The Day of the Triffids
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 First edition hardback cover |
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| Author | John Wyndham |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Michael Joseph |
| Released | December 1951 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 304 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-7181-0093-X (first edition, hardback) |
| Followed by | The Night of the Triffids (Unofficial) |
The Day of the Triffids is a post-apocalyptic or cosy catastrophe novel written in 1951 by the English science fiction author John Wyndham. The novel is written in the first person and explores the consequences when the vast majority of humanity is suddenly rendered blind, in a world that is then quickly overrun with poisonous ambulatory plants (the titular Triffids). The novel was later adapted into a radio series, a motion picture, and a television serial.
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[edit] Plot summary
Triffids are plants capable of rudimentary animal-like behaviour: they feed on decomposing meat, are able to uproot themselves and move about on their three "legs", possess a deadly whip-like poisonous sting capable of killing those struck, and appear to communicate with each other. The narrator and protagonist is Bill Masen, who has made his living working with Triffid plants. Thus being something of an expert on the subject, he speculates on the plants' origins, believing that they were deliberately bioengineered, possibly by real-life biologist Trofim Lysenko in the Soviet Union. (The novel was written at a time when Lysenkoism was still current in the Soviet Union and had not been debunked in that country. While the scientists of capitalist countries did not support the theory, prominent communists of those lands such as Edward Thompson had sometimes defended it to the public). Masen further speculates that Triffid seeds were spread world-wide when an attempt was made to smuggle them out of Russia; the escaping plane was presumably shot down, literally scattering the seeds to the winds.
Whatever their source, when Triffids begin sprouting all over the world, it is soon ascertained how commercially useful their various oils and proteins can be. Along with the resulting world-wide slew of Triffid farms, many households keep them as a curiosity, almost a garden pet, making sure to have the sting docked at regular intervals. In commercial exploitation, the stings are left intact as docking impairs the quality of the plants' oil.
The story proper opens with Masen in hospital, his eyes bandaged after having been stung by a Triffid penned at one of the farms. He discovers that while he has been recuperating, the light from an unusual meteor shower has rendered most people on Earth blind. (Bill later muses that the shower may in fact have been the misfiring of a space-based weapon system, though, as with the Triffids' origins, the truth is never revealed.) After wandering aimlessly through London, watching civilization collapsing around him, Masen rescues a sighted woman who is being used as an unwilling pair of eyes by a blinded man. He learns that she is a novelist named Josella Playton, whose work has earned her a rather infamous and mostly undeserved reputation, one which continues to dog her throughout the entire book. The two of them quickly fall in love.
A signal draws them to a larger group of sighted survivors lead by a man named Beadley, who are planning to flee London before it becomes a disease-ridden deathtrap, and establish a colony somewhere in the countryside. Unfortunately, another unblinded man named Coker takes it upon himself to try and save as many of the blind as possible; he stages a disturbance and kidnaps both Bill and Josella. Both are forcibly put to work leading squads of blind people around sections of the rapidly-decaying city, attempting to collect food and supplies. Masen sticks with this out of a sense of responsibility, until the people in his charge begin dying of some unknown plague (possibly yet another military experiment run amuck.) He leaves, and attempts to locate Josella, but his only immediate lead is an address left behind by the uncaptured and now-departed members of Beadley's group. Thrown together with a repentant Coker, he travels to the address in Wiltshire. They succeed in finding the place, but the group has splintered; neither Beadley nor Josella are there and the group's new leader is less than willing to help the new arrivals. Remembering a chance comment Josella made earlier about a certain country home in Sussex, Bill sets off in search of it, while Coker remains behind to try and help the "new" group.
