The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

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This is a classic “sci-fi” with more than one adaptation and I think these monster plants lurk behind many of our fears of Genetic Modification. It is often difficult to encounter the text of such classics free from the cumulated associations, to read with fresh eyes.

I will assume that the concept of “spoilers” does not really apply in this case however if you have escaped knowledge of the plot, and want to retain that status – at least for the time being, it might be best to stop here.

As well as the fear of the monster plants the plot also plays on the fear of the dark, as in the opening sequence the majority of the human race are left blind. The dark is a very deep seated fear, and the reaction of those left blind is extreme – OK there is chaos, but how quickly it seems that hope is lost and many of the blind decide to end their lives is, for me, a questionable aspect of the plot.

This is part of a need, in common with many post-apocalypitc narratives, to provide for a rapid depopulation in order to move on what is essentially a utopian (or in some cases dystopian) rebuilding phase. There is no desire to dwell on the suffering caused by the apocalypse and so millions are written off, written out, in the blink of an eye to make room on the canvass of the author's prime interest, whatever it is that will come next. I can recognise this as a necessary literary device but it certainly make me uncomfortable.

In this case the “next” is in fact a winding back of the clock to a “simpler” agrarian society and a reconnection of people with the land, and it turns out that the central hope for the continuation of civilisation lies on a move to the Isle of Wight (which depending on you point of view might be a stretch of the imagination...).

Overall the story is, I think, a critique of a society that has become enthralled to technology with a loss of connection not only to the land but also between human beings – how much more might we feel this critique can be applied today as it was when Wyndham was writing near 70 years ago.

Although it is interesting that it was first published at the very start of the 1950s, an era that I think we look back on as very optimistic. Many of the themes explored seems to fit more readily with periods of discontent, such as the late 1970s. These days we are told the 1950s was a time when people really believed that the future would all be jet-packs and sliver suits (although I know that my mum recalls a different story where the future was only filled with mushroom clouds).

But there is a tension, the turning back of the clock does not come without costs, not only the comforts and amusements of modern life but also in terms of health and security, existence in the new society is clearly fragile. The choice the author presents is to decide where the priority should lie, where is human dignity most likely to be found?