l Atwood’s, The Year of The Flood, a story of a dystopia suffering with the before and aftereffects of a man-made pandemic, paints its world using religious themes and ideas. One of the main ways this is shown is in the books title, The Year of The Flood, not only is this the title of the book, but it is also a commonly brought up phrase in the book. The main character that commonly uses this phrase is Adam One when he talks about the evil that resides in humans and their betrayal to God’s other creation of animals. The phrase/title, “The Year of The Flood,” in this context refers to a second Noah’s ark. As a reference to Noah is made in the novel, for those of you how don’t know, Noah was one of a few humans chosen by God to survive a great flood that God sends to wipe out most of the human race, due to their evil deeds. God then tasked Noah with creating a better Earth. In the novel, this story of Noah and the title, The Year of The Flood, is used to, first, showcase what the flood in this novel is. The flood in this novel is a reference to the pandemic that breaks out and kills almost every human on the planet, just like the flood in the biblical story. Not only that, but the title is also used to represent the ideas of rebirth and regeneration. As stated by Adam One, the people who will parish in the flood will be those who don’t treat animals with respect and those who have separated themselves from animals and have given into humanity. When the flood hits, this in way happens, as the only people left are Gardeners, ex-Gardeners, and some Pantballers. However, the elements of rebirth and regeneration start to come into play when the remaining survivors run into the humans created by Glenn. These humans seem to be perfect and immortal and symbolize the rebirth and regeneration aspect the title is hinting at and shows a parallel to the story of Noah. These lab created humans came about after most of the normal humans had died off and they show the rebirth of the human race, but better and improved. However, religion and its notions are not the only themes and ideas presented. One of these other themes/ideas is sex work and the way sex is viewed and used in this dystopian world. This idea is explored through the way the book structures and tells its story through the voices of women. To me, sex in this novel is not viewed has a romantic or intimate act, but an act of trade and survival. Through the course of the novel women are treated terribly are often sexually abused. Recall the sexual actions that took place with Toby and Blanco. Blanco viewed her as nothing but a sex machine and someone who would bend to his every whim, because of this Toby was raped and abused on multiple occasions. This not only happens to Toby, but lots of other women as well and not just the ones who were victims of Blanco, even women living in The Compounds deal with this on a constant basis. While another women named Amanda is forced to give sex as a form of trade for survival, as she explains to Ren and even demonstrates this throughout the book. Amanda is even used to convey that this is a common action as men often ask for sex from a woman as form of payment, this is evident after Croze asks for sex after supplying Amanda and Ren with some drugs. Another way Amanda showcases the sexual abuse and abuse of women is that when the painballers capture her during the flood they simply keep her alive because of her reproductive abilities. The painballers (which are men), parade her around as a trade, as they view her as something men would want for sex and reproduction. Amanda in this situation is being treated not as a human, but as a tool. Which is a common way that women are viewed in this novel. Then you have Ren who is used to show the hardship and poor treatment of sex workers. Ren’s hardships in this job show how people, even people in the real-world, view sex workers. Ren is abused by clients, called names, and treated as someone who is less than human. This how many people in real world view sex-workers as well. However, Ren also shows the side that many people don’t take into consideration in the real world when it comes to sex-workers, the story of how many women become one. Ren showcases a typically case, she never wanted to do sex work, but she was forced into it in order to survive. The last main theme that I find is important to highlight is the theme of government control and how too much of it can lead to collapse or in the case of the novel, a pandemic. In the novel, the CropSeCrops (CSC) appears to be in charge of everything from punishment to science. Atwood, in novel uses the actions of the CSC to showcase how dangerous this can be, in the novel the CSC create and disperse a pill with the help of researchers at WeizerHealth that contains a hidden virus. Once the pills have been dispersed it causes a worldwide pandemic. With this Atwood is saying that when a government has too much control bad things can happen and that we need to keep The Government out of some particular things. Another example where is happens is in a game series called Resident Evil. In the game a medical company called Umbrella, that is heavily controlled by The Government, created a virus and leaked it out into a small city, this city was then infected with the virus and caused a zombie outbreak that led to a worldwide outbreak. Both forms of media are showcasing what can happen when the government has too much control and I think with this Atwood is trying to warn us about the modern day. For many scientists need funding for projects and often have no choice but to go through The Government and then The Government takes over the project. This really started to become an issue during the Cold War when The Government started using science for the advancement of the military. Ever since then The Government has had huge control on the science that takes place in this country. Overall, Atwood with her novel is using these themes to tell us the dangers religion, mistreatment, and government can have on us and how if we are not careful, we will cause our own demise. Links: https://www.nae.edu/7526/TheEvolvingRoleofGovernmentinScienceandTechnology
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