How will the world end? It might be in one of the Hollywood ways: zombies, aliens, earthquakes or nuclear winter. Or it might be in a waterless flood that clears away the chaos of humanity for a new species to thrive. Margaret Atwood tells the tale of the latter in the MaddAddam Trilogy.
These books, the most recent of which just came out last year (MaddAddam) combines two popular themes in literature, dystopia and apocalypse. It details the events leading up to the waterless flood and the aftermath of it. At first, readers are kept in the dark as to what caused this extinction of humanity, leaving behind only pockets of human life to inhabit this new world.
However, the humans aren’t alone. Genetically modified creatures, created by health corporations before the flood, are thriving. One such animal is the Pigoon, designed with human brain tissue and organs to be used for transplants (and unintentionally giving it more intelligence than the average pig).
It is the humanoid creation that is most significant to the story. The Crakers, as the first book’s narrator, Jimmy, calls them are the successors to humans. They were made in a lab to be a superior species, without man’s aggression, which only eat vegetables, and have no need to wear clothes. Their skin turns blue when they are ready to mate, and they have multiple partners, so that all the men are involved instead of just one. They share in the obligations of fatherhood.
The series goes back and forth between the dystopian society and post-apocalyptic future. The first book, “Oryx and Crake,” follows Jimmy, who is known as Snowman to the Crakers. He lived his life in corporation compounds, in which his father was a researcher, and had firsthand experience with the various creatures created in an attempt to battle human mortality. He meets a man named Crake, who eventually created the Crakers. As one of the few survivors of the waterless flood, he takes it on himself to act as a protector of the new species.
The next book, “The Year of the Flood,” focuses on the God’s Gardeners, a group that practices Christianity mixed with earthly respect for animals and plants. In the corrupt society controlled by corporations with little respect for the environment, they live simply on rooftop gardens and keep themselves separate from society.
“MaddAddam,” the final book in the trilogy, unites the two storylines. Many members of God’s Gardeners were also part of an eco-terrorist group known as MaddAddam, fighting the destructive corporations and protecting the environment. It is revealed that the members of that group were taken captive by the corporations and put under Crake’s control, who used their knowledge to create the Crakers.
The series takes a bold stance against corporate control of the environment, in which these companies have become so rich and powerful that they have more authority than the government itself, and can trash the environment for obscene profits without any consequences.
The series is well worth a read, and HBO is planning on producing a show based on it. If you do choose to immerse yourself in Margaret Atwood’s world, just keep in mind the duty of every dystopian adventurer: find the similarities in our own culture, and try to change those things that might lead us in that direction.