Dystopia/Utopia or the Matrix?

[Kathy]

Reading this in the reflection of the 3 big dys/u-topias of literature (Brave New World, 1984, and Skinner's Walden 2) it seems like this 17 year old young woman's first world is a BF Skinner type of dystopia where all the environment is controlled to condition the populace to behave a particular way and those who do not are eliminated in different ways all with accompanying acronyms... one can be deleted, or exiled -- to another Skinner Box set in the late 1950s. Again, aberrent behavior lands her in a commune-type environment that is reflective of Walden 2... but there appears to be some resemblance of a dream world (is this real, or a function of the mind escaping reality such as a matrix environment?). The sexual politics apparently degrade between societies and the racial politics suck all ways around but are slightly improved in the last.

--spoiler- At one point I wondered if both were hit by lightning when in the arboretum and she survived or if the entire thing was an induced dream and she is actually in some hospital bed with an IV drip and foley under the influence of some new mind control chemical. Was there really an Ira Wolfman?

Stylistically, it is in the tone of those dystopic female led YA novels only somewhat less fantastical in that the experiences can easily be those of a young woman experiencing dissociative disorder, obsessive/compulsive almost stalking behavior,, confabulation, paranoia, hallucination, depression and PTSD. It made me think of those movies where you view the girl's experience through her fantasy when in reality she is in a mental asylum.. or the second season of Mr. Robot.

[Mirkat]

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