in the process and we are eager to mold God's will to fit our own. Or, rather, we are eager to find the spiritual fruits of God's will in our own. "...Not all those who think they are listening to the Holy Spirit are listening to the Holy Spirit." 

Within the first page, Fr. Dubay bids us to understand that "the root of the whole matter is conversion, complete conversion." Challenging words, to stand always on Christ's fire, as it is heroic. It is the heroic virtue of the saints. Those who responded to Christ's call promptly, habitually, and regardless of circumstance. One of the key virtues focused on is humility, as this is the virtue that allows the soul to see the truth in life as it is. We are called to know ourselves fully so that we may be fully known. To show prudence in obeying our weaknesses and drawing on those strengths we have at our disposal to fight temptation. Humility to cast light into the shadows of the illusion and the darkness of life. This knowledge of self is the necessary precursor to discerning God's will from your own.

Signs of the fullness of Authenticity:

1. Spiritual Direction: seeking the Holy Spirit in the circumstances of your life as you seek to live the Gospel. Spiritual direction is meant to be a guide only, not necessarily a source of teaching. The goal of both the director and the directee should be to allow you to discover and live authenticity.

2. Growth in Prayer: Prayer, the source of love, needs to become intertwined with you and your every day. The goal being to never find yourself separated from prayer.

3. Interpreting Scripture: A living faith is necessary to interpret scripture, as a revelation of the human and divine Word made flesh. 

4. Giving Advice: I can't summarize this section, it's too convicting! In the words of Fr. Dubay, " One is fit to advise to the extent that he is virtuous. Study and intellectual competence are important of course, but in the ways of the Spirit a fullness of love has no substitute."

5. Seeking Advice: Do not seek to receive the council you wish to hear. Test the council you are receiving.

6. Speech and Silence: Only speak when it is useful and necessary. 

7. Vocational Fidelity: Vocation ought to always be outward facing. 

Grant me the Grace to Desire it

I know it's been quite a while since my last post. Transparency is a journey, and one that I'm still learning from. Even reading my post from January makes me cringe a little now, since I have learned so much since then.

It's simply providential that when I was nearing he end of "From Aristotle to Darwin and Back Again" by Etienne Gilson, my intellect began to pivot toward the desire to study suffering. Having lived

with my own chronic pain in the everyday, I was surprised that I didn't have any resources in mind. A friend led me to "The Science of the Cross" by Edith Stein. It's a beautiful and life changing book, there is an unplumbed depth to her words and I am convicted that I will never be done contemplating them. Her first section is on detachment and it is not for the faint of heart. I knew not what I had started and so came upon this spiritual power house unawares. Praise God that I did! I wouldn't have been brave enough to read this book if I had. God moves in strange and mysterious ways, opening me to contemplate humility and providing me with a myriad of opportunities o discover what true humility looks like. It is this living life in an honest and unassuming way that you can earn whatever respect or accolades come your way. Sounds like I'm still working on my pride in that sentence, but look again. True humility is the knowledge and acceptance of truths as they are. To presume that you are worthy of respect and praise is the opposite of graciously waiting to be called upon. Humility also gives you a heightened awareness of what it means to be obedient. To trust those, who have been put in your life as authorities and to acquiesce to any task in obedience.

You can't go on a journey with humility without allowing The Litany of Humility to become your constant companion. After these months, it has become a dear friend. Now, one ought not force the Litany of Humility on the world, it seeks its own souls to teach. There is one particular line, that is the most striking to me.

"That others may become holier than I, provided that I become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it." 

This line encapsulates what it is to see and accept things as they are. This, too, is the root of detachment. Through a daily examine, to become intimately aware of your weaknesses, and to then allow God into them. For all good things come from Him. God did not desire my pain, but if I allow him entrance into those weaknesses, He may be glorified through them. I'm nearing the end of "The Science of the Cross" and every word is like honey, sweet and tart at the same time. That when a soul, fully aware of her weakness, allows God to permeate every part of her, then He is given the freedom to exalt in His own goodness, and those graces which He bestows on the soul. A soul perfectly consumed by Christ can then be cherished for her own sake, not simply for the sake of the grace given her by God.

