Post-apocalyptic literature is a growing field of study in literary studies and it has gained attention of many scholars in the past few years. The present study seeks to elucidate how social identities are constructed in the context of two post-apocalyptic works. Lois Lowry’s The Giver and Ayn Rand’s Anthem are the dystopias which have been investigated in this thesis. John Fiske’s cultural theories illuminate the function of language in the construction of post-apocalyptic identity. The role of language is fundamental to the construction of identities since it is the major site of power struggles. Rand’s Equality-2521 and Lowry’s Jonas are two main characters who directly contribute to our understanding of post-apocalyptic subjectivity. They illustrate how these struggles occur in the duality of power and resistance. Despite countless cultural theories which suggest the necessity of resistance in the discourse of power, this study proves that even without the localising power which serves the dominated subjects, the dominant imperialising power manages to practise itself both in the physical and semantic realms of its subjects. Moreover, the opposition between nature and culture in the context of post-apocalyptic societies has been investigated which proposes the radical reaction of power to the representations of nature in both of these works. Nature is a powerful threatening element for the imperialising power and its representations directly question the infrastructure of the dominant imperialising power. The representations of nature propose semantic resistance to the homogeneity, unity, and order of the culture which is established by the imperialising power.
