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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Annihilation, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Sublime vs. The Mundane
Nature, Power, and Persistence
Self-Reliance, Mistrust, Secrecy, and Isolation
Objectivity vs. Subjectivity
Summary
Analysis
The biologist, the anthropologist, the surveyor, and the psychologist all start out for Area X; they are the first expedition to travel there in more than two years. The group is entirely women, and the psychologist is the expedition’s leader. She put them all under hypnosis while crossing the border to make sure they stayed calm; they then hike four days to base camp. The expedition’s purpose is to continue the government’s investigation into Area X, working their way out from base camp. They have supplies for six months, but their mission could last years.
The book’s opening pages hint at the incomprehensibility of Area X—first and foremost, in the Area’s name, as “X” often stands in for the unknown. This suggests that its unknown nature is the foundation for the government’s desire to investigate it. The biologist—who is the narrator of the book—also establishes the group dynamic among the women: she is part of this team headed by the psychologist. These facts already hint at some secrecy and mystery surrounding Area X, because they have to be hypnotized in order to cross the border.
Themes
The group has no watches or compasses; their only equipment is a measuring device made of black metal with an indicator. If it glows red, they have 30 minutes to get to a safe place, but they have no idea what the device measures or why they should be afraid if it glows red.
The black metal device hints at some of the secrecy that permeates the expedition and the biologist’s early mistrust. Even though the box is supposed to indicate danger, they understand very little about the danger, even though everyone in the group is well-educated and trained in their respective fields. This adds to the eeriness and mistrust that Area X inspires.
Themes
The group reaches their base camp, where they replace obsolete or damaged equipment. The members of the previous expedition disappeared abruptly from Area X, and when they appeared back across the border, they had no memory of recrossing the border, unlike prior expeditions. So, the current expedition has to look out for anything that could cause this kind of memory loss.
Themes
As the group approaches base camp, which is situated next to a forest filled with plant and animal life, they also notice eerie signs of long-ago human habitation. There is an odd, powerful moaning each day at dusk, and it is difficult for them to recognize which direction it comes from. The biologist relays that even their basic experiences—seeing the black water in nearby bogs, the grass, and the gray forest, and hearing the low moaning—are difficult to fully communicate or understand. Area X is beautiful and also desolate.
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On their fourth day in Area X, the group finds what the biologist calls a “tower.” It is about 60 feet in diameter and rises up from the ground only about eight inches. The northmost point of the tower opens up to reveal a spiral staircase winding down into the darkness. The biologist doesn’t know why she calls it a tower, considering it tunnels below the earth, but it is the word that comes to her—she remembers the lighthouse on the coast that they saw when they arrived at Area X, and she views the tower as an extension of that lighthouse into the ground. She writes, in hindsight, that this is the first “irrational” thought she had.
The surveyor is shocked to see the tower, as it is not on any of their maps. The anthropologist isn’t quite sure how to identify the tower’s origins, as the materials are hard to identify. The group has no way of informing their superiors of the discovery, as it is a rule that expeditions do not make outside contact (for fear of some kind of contamination), and they have no technology to do so. They do, however, have weapons: knives, handguns, and one assault rifle.
Themes
It is expected that they will all keep a journal like the one the biologist is writing, which will either return with them or be recovered by the next expedition. They have been ordered to provide maximum context but not share their journals with one another, because too much shared information could skew their observations and lead to too much subjectivity. But the biologist knows that true objectivity is hopeless.
Themes
The psychologist is excited by their discovery and asks if the others are also excited. The biologist feels like the psychologist’s tone is like that of a bad actor, but she says that she’s excited, even though she feels a growing sense of unease. The surveyor shrugs, and the anthropologist nods. The biologist doesn’t use the others’ names because they were told that their personal lives should be left behind—and besides, only the surveyor will survive beyond the next day.
Themes
Originally, the expedition had five members and included a linguist. To reach the border, the biologist recalls that they had to enter a white room with a door and a metal chair with straps around it, which alarmed her. The facility was under the control of the Southern Reach, the government agency that dealt with everything connected to Area X. The biologist doesn’t remember much of the process to get ready for entry into Area X, but the linguist never reappeared—the psychologist explained that she had second thoughts.
