Introduction

Welcome to my blog!
I chose John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids for my first novel, a sophisticated and allegorical book overflowing with truthful ideas and quotes.
Before you dig into my main blogs, here is an introduction to get you started:


Bill Masen takes the bandages off his eyes to find a world that has gone horribly wrong over one night; nearly everyone have gone blind following the previous night’s meteorite shower. To add to the problem, carnivorous plants known as “triffids” escape their nurseries and walk around killing people with their lethal venom stings by the millions. Feeling that he cannot be the only one to maintain his sight, Bill exits the hospital in search of other “sighted” people. Soon, he finds a young sighted woman by the name of Josella Playton, and together, they must find enough people still intact of their sight to continue the human race. To do so, Bill and Josella must helplessly walk through millions of dying people... and corpses.

Will Bill and Josella’s mission come to a success? Or would it be a hopeless last attempt to escape the unavoidable death?




Triffids:


Triffids are the second biggest enemy in the novel for the human race - biggest being the human race itself. They are walking plants that hunt using their very lethal and venomous whips with uncanny accuracy, usually for the victim's head. They are equivalent to destruction in the novel, killing millions of blind human beings for flesh. Even worse, they reproduce very quickly, and throughout the novel, their populations increases catastrophically.

Blog 1

What is the major theme of this novel? Why is this theme important to a teenager living in 2008?

After studying the dystopian novel ‘The Day of the Triffids’ by John Wyndham, I have concluded that its theme, or the main message Wyndham is delivering to us, is “Provided that the human race continues to act in an extremely violent, immoral, and self-centered way as it is doing now, it will soon destroy itself.”
Admittedly, this theme statement does sound somewhat complicated as it is an attempt to condense the vast message of a sophisticatedly allegorical novel into a single sentence. However, the theme can easily be interpreted into the following:
The human race has fallen so much from what God originally created it to be—an image, or a reflection, of Him. People of the present are so consumed by what is false that we impede each other in the process of achieving such meaninglessness. This impedance of one another in collective terms is the impedance of the entire human race. Unless we change our minds, views, and ways of doing things, we will soon reach the state where we will not only hinder one another, but murder each other until the human race disappears off the face of the Earth.
The human race has been doing the above-explained self-impedance from the point where Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, and individuals’ safety-status has been decreasing steadily from that point until recently, when the ‘steadily’ changed to ‘dramatically’. John Wyndham expresses this situation through his character Michael Beadley, a highly philosophical leader in the book, in the following words:

The path of safety started to shrink to a tightrope along which we had to walk with our eyes deliberately closed to the depths beneath us.

Now that there is a solid understanding of what the theme of ‘The Day of the Triffids’ actually is, I will clarify the parameters taken to arrive at such conclusions.
Firstly, after reading my introduction, you should well understand that a triffid practically is destruction in this novel. Therefore, the title ‘The Day of the Triffids’ means something among the lines of 'the destructed world', which points directly to the theme.
Then there is the protagonist Bill Masen’s conflict with the world that changed beyond recognition overnight. In this world, a very small portion of the world’s population survives their own blindness, the mysterious plague, and the triffids. Bill Masen believes that all three of those traumas are results of the human kind’s cruelty, selfishness, and desire of power—this, as you know, is the basic idea of the theme.
Thirdly, the climax of the story, where Bill Masen and his small colony leaves Shirning to join Michael Beadley’s colony, also directs us to the theme. This climax is the point where all the troubles described above are put behind as the protagonist and his small group are forced to leave Shirning—their home—for a much larger community lead by Michael Beadley.
Lastly, I also believe that the resolution of the novel is designed to hint readers to the theme, because on the very last paragraphs of the book, Bill Masen talks about how the surviving populations must develop complete new ways of living in order to continue the human race. If they do not, and retain the previous societies manners, the time when they will destroy themselves—this time, for good—will inevitably come.
Living in the 21st century as a teenager, I really do feel that the theme discussed above applies even more to us young people than the older portion of the population. This more special application is in the fact that we young people are the world’s only hopes to discontinue our past ways of the wrong and replace them with the ways of the right; the elders have gotten too used to the mostly-immoral system to discontinue it.
With careful observation, readers will be able to spot the numerous evidences which John Wyndham deliberately left to suggest children’s importance in his novel.
A major one of them is the policy suggested by Josella Playton, who is among the most meaningful characters of the novel. She proposes that a male who marries a sighted girl must take two blind girls as well. The aim of this policy was to increase the colony’s reproduction rate, so that there will be more children to handle new ideas that may seem too revolting to the older part of the population.

Blog 2

Are there any current situations in the world that relate to the novel? What are they, and how do they relate? Does the novel shed any light on how current situations could be resolved or “fixed”?