Once on the road to humility, it opened me to living life fully alive in my pain. Pain is something that can easily prevent us from living life abundantly. Through our fallen nature, we feel that we 'do not have time for pain'. I know I certainly didn't think I had time to be weak and fatigued every day. However, to begin to accept life and its experiences as they are and to perhaps begin rearranging priorities, a soul must encounter the truth of the world as it is. Though I didn't think I had time for pain, the moment that I made room for it in my daily life, was the moment that I began to live life truly alive. Only when one sees the shackles that are preventing the soul from living life fully alive can she be freed to "Breathe the free air again."

"Breathe the free air again," (The Two Towers, JRR Tolkein)

With this desire to live life authentically once again firmly in mind, I began to read "Explain Pain" by David Butler and G. Lorimer Moseley. Life changing wisdom. When pain is seen as an output of the brain, then the pain experience is turned on his head. One of the easiest cloaks to hide under in pain is that "something is wrong." This is a natural understanding, as pain is our most resilient and highly functioning protective system. Pain is not bad, it protects us. Pain is the brain's answer to the question "How dangerous is this, really?" Persistent pain is an indication that your nervous system has become proficient in sensitizing the brain to danger, prompting the pain response. In the book, "Why do I Hurt" by Adriaan Louw, he uses an interesting image. In the initial injury, a lion walked into the room and your reaction probably saved your life! Good job brain! However, soft tissues typically heal in the first three to six months. Louw describes persistent pain as the lion following you through your every day life. "Explain Pain" allows me to say:

Second Hand Lions

While I still may have a lion hanging out on my back porch every day, I know he's there and I am more aware of those activities or movements that will make the lion seem more dangerous. This allows me to be an active participant in my pain, instead of a passive recipient. So I ride the wave of pain and look for a better outcome tomorrow. No one else can experience my pain, so it is up to me to accept my limitations and to be seen in my weakness. I could and probably will write another post more specifically on what I've learned in pain science, but for now it is good to see yet again that all things can be made good through God. That my experience of chronic pain can affirm my dignity as a person is truly strange and mysterious.

To prep you for any future pain science posts (give me another six months), please enjoy this video.

Transparency

The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword,
penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow,and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12-16

I was convicted recently at a retreat with the Brothers of St. John, that I need to dwell with the word humility. What does it mean to be humble? What does it mean for me to be humble? What can I change in my life to let go of things that I consider as 'my accomplishments?'

Humility really finds me on my dystopian journey. For what is the greatest weapon we have against relativism? Humility. In a culture filled with people who bear the weight of being both source and summit of their own dignity, they can't see past their own anguish. Who better to shock the world out of itself than someone who is focused on others. Someone who does not rely on his own strength to give him dignity. This is the man my main character needs to be. So in order to discover all of the facets of this character and what sets him apart from his broken world, I also need to go on a journey of humility. Father Joseph Mary put it best when he said:

"If we are truly humble, we put ourselves in last place. It is not, then, crushing when others put us in the last place."

My journey since December has been difficult. Humility is not the natural state of the choleric. God is wise and merciful though. To bring down this choleric spirit, he gave me the gift of physical hardships. I recently back-slid into blooming and constant neck pain from my still-healing whiplash injury of two years ago. I bring this up, because the hero of my dystopia must also be familiar with living in pain, having a visible ailment to suffer through in the midst of his dark world. These physical weaknesses forcibly placing me in a position of saying "I can't do everything." Or rather, "I can't be everything I want to be." The most crushing of them all is the phrase "I need help." Yet even these frail strides are only the first steps toward embracing humility in my daily life. I will call this first stage Transparency, or the feeling/knowledge that the whole world can see through you to your very core. My many weaknesses rising to the surface to be viewed by all.


I finished an excellent book this week, "From Aristotle to Darwin and Back Again" by Etienne Gilson. It is an excellent book speaking poignantly on the harm science has done to metaphysical man. That because science cannot scientifically explain teleology (that every created work, insofar as it exists has a purpose, or 'end') it cast it aside as an explanation for living being. Teleology not only gives man a purpose, it gives man a source, that his end is to return to that from which he was created. Scientifically, then, we have man made in the image of man, which is precisely the philosophical conclusion of relativism. Finishing this book made me eager to read more, so I highly recommend it.

I return again to this question of what it is to be man made in the image of man and its hindrance to humanity reaching the fullness of truth. Pride as the great deceiver, putting the power to bestow honor and glory in man's own hands. This creates a self-centered man. There is an amazing chapter in "Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures" by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger entitled "We Must Use Our Eyes" and it deals with this very concept of breathing dignity back into the hearts of modern man. Therefore the cure for transparency is to be seen. No other solution could be more ironic. So we turn to our closest friends, our families, our mentors. "Go and show yourself to the priests" Mark 1:40-45. Be seen as you are. Stop hiding in the shadows.


