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.