Margaret Atwood is known for her confrontational and highly complex narratives. In MaddAddam she tackles the imagined future where people have completely abnegated their responsibility to the environment. From the perspectives of threes survivors -- Toby, Ren, and Zeb -- readers learn about the terrific situation facing them and the others in the wake of a colossal natural disaster. After witnessing a fourth survivor -- Amanda Payne -- being violently murdered by a group of Painball participants, the other three decided to establish a camp where survivors not participating can band together for survival, a defensible base.
The conception of Painball appears to be the type of basketball which the Mayans used to play. They would often incorporate violence and human sacrifice into the games, which were held in a massive arena. Similarly, Painball is a game in which participants glorify violence for the sake of an audience. Unfortunately participation eventually gets under one's skin and demands a sacrifice of its own: empathy. The participant who are deeply entrenched have worn down their empathy skills in order to excel at the game, but this violence appears to have a sort of addictive quality.
Bringing her message of valuing the Earth home, Atwood draws upon her characters' personal lives in order to establish precedent. Often back stories are how the reader navigates the present. For instance, after Toby and Zeb get together they attempt to understand one another's core motivations. Zeb describes how his father was a hypocritical preacher who deliberately supported any movement which would ruin the environment. As youths, Zeb and his brother financially ruined their father and fled. Zeb and his brother eventually reunite and form God's Gardeners, an organization which supports the Earth and facilities individuals' engagement with it.
