Thesis (M.A.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Arts - Department of English

Dystopian science fiction and cyberpunk are modes of writing that have become very popular among young adult readers. The contemporary technological scene is reflected in many novels written for young adults suggesting that technology in postmodern societies will not necessarily develop into the utopian world hinted at all the time in the media. On the contrary, technology may go the opposite direction leading everyone to a dystopic future. The selected novels, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game (1991), Ernest Cline{u2019}s Ready Player One (2011), S. J. Kincaid{u2019}s Insignia (2012) and James Dashner{u2019}s The Eye of Minds (2013), anticipate that technology produces fragmented societies which will affect adults as well as young adults. However, the task of rescuing these societies from their dystopian state requires putting young adults{u2019} gaming skills to use. Taking such responsibility has a great impact on the lives of young adults: They become trapped in battles over power in which they play a crucial role as child soldiers and valuable assets who can support or undermine existing power scales. Their perception of reality is fragmented due to immersion in simulations represented by massively multiplayer online role-playing games {u2013} MMORPGs. Reality becomes an amalgam of the physical and the virtual worlds. Young adults' excessive use of avatars and computer technology contribute to shaping their self-image and identities which become consistent with the notion of the cyborg and the posthuman model of subjectivity

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