It is true that the current era is one of astonishing technological advancements. However, it is more importantly an era of intolerable violence, immorality, and selfishness. And although some may foolishly refuse to admit it, we are the very cause of it all. So, as you may have guessed from my somewhat negative tone, I believe that there definitely are current situations (which I will later specify), in the world that relate to the novel ‘The Day of the Triffids’. In actual fact, I think the question should rather be “Just how dangerously close is our society to falling into complete dystopia, like the one described in the novel?”
Well, just how close are we?
If John Wyndham were to somehow come back from the dead and answer the question, I have confidence that his answer would be something like “much too close”. My confidence is fueled by the two major historical events that took place shortly before the creation of this novel – the two World Wars. Events of such significance cannot pass by without shaping a writer’s way of thinking at the very least, and in this case, they were the very reasons why Wyndham created his novel – so that his readers will be warned of the grave danger we have created for ourselves.
Having said that, I must now challenge you with this – If Wyndham thought that the world 57 years ago was in danger, how serious is our danger now?
World War II finally came to an end when America used the atomic bomb sarcastically named ‘Little Boy’ on Hiroshima, in 1945. The event itself stood accountable for 140,000 deaths by then end of 1945. Between then and now, hundreds of events of such ungodly nature, though varying in scale, took place. So we cannot possibly be in less danger than John Wyndham; we are in a much more risky position.
An example of a catastrophic event that took place between then and now is the Persian Gulf War. Similarly to the two World Wars, this event’s devastation is in the astonishing number of casualties – more than 20000 according to ‘historyguy.com’.
But a more serious event that is exceedingly dangerous is today’s idolism. I say that it is more serious because unlike the major wars, idolism happens every day in everyone's minds—not a single person escapes it. The society wants us and forces us to lift our souls to false idols when the only idol we should really have is God. Take the advertisements for instance. Every second commercial on the TV is that of a highly sexual content; we just don’t view them that way because we are so accustomed to them. A scarier thing is that the companies do this because it is extremely effective - our imperfect nature greets such immorality with open arms. If we do not change this, we will soon reach the bottom of the hill where only destruction awaits for us.
The conclusion I draw from all the evidence provided is that the human race is incapable of constructing a utopian society because of its inability to discontinue evil. As you have seen above, history is a very solid evidence of this; we have always chosen the dystopian path rather than the utopian path in our selfishness. But it is very possible that we at least fix some of the major problems of the world today. According to the novel, the only way to do this is to strive; strive to discard the negative aspects of our methods and strengthen the positive ones.

Blog 3

Who are the main characters in the novel? Do you like them? Why or why not? What is special about them? What do they reveal about the universal human experience?

The absolute ‘main’ character of the novel, more commonly known as the protagonist, is Bill Masen. Like many protagonists of novels that have deeper meanings than others, Masen does not possess any qualities too special, apart from his profound knowledge of triffids and his intactness of sight. I suspect that some authors, including John Wyndham, deliberately make their protagonists as ordinary as possible to make it easier for their readers to fit themselves into the protagonists’ shoes, because the more success readers have in viewing the novel from the protagonist’s perspective, the better understanding they will have of the novel and the message in it. In the case of ‘The Day of the Triffids’, the message, or the universal human experience, readers will be rewarded with if s/he is successful in adopting Bill Masen’s perspective is the realization of how cruel and selfish the human kind is.
Also, I believe that John Wyndham made deliberate use of the first-person perspective in his novel to further aid his readers take Bill Masen’s views. It is also true that in the process of adopting Bill Masen’s view, readers inevitably end up liking him a lot, for they become him. I was not an exception—a thick emotional connection had been created between Bill Masen and me by the novel’s end.
Then there are characters that are very iconic of a particular theme or idea—there is at least one of them in every meaningful novel. In the book that we are studying, these characters are Coker and Michael Beadley. These two highly engaging characters are icons of rationalism—the cold-blooded type who put logic before conscience. Experience tells me that skilled writers usually leave the readers to judge characters like these. In my case, I finished the novel deeply loving the two characters, because without them, Bill Masen would not have been a character that I knew him as. Taking careful note of the major ideas this novel revolves around, I found that most of them are spoken by either Coker or Beadley. Consequently, I also developed a rather deep admiration for the two characters’ cognitive abilities and logical thinking by the end of the novel along with the deep love mentioned above.

Blog 4

What is the climax of this novel? What happens? How do the events of this novel make you feel?


