observation 28

Annihilation Introduction and Study Guide

The novel Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer is narrated in the first person point of view of a female biologist who volunteers to be part of an expedition to the mysterious “Area X.” Area X is a “pristine wilderness” around which some thirty years prior, a mysterious “border” descended, to which an equally mysterious government agency, “The Southern Reach,” has sent multiple expeditions to explore. The novel (we learn later, in the form of a journal) chronicles the experiences of the biologist in Area X, where her husband had also explored during the previous expedition. Through the course of the novel, we also learn how the biologist sees the social world, the natural world, herself, and others around her.

As you read Annihilation for the first time, I ask you to keep in mind the research questions below, and to take notes and annotate your text appropriately as you look for scenes and moments in the text that could be relevant to these research questions, and ultimately to a possible answer to one of them that you argue in your final essay this semester.

You will write two observations on Annihilation, each on early findings and thoughts related to one of the research questions. You will write a fully developed essay on the one research question that you feel you can best understand, approach, gather a d explain evidence, and argue an answer for.

Annihilation Research Questions

1) Disorientation. From the first pages of the novel, their first conscious moments in Area X, the members of the expedition experience profound disorientation; the ways that they are used to making sense of the world (and themselves, and each other?) no longer apply. In what ways is their experience in Area X disorienting? What is the significance of this disorientation, if the fiction of the world of Annihilation is relevant to our current world?

2) Analogy for Environmental or Ecological Disaster. Area X comprises an area of the United States coastline that was previously partially a wildlife preserve, but which also contained a human settlement—a small rural town or village. No humans live there now, and none are allowed to live there (perhaps none can live there)—it is too dangerous for human habitation (for reasons both clear and unclear, concrete and vague). In this way, it could be thought of as similar to an area that has fallen victim to an ecological or environmental disaster—think, perhaps, of the northern Ukraine (formerly Soviet Union) city of Pripyat, now a ghost city that remains uninhabited today after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. The city remains dangerously contaminated, though to the naked eye the city looks only as if humans had abandoned what nature has reclaimed. What does the novel seem to say about the relationship between humans and the natural world—including the “new,” difficult to quantify “natural world” of Area X? What is the relevance of the human experience in the (un-)natural world of Area X to real world, or potential real world situations related to (real or potential) environmental or ecological disasters?

3) Search for Knowledge or Understanding. The goal of every expedition that embarks into Area X is to gain knowledge and understanding of what is happening in the land encircled by the mysterious border. In particular, the tower and the lighthouse are important locations related to knowledge or making meaning—how are these two locations emblematic in the quest for knowledge in Annihilation, and what significance does the expedition’s quest for knowledge in Area X have for humans’ endeavor to make sense of the unfamiliar, the uncanny, the unknown, or the difficult to quantify or qualify in the real world?

4) Identity in Relationships. There may not be many themes in Annihilation that carry over from our previous class work on modern fairy tale retellings, but one might: the theme of individual identity and the experience of self- and others’ identity in relationships. The Bluebeard retellings in particular deal with the idea that the “true self” of a partner can be something of an unknown/not-completely-knowable variable, to be discovered or not discovered and reckoned with. (In our retellings, it is noteworthy that the “true selves” uncovered were pretty negative, ranging on a scale from seemingly likely adultery to serial murder.) Annihilation take a more complex approach, with both the biologist and her husband. What does the novel say about the idea of “true selves” and “projected selves” in close relationships like marriage? What is the significance of how the biologist sees herself and she and her husband’s relationship related to identity?

Other potential research questions may reveal themselves, but for now, I’d like you to consider these angles.Annihilation Observation (number 1) Assignment—due Mon, Jul 15

For your first observation assignment on the novel Annihilation, choose one of the research questions you’re interested in and that it seems like you might be able to begin exploring (Observation #2 will likely follow this same format, though you’ll be exploring a different approach to the novel than you explored the first time).

Write an observation per usual addressing the following headings:

Research Question # ___ (insert the # of research question here): (after the colon, write a brief heading that captures the essence of the research question in your own words)

Copy and paste the research question from the assignment page here below the first heading—hopefully this helps you as you reference it as you write. Also write a few sentences after the following subheading:

What this research question mean to me: explain in a few sentences how you understand this research question in your own words, and feel free to acknowledge any part of it which is unclear or daunting.

Noticing: a pattern of evidence that supports your research question

Under this heading, write briefly at least three pieces of evidence from the text that support your research question (for example, if you’re writing about “disorientation,” you might cite three examples from the text of the members of the Area X expedition feeling disoriented—through the absence of cellphones, for example). Make sure to cite the page number of whatever version of the text you’re using (ebook, paperback, etc.).

Explanation. In the “explanation” subheading under this header, explain how the evidence you chose supports the pattern you select (for example, with the “cellphone” example above, explain how the absence of cellphones makes member(s) of the expedition feel disoriented, alienated, uncomfortable, etc.).

Noticing: a second pattern of evidence, related to and still supporting your research question in a different way.

In this paragraph, try to find a different, but related and relevant pattern of evidence that also support your observation about the research question. For example, in the “disorientation” research question, one pattern to write about might be technology and instruments lacking or not working. But for that same question, there are other patterns of evidence that support the theme of “disorientation”: the way hypnosis plays in, or the structure/instruction of the mission, or the way the tower/tunnel doesn’t show up on any maps, or the mysterious black boxes the expedition members need to wear, or the fact that no one can remember the walk into Area X, or any number of other things. I know I’ve been giving examples for the “disorientation” question, but the second pattern for other questions might be more straightforward: one section could be about the biologist, and another could be about her husband or another character, etc. How you define the first and second pattern of observation is up to you.

Explanation for the second pattern or “set” of evidence is similar to other explanation sections.

Commentary: Significance/Relevance to the Real World

In this brief paragraph, state what you think the significance of your pattern of observation is, and/or its relevance to the real world or our society. For example, to continue with the “disorientation” example, you might comment on our society’s dependence upon technology.

Explanation. In the explanation section of your commentary, explain the significance and relevance of your pattern of observation in more detail. If you follow the train of thought in your commentary, where might it lead? What other connections might you make?

 

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