Books about dry futures

Having recently read the beginning of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, I have found certain similarities between it and two other books I have read in the past which are The Giver and A Brave New World. All three of these books have a setting in a future time with utopian-like societies. They all are quite dry in terms of the society it self. In order to keep the people in order, it is necessary to take away the "individual." It seems that this statement is a big part of all three books. In The Handmaid's Tale, women, and the rest of society, have very specific roles assigned to them. At the top there are commanders, and as we get lower, we pass guardians, and then we come to Handmaids. We have hypothesized from the evidence in the book that the handmaids go around birthing children instead of wives doing that. They are, in some sense, like the birthing mothers in the Giver. In the Giver, each person is given a specific job, and being a birthing mother is one of them. Babies that are born are then assigned to families. Similarly, in The Handmaid's Tale, handmaids go around to get children. However, throughout the book, but most evidently in chapter 5, there seem to be no children. We have speculated as to whether this might be because of radiation poisoning, which could very well be the case. Interestingly enough, there is a bio-hazard symbol on the cover of the book on the Handmaid on her legs. Also, as far as future utopian societies go, there are no lawyers, and universities here, and so people cannot get educated and think for themselves, nor can they argue cases because there is no one to stand up for them. If someone were to stand up and complain, they are alone in the world, like a single needle pointing up in a pile of needles on their sides. It seems like people imagine the future as dry, and in this book, we see a future where women are exploited for their biological features, and given jobs such as being a handmaid who runs around giving birth to children. Another interesting point in this story is that color is a major factor. In such a dry world, colors designate someone's status and occupation. For example, the handmaids wear red. In The Giver, color is very important too, as there is not to all except for the Giver and the Receiver (the Giver in training). It seems that authors are thinking about how to make these "utopian" societies seem without color, and so they either get rid of it entirely, or they categorize it and latch even color to the grey, utopian system. It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds as The Giver ended with the boy being able to see color and being able to see what the society truly was.