Week 4: Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer (6)

 


Condemnation of Humanity In Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation

In Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation, none of the characters have names, instead they are referred to by their professions: the biologist, the anthropologist, the surveyor, the psychologist. Instead of having names and identities, the characters are reduced to their utility. This reduction served to both diminish and highlight the humanity of these characters. Later, when the biologist begins to talk about her husband, the job description names have the added effect of making “husband” feel like yet another occupation. 

In contrast to this natural landscape, based on Vandermeer’s own time living on a Floridian wildlife refuge (as shown in the provided infographic from Vandermeer’s website), the relatively industrial scientists with their tents and cigarettes and guns are beacons of man made invention and destruction. Almost robotic or machine-like when placed in this rugged, almost aggressively natural environment. Elements associated with humanity, specifically the shadowy government organization that has sent these women on this expedition, are portrayed as mostly negative. The psychologist, the character that is closest to the government organization has the power to put the other characters into hypnosis and influence their decisions. The psychologist uses this ability to keep the members from building camaraderie after their their first expedition into the tower.

 


 

When the biologist accidentally inhales some spores, effectively becoming part of the environment, she begins to change. Her senses become incredibly enhanced and she becomes immune to hypnosis. As she continues to change she begins to emanate an energy that can only be described as a literal glow. The book presents the biologist’s slow separation from industrialized humanity as not only a metamorphosis, but as an evolution, as though by separating herself from humanity, the biologist is allowed to become greater than she was before.

Through this evolution, Jeff Vandermeer criticizes humanity’s separation from nature and each other.

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