The Year of the Flood

“‘Hazardous waste,’ we Scales girls used to call them. We shouldn’t have been so scornful; we should have had compassion. But compassion takes work, and we were young.”

When Ren recalls her life before the Flood, she realizes that she mistreated many people. Young and protected by her affluent boss, she often looked down on those who were less fortunate than her. She called prostitutes who worked on the streets “hazardous waste” because they often carried deadly diseases and were considered “disposables” (336). Although Ren was a sex worker herself, she didn’t try to help those women, and instead mocked them.

“She holds one of the pigs in the scope—the boar, an easy shot, he’s sideways—but then she hesitates. They’re God’s Creatures. Never kill without just cause, said Adam One.”

When Toby has to fight for her survival after the plague, she doesn’t have any choice but to make compromises with her conscience. Although Gardener doctrine prohibits killing fellow living creatures and eating meat, Toby has to shoot the boar to protect her garden from invasion. Thus, this act becomes the first of many transgressions she makes in order to survive.

“When Waterless Waters arise, Adam One used to say, the people will try to save themselves from drowning. They will clutch at any straw. Be sure you are not that straw, my Friends, for if you are clutched or even touched, you too will drown.”

Adam One used to warn the Gardeners about people’s survival instincts, and Toby remembers these words when she has to face the few humans who survived the plague. She realizes that in desperate situations, people are capable of horrible things, and so tries to be as careful as possible. Yet she has to balance her desire to help against her fear of being infected or killed by other humans.