107 pages • 3 hours read
The Year of the Flood
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Themes
Sexual Objectification of Women as a Product of Social Inequality
In the society depicted in The Year of the Flood, the only agency women have is their sexuality, and thus they are not considered equal to men. As a result, women are often referenced by men as “meat-holes on legs” (102) or “disposables” (336), and they are seen as objects of sexual desire. When women refuse to comply with such roles, they become victims of sexual abuse, and rape is used to exert power and subjugate.
Moreover, Atwood demonstrates how, in a patriarchal society, the female body has an inherent value and consequently becomes a commodity that can be used and traded. Driven by choicelessness, some of the female characters, especially Amanda and Ren, use their sexuality as a form of currency to exchange for various things. Amanda is convinced that in extreme situations, this is normal, because “you trade what you have to. You don’t always have choices” (234). By claiming agency over her body and using it as she pleases, Amanda acquires a position of power: She can decide whether she wants to have sex or not, and when someone forces himself onto her, she knows how to fight back. Yet Amanda’s control over her life is challenged when she is abducted by three Painballers. They rape her repeatedly, striving to reduce her to a body and to hegemonize her.
The only other female character with similar agency is Toby. The Gardeners often refer to her in a sexless manner, as if there is “nothing sexual about [her]” (137), and this gives her androgynous characteristics. Even her name, Toby, could be either male and female, which further highlights her liminal gender. She is not considered attractive by other men, who consider her “flat as a board, back and front” (137), and her asexuality gives her authority and independence. But like Amanda, Toby becomes a victim of rape, symbolizing men’s desire to subdue her. The men who rape Amanda and Toby strive to assert power over them and to strip them off their agency. This foregrounds the gender inequality and extreme sexual objectification experienced by women in the deeply unequal society depicted in the novel.
Human Impact on the Environment and Climate Change
The novel’s events are set in the Anthropocene epoch—the Earth’s current state, in which humanity is the dominant force on the climate and environment. In The Year of the Flood, Atwood connects the Anthropocene with other social, political, and economic conditions, and thus tries to warn the readers about the effects of environmental degradation. The novel highlights how centuries of excessive exploitation of the ecosystem caused irreversible changes to the environment and society. In this dystopian setting, seasons are nonexistent, there’s either too much or too little rain, the sun is so hot that it’s impossible to be outside during the day, and radiation is so high that sun exposure inevitably leads to cancer. As a result, the world’s geographical features are altered: “the Mediterranean—once fruitful farmland, [is] now a desert” (109), and the coral reefs are “bleached and colourless, devoid of life” (3). Great vasts of water, such as lakes and seas, have turned into “Great Dead Zones” (235), while “the world’s oceans are being laid waste” (234).
With many animal species now extinct, the Corporations produce new splices, not to replenish the Earth but to use them in the service of authority. For instance, there are no bees, but there is “a bee cyborg spy controllable by a CorpSeCorps operator, equipped to transmit, and thus to betray” (329). Thus, humans not only destroy natural word, but they also strive to repopulate it with genetically modified animals created to satisfy the needs of the controlling Corporations.
The result anthropogenic activities as overconsumption, overpopulation, and excessive exploitation of natural resources is not only climate change but also mass migration, as refugees like Amanda flee Texas after it’s ravaged by natural disasters. This further emphasizes that climate change is not only an ecological phenomenon but a social one as well.
Physical Abuse and Its Effects
In the society Margaret Atwood depicts, violence is a long-engrained modus operandi. People in the poor pleebland neighborhoods become so accustomed to it that they’re unfazed by dead bodies on the street or by someone being beaten in plain view. Moreover, physical abuse and violence have become entertainment, and people watch men and women kill each other as they would watch a sport. For instance, a prison for especially dangerous criminals, the Painball Arena, is set up like a game. The prisoners are divided into teams, and their attempts to kill each other are streamed live on TV. This society treats savagery as a normal occurrence, not as a violation of fundamental human rights.
As a result, the society is highly polarized: Those who can inflict violence become wealthy and powerful, while everyone else suffers their abuses and are considered disposable material. Thus, physical abuse is used to reinforce class inequality, just as sexual abuse reinforces gender inequality, and it is encouraged by those who profit from such social order.
In this context, the God’s Gardeners, with their pacifistic approach, become a stark contrast to the people around them. They acknowledge only nonviolent resistance, which puts them in a vulnerable position. They are determined not to “fight blood with blood” (300) and instead strive to transform the lives of others with kindness and support.
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By Margaret Atwood