As all of this is happening, the Triffids are quickly regrowing their stings and taking full Darwinian advantage of the new edge over humankind that events have given them. Undocked specimens in captivity break free, and growing numbers of them become bolder and more aggressive every day. Bill is joined by a young sighted girl named Susan, whom had become a near-prisoner in her home due to the plants. They succeed in locating Josella, who is sheltering at the described house with the blinded owners. Bill and Josella consider themselves to be married, and see Susan as their daughter. The group settles down and attempts to create a self-sufficient colony, but with only marginal success; the Triffids grow ever more numerous, crowding in and surrounding their small island of civilization. Years pass, during which the situation slowly but inevitably deteriorates. Then one day a helicopter-pilot representative of Beadley's faction lands at the farm and tells his hosts that Beadley and his followers have cleared the Isle of Wight of Triffids, and established a successful colony there. (And that Coker survived to join them.) Despite their ongoing struggles, the Masens are still reluctant to leave their home, but their hand is forced by the arrival the next day of a large armored vehicle, operated by a squad of "soldiers" who represent a despotic new government which is setting up feudal enclaves across the country. When the leader of this gang announces his intention to take Susan away to another enclave, the Masens disable his transport and flee in the night. They join the Isle of Wight colony, and settle down to the long grim struggle ahead, finding a way to destroy the Triffids and reclaim Earth for humanity.
[edit] Themes
The novel contains many themes which are common in Wyndham's work: a depiction of the Soviet Union as an opaque, inscrutable menace, a central problem made worse by human greed and bickering, and a firm determination on the part of the author to not explicitly detail the origin of the threat faced by the protagonists. In addition, there is a rather central theme to the book - the survival and rebuilding of humankind.
[edit] Allusions/references in other works
- Triffids are referenced in the opening number of the stage/film musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show: "I really got hot when I saw Janette Scott fight a triffid that spits poison and kills." Janette Scott played the role of Karen Goodwin in the 1962 film adaptation.
- The Triffids is also the name of an Australian rock group from the 1980s.
- In the computer game Darwinia there is an immobile enemy unit called a triffid that looks like a flower and spits dangerous seeds.
- The film 28 Days Later features several nods to The Day of the Triffids, including the protagonist awakening in a deserted hospital, finding other survivors by following tower lights, and encountering a paramilitary group in a country house whose plans include the acquisition of women with whom to repopulate the country.
- The band Gorillaz have a reference to a triffid on the band's official website. Upon further inspection of band member Murdoc's trailer in the Kong Studio parking garage, you'll find a triffid as a potted plant. When you place your cursor over it, it makes a strange noise and the subtext states, "Absolutely Triffid".
- The band Ash have a song titled "Day of the Triffids" on their CD Trailer.
- The game Kingdom of Loathing has a triffid as an enemy encounter in "The Spooky Forest."
- In the Area 52 sequence of Looney Tunes Back in Action, a Triffid can be seen among the aliens housed there.
[edit] Film, TV, radio or theatrical adaptations
The novel was adapted into a BBC radio series in 1957.
A film version of this story was produced in the UK and released in 1962.
The story was turned into a BBC television serial in 1981, repeated on BBC 4 in 2006. In 2001 writer Lance Dann adapted the series in two hour long episodes for the BBC Worldservice
In 2001, British novelist Simon Clark wrote a sequel titled The Night of the Triffids.
[edit] External links
| John Wyndham |
|---|
| Bibliography |
| Novels: |
| Foul Play Suspected · The Secret People · Stowaway To Mars · The Day of the Triffids · The Kraken Wakes · The Chrysalids · The Midwich Cuckoos · The Outward Urge · Trouble with Lichen · Chocky · Web |
| Collections: |
| Jizzle · The Seeds of Time · Tales of Gooseflesh and Laughter · Consider Her Ways and Others · The Infinite Moment · Sleepers of Mars · The Best of John Wyndham · Wanderers of Time · Exiles on Asperus · No Place like Earth |
| Filmography |
| Feature films: The Day of the Triffids (1962 film) · Village of the Damned (1960 film) · Quest For Love (1971 film) · Village of the Damned (1995 film) |
| Radio |
| Radio adaptations: The Day of the Triffids (radio) · The Chrysalids (radio) · The Kraken Wakes (radio) |
| Television |
| TV adaptations: The Day of the Triffids (TV series) · Chocky (TV series) · Random Quest · Consider Her Ways |
