Dystopian vs. Apocalyptic Fiction: What’s the difference?

Much has been written that crosses the boundaries between dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction. To me, the biggest distinction is the conflict. Remember back to your high school English literature days… Remember when the teacher would ask you to identify whether a story was “man vs. man” or “man vs. nature”?

Dystopian fiction tends to focus on character vs. society, whereas post-apoc often leans toward character vs. nature or character vs. character.

Dystopia

Common Themes in Dystopian Stories

• what it means to be human
• corruption
• abuse of power
• authority
• injustice
• class system
• freedom and the price of freedom
• oppression

Examples of Dystopias

These examples go from the more top-of-mind to less so. I also included a quick summary, though it’s hard to summarize such great and classic books!

• The Hunger Games: A corrupt state controls the populace through fear and annual Hunger Games
• The Giver: Tightly regimented society with only a few who remember the old ways
• 1984: Classic police state and an oppressive government
• Brave New World: Totalitarian state creates caste system and drugs to control the populace
• Fahrenheit 451: Totalitarian state controls populace through censorship (books)
• Little Brother: Controlling government misuses technology to maintain power
• The Handmaid’s Tale: New republic controls procreation and women’s access to knowledge
• V for Vendetta: Authoritarian government controls news broadcasts
• Maze Runner: Kids are put into a maze and forced to find a way out, similar to Hunger Games
• Matched: Each person is paired with their “ideal mate”

Post-Apocalypse

Common Themes in Post-Apocalyptic Stories

Certainly, many of the above dystopian novels can be deemed “post-apocalyptic” as they’re literally “after the apocalypse,” but books that sit solidly in the PA genre generally use these themes:

• what it means to be human
• survival
• civility
• rebuilding civilization
• starting over
• learning from our mistakes

Examples of the Post-Apocalypse

• Mad Max: After the end of the world, people struggle to survive
• The Walking Dead: Zombies show up and most people turn into the worst versions of themselves
• The Road: A man and boy struggle to survive vs. cannibals
• The Stand: People struggle to reorganize into societies and find meaning in this new world
• World War Z: Eyewitness accounts of the zombie war
• Seveneves: 5,000 years after the apocalypse, the survivors return to Earth
• Station Eleven: A troupe of actors and musicians keep the remnants of art alive
• One Second After: A patriot survives the end of the world and struggles to keep his daughters safe
• Wool: The survivors of the apocalypse confine themselves to old silos

What’s Next?

As with most things fantasy and science fictional, it’s not always easy to draw a hard line between dystopian fiction and post-apocalyptic fiction. My next post explores what happens when one is the subgenre of the other. Certainly, many of the above dystopian novels can be deemed “post-apocalyptic” as they’re literally “after the apocalypse,” but books that sit solidly in the PA genre generally follow a few themes. While you’re waiting, check out this awesome dystopian vs. post-apocalyptic flowchart. (Though I don’t agree with everything on it!)

Post-Apocalyptic Novel

Right now, you can get my post-apocalyptic adventure novel, The Last of the Ageless, for $2.99.

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Thanks for reading this post. Let me know how you differentiate dystopia from post-apocalypse in the comments.