The Year of the Flood is a rather disturbing story, which depicts the world of our future as a wicked place. However, this is that kind of a story, that could be easily characterized as must read for everyone. Why? The answer is rather simple, to avoid this scenario, to prevent that horrible tomorrow from happening to us and generations to come after us. Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood is the food for thought that contemporary people need.
For now, much of mankind lives in the countries that stick – or at least they try to do – to the principles of democracy. They are guaranteed citizens’ rights. The interesting thing about those rights is that people start understanding, how lucky they are to have them when the aforementioned rights could be lost. Let’s consider Toby’s example. She is from a middle-class family, both her father and mother have work, while she has an opportunity to get an education. Everything is fine, she is happy and doesn’t even think about the problems their society starts facing. Then everything goes wrong. The world starts changing drastically, more and more restrictions are imposed, and she realizes that she doesn’t have freedom anymore. It starts with a weapons ban. Although corporations don’t allow having weapons, people are reluctant to get rid of them. Being afraid of inevitable difficulties and possible prosecution, she can’t register her father's death, for they are going to find out that they have a gun. She burns her ID to throw the CorpseCorp off the scent. “Without the DNA infusion or the skin-color change,” she can’t get a legitimate job, for they are “controlled by the Corporations”. So she has to sink to survive. There are no rules, no laws in that new world. Those, who have more money and more connections, can do whatever they want.
While the majority of the world sinks, quickly adjusting to the new rules, the minority starts seeking salvation. The God’s gardeners provide this opportunity. Although they are better than CorpseCorp, they are still a sect. The most convincing fact that this gathering doesn’t consist only of volunteers is depersonification. There is ranking inside the group, so the higher position one has the more power he or she has. However, comparing the CorpseCorp to chaos around, it becomes clear, why some people prefer it to the External world. They promise salvation and a peaceful life in harmony with the surrounding world and nature. These promises create false hope, mislead, and help to escape from the harsh reality. This story illustrates why so many people decide to join sects now and why their influence must be destructive.
The Year of the Flood is a novel that manages to cover the majority of contemporary problems and embodies the most frightening scenarios of our future. It is also about mankind’s survival instinct. No matter how terrible and unfair the world might be, the characters of the story cling to every opportunity to survive.
