Dystopian Discourse and Post-Apocalyptic Stances in Veronica Roth’s Divergent (2011): A SpatioTemporal Analysis

Abstract

Dystopian and post-apocalyptic literature continues to grow as a response to the modern crises and conflicts witnessed in the twentieth century. Veronica Roth’s Divergent is a popular young adult dystopian narrative, with a wide range of studies that analyze the novel from different perspectives, but few studies pay a particular attention to space and time as core elements in the construction of the dystopian world of Divergent. This study aims to examine dystopian discourse and post-apocalyptic stances within Roth’s novel, and analyze how space and time play a significant role in shaping the narrative’s world, in addition to how both of them affect the protagonist’s journey. This research employs an interdisciplinary approach, relying on the descriptive-analytical method to describe key themes and events, and analyzes them using a spatio-temporal analysis with respect to Lefebvre’s spatial triad and Ricoeur’s threefold mimesis. The findings reveal how space and time function as core elements that shape the novel’s dystopian world and the protagonist’s journey through the themes of categorization, confinement, surveillance, and corruption. This study indicates the importance of the spatio temporal framework in interpreting and understanding young adult dystopian fiction.