I saw a quote by Madeleine L'Engle on facebook. "You have to write the book that wants to be written." I have never heard truer words that speak to the mechanics of creative writing. Now having discovered so much on this dystopian journey, I have to return to my work and find the voice for the book that wants to be written. I have a strong outline for twelve chapters right now, and these discoveries in humility, which have added so much depth and color to the world I am creating, call me to go back and rewrite the entire outline from the beginning. with new insights in mind.

I will end with this. Mother Teresa's advice on how to be humble:

• Speak as little as possible about yourself
• Mind your own business
• Avoid curiosity
• Do not try to take care of other people's business
• Accept contradictions with good humor
• Overlook the faults of others
• Accept insults
• Accept to be neglected, forgotten and despised
• Be kind, even if provoked
• Do not seek to be admired or inordinately loved
• Give in in discussions, even if you're right
• Choose always what is most difficult.

Martyrology of Dystopian Fiction

I'm learning a lot through literary research. It never ceases to amaze me how much more you can get out of reading when you read with a question in mind. Well, I have a whole head full of questions that I take with me as I'm touring dystopian fiction.

I am still, unsurprisingly, reading George Orwell's "1984." It's notable that early dystopian fiction novels such as "1984" and "A Brave New World," both feature a detailed explanation of why the world is as it is. A person can glean quite a bit on what makes up a dystopian world from this particular section of the book.

The revelation I am currently enthralled by came from "1984." The first part of my revelation is that each dystopian world is dealing with questions of Metaphysics, or the philosophy of being. More specifically in experimenting with how to change the existence of a person as they are into something they choose them to be. They each attempt to fundamentally change people from their natural state, through the taking of the mind and the memory to create the sort of person that they desire.

The second part of this revelation is that the only way to change a disordered dystopian world is through martyrdom. George Orwell wrote it best when he revealed that his dystopian world did not allow martyrs, that by breaking into a rebel's mind and memories they could create whatever sort of criminal they desired. This would mean that they could still put the criminal to death, but by changing the person's metaphysical nature they steal from them the ability to be a martyr.

A martyr, as someone who would rather die than to say or do anything against what they are convicted is the true the good and the beautiful. In "1984" they remove the threat of martyrs by turning rebels into sniveling, mindless cowards who will confess to whatever is put into their heads.

Then looking at the other dystopian books I've read lately I began to see that each one has a martyr propelling change. Then it occurred to me that in order for a society of people who firmly believe that their dystopian world is actually utopia to see the need for any kind of change, then their eyes needed to be opened in a radical way.

What I liked most about this revelation in "1984" was The Party's awareness that martyrs had the ability to ruin the control on power that they possessed. This vein is hinted at in other dystopian universes, but it so admirably laid out in "1984."

Martyrology of Dystopian Fiction

• "Brave New World" > John the Savage
• "Farenheit 451" > Guy Montag
• "1984" > Winston
• "The Giver" > Jonas
• "The Hunger Games" > Primrose

Out of the Darkness - Dystopian Fiction

I'm working on a new book idea. I've written and started several books in my youth and in retrospect I feel that my fatal flaw was that I did not talk enough about the project, story line or characters. The result is a continual reading and rewriting to develop the world, plot and motivations for the world I created.

This time I'm going to be seeking more sounding boards, more people to ask me questions and challenge me to really develop the world. If we haven't had a conversation about this endeavor yet and you'd like to chat, let me know! I'm eager to share. 

The secondary challenge is that I feel driven to set out into the deep of a new genre, Dystopian Fiction. It's a genre that has been popping out of the woodwork into popular films and books lately and I find that I have an idea to add to the pot. 

Once the idea took me I immediately ran to target and bought a three ring binder, loose leaf paper, and dividers to organize my thoughts. Then for the next three weeks I could be found scribbling ideas into the margins of my binder, proudly sporting a blue ink-stain on my pinky from dragging it through the freshly scripted words. 

After all my preliminary thoughts were down on paper I began to challenge myself to do more, ask more questions and build the world more. This naturally led me on a journey through those who came before me toting the weight of creating a dystopian world and its problems. I'll include a list of the books I've read and brief notes below. 

My next phase is something I'm taking from L.M. Montgomery's "Chronicles of Avonlea." So far I'm calling it "Experiences of the World," where I take on a major problem facing the society of the world and place several characters within that scenario to follow it through to its eminent conclusion in a series of short stories.