Themes
The psychologist then hypnotized the other members so that they would not experience hallucinations when crossing the border, but the biologist isn’t sure that this is the real reason she hypnotized them. When she woke up, she was in full gear across the border, lurching with the new weight of 40-pound backpacks and supplies on their belts. The psychologist seemed almost smug as the others struggled to adjust.
Themes
Looking around, the biologist found herself on a dirt trail with ants and beetles and tall pines on both sides. They marked their location with a red cloth; if the psychologist became incapacitated, the others were told to return here to wait for “extraction”—though they were never told what “extraction” meant. They were told not to look back upon arrival, but the biologist did anyway when the psychologist wasn’t looking. However, she only saw a hazy, indistinct light—perhaps a gate or a trick of the eye.
Themes
The biologist qualified for the mission because she was familiar with complex ecosystems, and Area X had many of these different environments, with forest and swamp and beach all coexisting close to one another. She understood why no one lives in Area X, but she chose to believe that it was simply a wildlife refuge that she was discovering. And, she thought, it hardly mattered what lies she told herself, because the real world had become empty to her.
Themes
The fourth night, the group discusses the tower, though the other three insist on calling it a tunnel. There is a vague protocol between them, where they each have some autonomy to decide on what they want to explore, according to their skill sets. The surveyor has medical and firearm experience, the anthropologist was once an architect, and the biologist knows very little about the psychologist.
Themes
The discussion of the tower is the group’s first opportunity to test the limits of disagreement and compromise. The anthropologist wants to explore farther and map out what’s around them before returning to the tower. The surveyor believes they should start with the tower to make sure there’s nothing invasive or threatening in it. The biologist agrees with the surveyor, interested that it seems deliberately excluded from their maps. Inwardly, the biologist is fascinated with the structure—she can’t tell if she craves or fears it.
Themes
The psychologist weighs all of the opinions and asks if anyone wants to leave yet—everyone shakes their heads. The psychologist agrees that the tunnel unsettles her and that they should investigate it. They then bid each other goodnight, as it has become dark. Sitting alone with her thoughts, the biologist wonders what could be hidden at the tower’s base.
Themes
During the four-day hike from the border to the base camp, the group experienced nothing out of the ordinary. However, on the last day of their journey, a 700-pound wild boar appeared and charged at them. The surveyor grabbed the assault rifle to take aim at the boar. However, when the boar approached, the biologist noticed a spark in its eyes, a kind of inner torment. It veered left abruptly with a cry of anguish and threw itself into nearby underbrush. When the group arrived at the spot where it landed, the boar was gone, and the biologist thought it might have been victim to some neurological parasite.
Themes
The morning after the group discovers the tower, they rise early. The surveyor gives them each a handgun and grabs the assault rifle herself as they approach. With the gun, the biologist feels a new tension. Members of the second expedition had committed suicide, and members of the third had shot each other, which makes the biologist nervous. They are the 12th expedition.
Themes
At the tower, the group examines the structure. The psychologist comments on the tower’s different measurements: its height, its diameter, and its building materials. She wonders whether a storm may have uncovered the entrance, which is why it was not previously on their maps. The biologist thinks that the psychologist is simply trying to reassure herself with facts, and that it must be difficult to lead a mission like this.
Themes
The biologist reiterates that she thinks of the structure as a tower, not a tunnel, and the others grudgingly accept her perspective. The surveyor descends first, struggling on the short steps. She calls out that everything is clear to the first level, and the biologist and anthropologist follow the surveyor as the psychologist stands watch at the top. Underground, the stairwell is cool, dusty, and slightly damp. Twenty feet below the surface, the structure opens out to a lower level with an eight-foot ceiling and blank, off-white walls. There is another staircase opposite the opening where they arrived, and the biologist still thinks that she’s correct about this being a tower.
