"The Coming Plague"
This text, concerned with understanding historical epidemics and preventing future ones, is titled "The Coming Plague." By including the word "plague" in her title, Garrett subtly associates the issue of epidemics with the violent and horrific imagery of the black death, the most famous "plague." In doing so, Garrett emphasizes the dangerous consequences of ignoring epidemics.
A game of cards
In the following passage, Garrett uses imagery to describe the biological onset of epidemics:
“The mutability of bacteria, coupled with their ability to pass around and share genetic trumps in a microscopic game of cards, seemed to increasingly leave Homo sapiens holding losing hands.”
She describes it in terms of a "microscopic game of cards," saying that humanity often has a "losing hand."
"Caught in the food chain"
Garrett uses brutal imagery to describe nature, emphasizing the fact it doesn't "care" about humanity. In the following passage, Garrett describes the ecosystem as something that traps humanity, as we are "caught in the food chain":
“We’ll never escape the limits of the ecosystem. We are caught in the food chain, whether we like it or not, eating and being eaten.”
