Postapocalyptic fiction commonly presents readers with imaginative versions of dystopian societies in which survivors struggle to rebuild their world after a wide-reaching catastrophe, and such narratives often interrogate whether humanity will inevitably repeat its old mistakes. A range of settings, details and overall tropes often recur in novels with such dystopian premises, and narratives that focus on the aftermath of nuclear war frequently envisage a world in which the remnants of humanity must shelter in an austere setting, submitting to the extreme physical limitations of an enclosed environment that necessitates a strictly regimented society. Prominent examples of stories in this category include Hugh Howey’s Wool (2011), which features subterranean “silo” habitats that shield humanity from the supposed toxicity on the Earth’s’ surface. This premise bears many similarities to Sullivan’s Haven, as the characters of both stories endure rigid social rules, believing that the entirety of the world outside is lethal.

Similarly, Cass Morgan’s young-adult novel The 100 (2013), the first installment in a four-book series, posits a future in which humanity huddles in a space station orbiting the ruined Earth. In her narrative, teenagers set loose on Earth soon develop their own society beyond the reach of the adults who run the station, and Morgan’s work grapples with the same questions about ethics, individual interests, and community needs that Sullivan tackles in Beneath. Like Howey’s silo, Haven conceals fundamental truths about the world in order to control the surviving population, and both stories emphasize the inherent deceptions that those in power employ to retain their grip on political control.

Finally, Sullivan’s world building loosely pays homage to the classic dystopian novel 1984, which was written by British author George Orwell and published in 1949. While Orwell’s vision was not strictly postapocalyptic, its protagonist must contend with the severe limitations of a cruel, authoritarian society that harshly punishes people for the slightest indication that they might secretly disagree with or oppose the state. By including an epigraph from 1984—“Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past” (ix)—Sullivan immediately delivers the message that Beneath will concern itself, at least in part, with the societal manipulation of history and memory. Like Winston, Orwell’s protagonist, Sasha fills a journal with her frenzied thoughts in an attempt to “hold on to memories that [she] know[s] will fade with time” (4). While the pressure to forget these details comes from within herself rather than from the dictates of the state, Haven’s rigid hierarchy has nonetheless had an outsized impact on Sasha’s scarred psyche. Likewise, her everyday life is overshadowed by the baleful surveillance of Force Commander Burdon, whose behind-the-scenes maneuvering mimics the sinister overtones of “Big Brother” interference in Sasha and her comrades’ everyday lives.

In accordance with the Orwellian quotation featured in the novel’s opening, Burdon has altered the records of the past and also effectively “controls the present” of Haven; it therefore follows that she intends to dictate the warped society’s future as well. Yet, in the context of Sullivan’s narrative, the quote from 1984 also suggests that if Sasha and her companions can seize the present for themselves, they can alter their own futures for the better. In this implicit ideal, Sullivan conforms to the dystopian trope of creating a flawed world whose inhabitants yearn to overcome humanity’s worst impulses in order to improve their existence. In the realm of dystopian fiction, the past is not a fixed record but a contested territory where both individual identity and societal power are won or lost.