Dystopia: a real or imagined world where inhumane and fearful lives are heavily normalized and even encouraged.
In books like the Hunger Games or the Maze Runner or Attack on Titan, the antagonist always ends up being the ruling class or the government that has forced these lives on their citizens. The wealthy in the capital force the districts into a game of survival, scientists force a group of kids into a simulation and have them create their own society to survive, governments of several countries turn their enemies into carnivorous titans and release them onto an island full of people. However, these societies that are at the beginning of these books are all seen as normal and most people in that society, other than the main characters, are able to go along with it. Even more, you see a theme of those people trying to convince the main characters that trying to change society is counterproductive. They are so blinded by the “advantages” that society has (advantages that the ruling class is trying to convince them they have) and they don’t want to lose their false realities. The wealthy force these cruel conditions on to the majority, promote propaganda, encourage devoutness and loyalty, and deal out brutal punishments until that way of life is solidified and actually coveted.
