You Will Not Break Me: Liberation and Oppression in Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series

LitRPG apocalypses is a burgeoning genre that allows for the investigation of people’s responses to systemic oppression. In most cases, LitRPG apocalypses feature protagonists who labor for the liberation of themselves, their communities, and even their planets, whether through establishing themselves as powerful enough to protect their freedoms or by dismantling the oppressive systems thus forcing a renewal or rebirth into something better than before. Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series—and particularly the latest installment This Inevitable Ruin—exemplifies the genre, analyzing oppression and liberation with the misadventures of a guy named Carl and his talking cat Donut. This paper highlights that analysis and uses the works of Mircea Eliade, Pablo Freire, and others to connect Dinniman’s work to the greater conversation regarding liberation.