Themes
While the group is familiar with the lighthouse that they saw on their first day at base camp, the tower’s purpose is totally unfamiliar to them. The biologist feels uncomfortable in the silence, and she asks many questions as to the tower’s potential origins and purpose, hoping to stave off that silence.
Themes
The group looks down into the second stairwell, where the biologist observes glowing green vines along the left wall, progressing into the darkness. Eventually, she realizes that the vines spell out words: “Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner I shall bring forth the seeds of the dead to share with the worms that…” before the vines continue to descend into the darkness.
The biologist gets closer to the vines, which in reality look like a green moss or fungi, packed close together. When the biologist leans in closer to the words, the W spews out golden spores, which get stuck in the biologist’s nose. Concealing the spores, she tells the others that the letters are made of some sort of fungi. They can’t seem to understand how the words got there, and it unsettles them.
Themes
The biologist tries to remain calm, but she is worried that she might be infected with something. She also realizes that the further she explores, the more the air will be full of potential contaminants. She decides not to tell the others anything and explains that they should go back up, hoping to prevent them from becoming exposed. As they all climb back up the stairs, the biologist has a moment of panic, thinking that the walls now have a fleshy aspect to them, like they’re traveling inside the “gullet of a beast.”
Themes
At the top, the biologist tells the psychologist what they saw, and the psychologist insists on going down to observe the words. When the biologist suggests they get masks to avoid toxins, the psychologist says, “Paralysis is not a cogent analysis.” Later, the biologist realizes that the psychologist tried to bind her with a hypnotic suggestion before descending. At the top, the biologist wonders what the psychologist is doing and becomes agitated. Fifteen minutes later, the psychologist returns.
Themes
The psychologist flatly remarks that what she saw was very interesting. This offends the anthropologist, who becomes hysterical, exclaiming that she has never seen anything like the words before. The psychologist asks if the anthropologist needs to be calmed, but the biologist butts in to say they should decide what to do next. They return to camp for lunch and complete their regular tasks, while the biologist monitors herself for any biological changes from the spores. Gradually, she relaxes, hoping that the spores will have no effect even though she knows that they could simply have a long incubation period.
Themes
Back at camp, the group splits off to focus on individual tasks. The biologist sees a red and green tree frog, climbs up a pine tree, and stares at the ocean. She finds it much more refreshing than the world back beyond the border, which is “dirty, tired, imperfect.” In Area X, there is a wealth of life, and she often feels like the animals there are watching her—an impulse she fights, because she wants to remain objective about them.
Themes
At dinner, the tension has lifted, and the group finds a renewed sense of camaraderie—though the biologist writes that it will prove short-lived. The biologist gets along with the surveyor, though she finds herself thinking that the anthropologist seems to lack mental toughness. As night falls, the moaning starts once more—but the beast in the marshes now sounds like “an old friend compared to the tower.”
Themes
The psychologist decides that the next day they should return to the tunnel wearing breathing masks and investigate it further. Then the psychologist says, “Consolidation of authority,” and immediately the surveyor and anthropologist go slack, with their eyes unfocused. The biologist tries to mimic what they do, hoping the psychologist doesn’t notice. The psychologist says that they will retain a memory of discussing the tunnel and ultimately agreeing with her about that course of action. They will experience calm and continue to see a structure made of coquina and stone. They will not remember this conversation after she snaps her fingers but will follow her directives.
Themes
After the psychologist snaps, the women return to their tents. The biologist realizes how much control the psychologist has been exerting over them, and she guesses how the spores have affected her: they have made her immune to the psychologist’s hypnotic suggestions. This makes her a kind of conspirator against the psychologist; she now holds secrets that estrange her from the others.
Estrangement is typical of the missions, as the biologist knows from having watched reentry tapes from members of the 11th expedition. They all said they experienced no unusual phenomena while in Area X, but all of them eventually had an intense desire to return home. Still, they could not explain how they managed to come back. They seemed to have a dreamlike calm about them, seeing the world through a kind of veil. At the time, the biologist was seeking “oblivion,” and she wanted the kind of benign escape they had—a death that meant not being dead.
Themes
