The Drowned World by JG Ballard

In the second half of The Drowned World we follow Kerans, Beatrice, and Dr. Bodkins through what is left of London. The other biologists have abandoned the London station and headed north. The three have been so obsessed with their dreams that they rarely see each other. After six weeks of being on the their own Kerans spots a group of looters moving into town. They are led by an albino man who refers to himself as strangeman and are followed by two thousand alligator watch-dogs. Strangeman eventually finds the group and learns that Dr. Bodkins has knowledge of the city. He hopes to get Bodkins’ help in looting the city but is angered when Bodkins refuses. In an attempt to make looting easier on himself, Strangeman has his men dam and drain the entire city. This does not settle well with Dr. Bodkins who through his dreams has developed a strong connection to the lagoons. Out of desperation and in an unclear state of mind, Dr. Bodkins tries to plant a bomb in the dam. Before he can get away and set the bomb off, strangeman tosses the bomb into the lagoon, ruining his plan. Strangeman chases after Bodkins with a gun and we do not hear of him again.  

After this incident, Strangeman, wanting no more surprises, captures both Kerans and Beatrice. Kerans is taken into the streets and tortured nearly to death while Beatrice is held in Strangeman’s home. Kerans awakes in the streets, tied to a chair. He realizes the chair arms are broken and is able to wiggle his way out. Knowing Strangeman has Beatrice, he starts planning to rescue her. With only a broken compass and a small gun Kerans makes his way to strangeman’s hideout. He is able to get in and find Beatrice, but they are not able to get out without being seen. Strangeman chases the couple and corners them in the street. Here Strangeman offers to spare Beatrice if Kerans will turn himself over. Kerans refuses and it seems this may be the end for the couple. At the last moment, the group sees a helicopter preparing to land and a familiar face inside. 

At the sight of the military helicopter Strangeman and his crew fled. Colonel Riggs informs the couple that he heard Strangeman was in the area and knew they would be in for trouble. Though the two still do not wish to put their dreams aside, Riggs insists he will be taking them north with him. The next morning as the group is preparing to leave, a massive solar system hits. This destroys the helicopter and killss both Beatrice and Colonel Riggs. Kerans is blown and knocked unconscious. He awakes to a familiar voice. He realizes this is Dr. Hardman though he looks much different. In the following days Kerans attempts to care for Hardman, but he does not recognize Kerans. Eventually kerans wakes to realize Hardman is gone. Kerans waits for him for a few days, but he never returns. Kerans decides to continue south, giving in to his dreams and ultimately accepted his death.  

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The Drowned World paints a very vivid picture of a dystopian world that holds the potential to one day become a reality. Different from other novels used in the course, The Drowned World displays a world of environmental disaster that is not due to human impacts. Instead, this downfall was due solely to solar instability. I do not believe Ballard intended an environmental message when this book was published in 1962. I believe he wrote this novel simply to entertain an audience interested in dystopian societies, though I do think we can find meaning in it in today’s world. This novel opens the question “Could natural disasters end our world as we know it?” Obviously, the answer is yes, they could. But this opens the door to a series of more questions. Will a natural disaster destroy the environment before humans? Do we have the technology to predict such disasters? Is there anything we could do to slow the impacts of such a disaster? Though I do not think Ballard meant to give this novel an environmental message, I do believe it was very good one to study for this class. It forces you to think about our constantly changing environment and how quickly it can be flipped upside down, as well as how a changing environment can affect the human population. The Drowned World paints a vivid picture of a dystopian future that could become the present in the blink of an eye.  

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