Happy Election Day !
I know you probably are getting enough election propaganda shoved down your throat, so I won’t dwell on the topic. However, I woke up this morning wondering what causes me to want to vote and what causes me to encourage others to vote (no matter which candidate they are voting for).
I realized it’s essentially because people die for the right to vote while others in the world are STILL dying for the right to vote. Sometimes, I truly think we forget how truly lucky we are, but, granted, I know voting is a RIGHT, which means you don’t HAVE to do it, so today, I racked my brain, trying to figure out how to link writing and reading to voting–and not just writing and reading, because we could pick up any newspaper today and read about the election–I wanted to connect entertainment with the desire to vote.
SO…
I encourage everyone to read or think about a dystopian world in a novel they have read recently. For example, The Hunger Games, Matched, Delirium, The Maze Runner, and Wither. All of these novels are YA, yet they are set in a dystopian world where the citizens may not have rights. As a reader, you will be transferred there, and you will read what having no control over a leader may be like (even if it is fantasy). Like I said, I’m trying to link every day entertainment with the desire to vote, and reading a dystopian novel may remind you how wonderful living with rights may be.
Hopefully, these novels will not only remind you of your world full of rights, but they will also entertain you as they did for me. In fact, I will surely post reviews on all of them on here in the future, especially Delirium (because that’s one of my favorites).
So go out and read! (But don’t forget to vote!)
WATCH ELECTION DAY RESULTS LIVE HERE
This is ME–with my voting sticker after I voted!
~SAT
Shannon A. Thompson 
Great post Shannon! It is definitely a shame to see so many people either take their rights for granted or not caring at all. As you have said, people are dying everyday all over the world for their right to vote, and in the United States people just don’t care that much. I have read Wither and the Hunger games and they are great examples to go along with this post. 🙂
Reading dystopian books definitely make me feel grateful that we have a say. Voting this evening!
I cast my vote (sorry for the obvious play on words) for “Jack Gance,” by Ward Just. Though it’s not dystopian–quite the opposite–it’s the best novel about American politics and government. It was published in 1989, and I’ve reread it every presidential election year since then. Ward Just is a remarkable writer, not only in this book but in his other ones as well.
I’ve never read it, but I’ll look into it and let you know what I think. Thanks for your input.
~SAT
I always say we learn more truths from fantasy than true stories, experiencing fictional societies can give us some great perspectives on our own.
I have never voted, I’ve been living away from my country since the first year of my life, now, and after being able to vote, I can’t seem to be able to chose… sometimes I think the only way to make a difference is if I run for office myself.
You’re way of connecting literature with voting was well thought, I tip my hat for you.
Good luck with your voting, I hope it’ll make good difference over there.
~ A. H. Amin
Reblogged this on J.N. Cahill : and commented:
A thought-provoking blog entry on dystopian novels and our right as Americans to vote.
Thank you very much! Very appreciated here.
~SAT
Totally agree..it’s important to vote!
People over here in England have been going crazy for Americans to do the right thing and vote Obama – more hype than our own elections.
Nice post, Shannon! I loved the connection you made between dystopian novels and the right to vote. I totally agree with you that in some parts of the world today people are dying so that they can get the right to vote. We don’t know how lucky we are.