Fear and Uncertainty
The story ends on an uncertain note and even before the novel’s end there was a great deal of fear and uncertainty that permeates the novel. What is interesting is that like the narratives of darkness and blindness there are many different permutations on the descriptions of fear and uncertainty. There is the fear of daily survival as they defend themselves against both swarms of triffids and against marauding mobs of blind people. There is the fear of an ambiguous future for humanity as a whole, and the underpinning fear that nothing will ever be the way it was ever again.
Darkness and Blindness
What really plunges the world into chaos is the global pandemic of blindness and it was this that gave the triffids the opportunity to prey on humanity. Numerous descriptions of blindness, therefore, abound in the novel. It is interesting to note that the novel features narrative language describing both literal, physical darkness--brought about by the inability to see--but also abundant imagery that feature figurative blindness: there are frequent mentions of the short sightedness of mankind for not seeing the inherent danger brought about by the triffids and the darkness of men’s souls as they degenerate into barbarism when the world falls into chaos.
Agricultural Landscapes
The novel starts of innocuously with narratives of both bucolic and industrial farming setups, understandable given that the titular triffids start off as nothing more than a cash crop that people were using for all sorts of quotidian needs. This soon shifts when the green meteor event happens.
Post-Apocalyptic Landscapes/Ruined Urban Scenery
It is unsurprising that the novel is full of narratives detailing the ruins of civilization, as it is one of the earliest examples of the post-apocalyptic sub-genre of science fiction. In addition to thematic flavor, the descriptions of ruined urban scenery serve to crystalize one of the novel’s key themes: that humanity’s position on the top of the food chain is a volatile and easily usurped situation.
Cold War Paranoia
There is a definite undercurrent of wartime paranoia that is threaded throughout the novel and it is probable that this was deliberate as a response to escalating Cold War events. The protagonist, despite having no solid evidence to support his claims, constantly alludes to the global disaster--the green meteor, and the presence of triffids--as being linked to Russian militaristic endeavors.
