Day of the triffids "Whats that thrumming noise?" "its just my Triffid -I think he likes you" (The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham)

Member Name: kent-ledger

Product:	The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
Date:	19/11/05 (155 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent read - not just for SCI-FI fans

Disadvantages: NONE

The day off the Triffids is probably one of the author John Wyndham’s best known books. Written in 1951. The Cold War was clearly preying on Wyndham's mind at the time of writing, and the book mirrors a growing sense of unease felt by many during this time, Where they felt man was on the brink of wiping himself off the face of the earth, either through war or industrial accident and that we were delving in to scientific areas of research we knew very little about. At the time genetic research was in its very early stages and there was a feeling in the populous that we were interfering with something that would ultimately come back and bite us on the bum. Bill Masen who is the hero of the story, is a biologist working farm that genetically engineers a Triffids, that are processed to produce an oil. Although the Triffids seem alien, it seems that Wyndham created them to be a response the overwhelming belief at that time that Russia was biologically irresponsible in its use of nuclear and chemical materials, that its space program was dangerous and ultimately that communism denied a person the right to be an individual. This kills two birds with one stone and gives tangibility to an evil foe that readers at the time could identify with. In fact the hero Masen Blames the comet debris-induced blindness to satellite weapons systems falling out of orbit.

Tales of survival against the odds are always interesting, and Wyndham has a knack of showing the decay of the cities, and images rural England lapsing from pretty cultivated meadows back to bog that are very thought provoking.

The story
The story opens as Bill Masen, eyes bandaged from Triffid sting at work, wakes in a hospital to an eerie silence. No doctors, no nurses, no breakfast. He tentatively removes his bandages, only to find that everyone else in the surrounding city seems to be blind. In fact, everyone in the world has been blinded, This is due to the previous night's light-show of beautiful green shooting stars, attributed to be debris from a comet. As Masen goes in search of help and food, the panic and desperation of a blinded populace is revealed. During his search Masen finds Jossella who also missed the previous nights meteor shower and escaped blindness, together they join a group of sighted and blind survivors who determine to escape the chaos of London and start a new life in the country, where they have a better chance at making a stand.

The survivors have a Bleak choice. either help the vast majority of blind survive a few more weeks, until the food gives out, or be killed by Triffids. Alternatively the sighted could cut and run, join up with the each other and try to make a stand against the Triffids. But this would leave the mass of humanity to die.

Once in the country side the pace quickens as the survivors race to secure a strong hold against the Triffids, strange plants that years before began appearing all over the world. They were harvested and farmed by man, who not knowing welcome The Triffids can grow to over seven feet tall, pull their roots from the ground to walk, and kill a man with one quick lash of their poisonous stingers. With society in shambles, they are now poised with the aid of a group collective consciousness to prey on their abusers, humankind.

Bill and Josella encounter a handful of new societies in this apocalyptic world. Each with a different ethos and philosophy on how to survive. They find themselves soon leaving each of these as they quickly see that these new found safe havens are themselves doomed by their own dogma.



The human angle
Wyndham also tells us of the many suicides Bill witnesses without interfering, and that he even helps three people kill themselves, As people realize they will not survive without sighted peoples help, You would think on reading this that it would be hard to sympathize with Bill for what he has done but Wyndham shows how easily and quickly society can move into depravity That is actually makes you think that you might do the same should you be in the same situation, fighting to survive.

Wyndham's investigation of the morality of survival strategies really sticks with you as a reader: the individual vs the group, the loss of societies restraints and rules, all elements that force hard choices on the characters. And it's all packaged in an adventurous yarn with a dash of romance.

Not renowned for his romance writing Wyndham uses the relationship of our two main characters more to show the basic need humans have for each other for company and ultimately for survival of the species. In fact Bill at first finds josella annoying and a possible burden, but Wyndham does eventually let him fall for her (only when she is nearly taken away from him by another group and he realizes she is not a possession). Which should you want to read too deeply smacks of terribly political incorrectness these days - However you need to remember it was written in 1951.

My favorite line
This is very early on when Bill is showing someone round the triffid farm. To put the visitor at ease bill says;
"Don't worry they are blind - We can see them but they can't see us"

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

John Wyndham (1903–1969) was a successful English author who wrote novels and short stories from the 1950s to the ’70s, focusing on science fiction and creating many classics still popular today, including Out of the Deep , the Kraken wakes and the Midwitch cukoos

Wyndhams writing style may not appeal to all, some may find it a little to preciss and old fashioned but it seems to suit the story and the characters. I find that it does not detract from the story at all.Many critics have compared Wyndham to H.G. Wells, who was actually one of Wyndham's favorite writers . It is easy to see that some of the inspiration for this book may have come from “the war of the worlds” and “the time machine”.

Extra info
There is a sequel by Simon Clark called "night of the triffids"
If you want to watch a pretty good adapation of the novel the BBC did a series in the 1980.

Summary: Plant care for beginers - Things about trffids you never Knew