Still to come; rousing research into the science of today to glean ideas for a science of the future. Followed by another round of back stories and additions to the binder before I begin to transcribe plot points onto index cards to develop further. Quite a process. Can't wait!

My goal is to create a gripping tale of a journey from darkness into light.

What I've been Reading: Spoilers Included (think of it as reading part of my research)

Published 1949
George Orwell died in 1950
Written in the Midst
and Published after WWII

   


I'm in the midst of George Orwell's "1984" and must say that I like it best of all the books on this list, even though I'm just barely begun. Orwell has created a world where history no longer exists insofar as no one can be certain that anything is true. Society is set up in such a way that a fact isn't a fact at all because it can always be rewritten to suit the Party's desires for the time. All this driven by "Big Brother" and the in-home surveillance from which Winston finds a rare and solitary respite to begin writing a journal. This act alone is tyranny against the Party not to mention his deplorable preference to be alone and solitary. Can't wait to find out what happens next.

Published 1932
Written between
WWI and WWII

A close second to my love for "1984" is Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World." Where to even begin, Huxley's rousing writing-style often left my head spinning and my heart longing to read more. This is really the story of a man who managed to grow up with some sort of watered down morality amid a hedonistic society that has done away with monogamy and natural childbirth in favor of babies born in tubes, conditioned for a predefined class and set of characteristics. The thing about John the Savage is that he was born naturally of a Beta Minus and once discovered is toted around as a novelty until he succumbs to his passions forsaking his morality and, in shame, hangs himself. Huxley had a skillful style, which gave the reader the idea of a new scientific advancement, without going too deeply into the details of how it worked.

Published 1953
Post WWII 

My understanding is that people often find Ray Bradbury's "Farenheit 451" to be a rather strange story. It's story line meanders and is all over the place. Before you read this (long) short story, you should read about the author himself and about when he wrote this story. Once you do, you find that this is Bradbury's guttural reaction to Hitler's book-burning post WWII.  In a world where homes are now fireproof Guy Montag is a firefighter who has been entrusted with the duty to burn any and all books. When Montag himself begins to collect books in secret and worse still, to read them, he can never go back. Once discovered it becomes a race against a mechanical unstoppable hound to flea the city into the unknown.

Published 1993

Lois Lowry's award winning "The Giver" takes us to a world where there are no memories. An interesting feature of this book is that once again we see that families do not conceive babies naturally, only instead of this being an expression of unchained eroticism it is the casting off of 'stirrings' in favor of society's shades of grey. Jonas is called from among his classmates to receive the memories, which are held only by The Giver. He is allowed to keep the memories as a means to solve problems in the society, like a reference guide. When Jonas begins to see the injustice of depriving society of memories he runs away taking an unlikely passenger with her, casting these memories back among the people he left behind.

Published 2008

When asked how she came up with the idea for "The Hunger Games" Suzanne Collins said that it came to her while she was flipping channels one evening. She surfed between scenes of a reality tv show and news coverage of troops. This brings us the tantalizing tale of Katniss Everdeen as she volunteers as tribute in the place of her young sister  in the 74th Hunger Games. Collins delivers a gripping story filled with complex world and character development. In the midst of this story Collins poses questions every reader should ask themselves. Who am I? What is freedom? What does my choice in who I love say about me?

Published 2011

Veronica Roth's "Divergent" series were the hardest books for me to get through on my list. Rather than over-extending myself on the reasons why I'll merely say that I felt the world and characters were underdeveloped. One of the other main flaws was that Roth endeavored to explain her world with science she wasn't able to convincingly explain. My younger sister will tell you that there are two sides to this story and that, of course, Roth's work is valid and useful to her readers.

What is Dystopian Fiction?:

• Dystopia:  an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives. (Merriam Webster)
• Dystopian Fiction: A genre of literature, which features a dehumanized and fearful world focusing on a specific issue. Often, dystopian fiction is a satire of what is seen in the current times.

Characteristics of Dystopian Fiction:

• Propaganda and fear portray a dystopian world as a utopia.
• Dehumanized world for a presented greater good and for the sake of advancement. Often this advancement is scientific.
• Free-thought is discouraged and enforced by a fear of persecution.
• Often futuristic, but with satirical veins that could be something readers face in their own lives.
• Oppression and high surveillance.
• A central ruling power, which is feared and respected.