National Identity as the Arena of Constellations of Nationalism and De-Nationalism in American Dystopian Novels

Abstract

This study aims to dismantle how national identity becomes the arena of a constellation of Nationalism and de-nationalism in some dystopian fiction. The national identity described as a factor forming Nationalism is one of the fields of Nationalism and de-nationalism that always appears in American dystopian novels. A mutually beneficial two-way relationship between the state and the people is essential to build state nationalism. The fading of Nationalism as a result from government’s opressions was revealed by Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Westerfeld’s Uglies, Collins’s The Hunger Games, and Roth’s Divergent. The main problem of this article is to find out how the national identity becomes the arena of constellations between Nationalism and de-nationalism. The significance of this study is to reveal the Nationalism and de-nationalism through the constellations of national identity through American dystopian novels. Using Derrida’s deconstruction theory, the constellations appear in binary opposition as follows: country versus people; ruler versus society; regulation or oppression versus freedom; power versus weakness; independence versus dependence; intelligence versus stupidity; manipulative party versus receptive party; and global versus local. The main finding of this analysis in that the oppression and totalitarianism of the Government have eroded people’s identity, which turns the sense of Nationalism to de-Nationalism.