In my opinion, the climax of the novel is the point where Bill Masen and his rather small colony leaves Shirning in secrecy to escape Mr. Torrence and his men, and join the much larger community of Michael Beadley.
I personally admire Bill Masen in this sense because his decision of leaving Shirning was definitely not an easy one—I certainly don’t think I could have done it. Shirning had become home to him, if one could have such a thing in a world where what you take was yours to keep. It was the place where Bill finally found Josella after all the months he had been searching desperately for her. Shirning was also the place where Bill and Josella made the fruit of their love – David, their son. And Shirning was the only location where Bill felt safe in, although he and Susan had to strain in order to achieve such safety. Analogically speaking, it would have been like leaving a town that you spent all your childhood years in.
Because of Shirning’s invaluableness to Bill, my anger turned on Mr Torrence—the reason why Bill’s group had to leave. I remember gritting my teeth on the thought that if it weren’t for Torrence and his men, Bill could have continued to dwell in what they considered their home.
However, such feelings were smothered as I read on, because I learned that joining Michael Beadley’s well-organized colony was ultimately more beneficial to him and his mates than staying. Their chance of survival would most probably be radically higher, and Bill and Josella would be delighted to reunite with Coker and Michael. In that sense, one could say that I felt relieved.
Another very important feeling that was present inside me throughout the entire novel was a suspenseful feeling. The writer uses incredible word-choice to make suspense accumulate inside his readers until the resolution, where it all explodes.
Other more obvious emotions I felt because of the events of this novel were sadness, loneliness, regret, and hope—all of these will be discussed in depth in my 5th blog.

Blog 5

What is the mood of this novel? Do you find that this novel saddens you in any way? Why?


Excluding the minor moods which present themselves only in some parts of the novel, the mood of the novel is most probably that of loneliness, sorrow, regret, and hope. This does not come to me as a surprise because I believe for a novel to be classified as dystopian, and a good one at that, it must carry all of the moods listed above. Now I will walk you through these moods one by one, and clarify why good dystopian novels must have them.
First of all, it is only natural for dystopian novels to possess a lonely mood because that is what dystopia tends to be—a society without rules or laws, usually because there are no people left to enforce them, and therefore lonely. This is true in ‘The Day of the Triffids’ and the protagonist describes his loneliness in the following words:

It was something which could press and oppress, could distort the ordinary and play tricks with the mind. Something which lurked inimically all around, stretching the nerves and twanging them with alarms, never letting one forget that there was no one to help, no one to care. It showed one as an atom adrift in vastness, and it waited all the time its chance to frighten and frighten horribly.

This lonely mood leads to the sorrowful mood. Throughout the novel, I felt sad and insignificant, for it is at times of loneliness when one begins to think depressing and pessimistic thoughts. But this sadness is not something that stands out like black on white; it is only suggested, and underlies silently during the entire novel. However, there was one particular occasion in the novel where the sadness was so powerful that I had to gulp my tears down. It was the time when the girl from Bill’s large group (assigned by Coker) who offered herself to Bill dies in front of Bill’s eyes. Here are the exact words:

“So futile to have lived at all- and it might all have been so different,” she said. “Good-by, Bill—and thank you for trying to help us.”
I looked down at her as she lay. I felt very angry with the stupidity of death. A thousand would have said: “Take me with you”; but she had said: “Stay with us”.
And I never even knew her name.

Thirdly, regretful moods appear as characters of the novel realize the foolishness of their past actions, and what they should have done. In that sense, this mood is closely related to the hopeful mood as they both happen in the process of realization. Unfortunately, it is my belief that people’s hope for a utopia (which creates the hopeful mood) will never be fulfilled. The reason is because we have proven too many times in history that our evil nature makes us incapable of creating a utopia. Here is an interesting fact to conclude: The very first two human beings have even failed to keep a utopia that was given to us by God—the Garden of Eden.

Blog 6

Please choose one passage from the novel that is significant to you. Why is this passage meaningful? Please type it into one of your entries and comment on what you think about the passage.

Personally, if I were to choose one passage from the novel that is significant to me, I would choose the conference held in the University by Michael Beadley and the Colonel. I found it to be significant because during the conference, Michael Beadley, the Colonel, and Dr. E. H. Vorless tackle the problems which the recently-destroyed society had faced, and what the remaining population must do to not repeat its mistakes. Consequently, it is here that the audience of the conference has to make the choice between two paths that go the opposite ways—ration/logic or conscience? I say that the two paths go the opposite ways because to follow one path means going away from the other.
For instance, in the novel’s situations, if a man chooses to take food from the market for his or her own survival, his conscience would tell him that he is stealing, which is a wrong thing to do. His rational side, on the other hand, would tell him that he had done the right thing, for the circumstances that he is faced with makes ownership meaningless, and that he must consume food to survive if he were to be of any benefit to the human race. I think that between a conscious view and a rational view, the author wants to choose the latter, as in the text, the group with a more conscious way of doing things ends up dying. I cannot agree nor disagree with him on the matter, for to choose between the two with seriousness, one would actually have to be placed in a situation where his choice would mean life or death to him. In other words, I mean to say that the choice between logic and conscience cannot be made truly until one’s life is on the question.
I desire to conclude by stating that we must study the event of the conference with open minds if we were to escape a dystopian world such as that of the novel, because a vastly large number of the current society’s mistakes and issues are stated in it. We must learn from these mistakes so that we will stop walking down the hill of destruction. If we do not act quickly, the events of Wyndham’s novel will become a reality.