Readings in the Genre - Week 3 - Breeding Ground
Wait, a Woman wrote
this?
Breeding Ground: A story where women transform into man
eating spiders which are referred to as widows?
Someone get an ultra-feminist to analyze this! Oh well, that deserved a bit of a comment but
nothing more substantial than that in my opinion anyway, moving on to more
generalist and applicable musings…
External, Internal,
and Interpersonal Conflict
One of the most jarring things about many of the stories I’ve
read that use an onset of the end of the world type of storyline is the speed
with which the survivors turn upon each other.
We almost always find ourselves with a number of paranoid and crazed
men, a handful or women and or children, and one or two decent people standing
between them.
Things just get worse in ‘Breeding Ground’ by Sarah Pinborogough. There’s actually a motive for the paranoid
and crazed men to turn upon the girls Jane and Katie. The world is ending because most of the women
have been transformed into white-semi translucent spider like entities the
survivors term ‘widows’. However, we
find that the story at the same time doesn’t give us an arsenal of panicked and
crazed men… instead we get something a bit more realistic. We get one.
Phelps, a man that got so angry with his wife that he killed
her before she fully transformed into the spider… His reaction to the
appearance of Jane and Katie is one of terror, anger, and violence.
It seems that in horror and post-apocalyptic tales a
requisite of the genre is the use of all three sources of conflict,
continually, and thematically. An
external threat, be it of monsters, mutants, or vampires acts more like a
pressure cooker for the other conflicts.
A protagonist in such a world finds himself set upon by conflicts from
external sources, mounting internal doubts and fears, and personality conflicts
with those they have to work with in order to survive. The external conflict is an amplifier or catalyst
to these other conflicts which seem to drive the plot far more than just the
external threat.
The post-apocalyptic horror story revolves traditionally
around one simple question: ‘Can we
survive without civilization?’ The idea
being that all the characteristics of the survivors are ones they had when the
world was normal, but their natures were held in check by the oppressive forces
of conformity and law. Without it and with
the pressure of the external conflict, the baser natures of the people seem to
step forward and the monster they face is reflected in the monsters they
themselves become.
He who fights monsters: is a monster. For those of us that have gone on many merry
jogs around the internet and TVtropes.org, I’d have to say their trope on ‘Our
Sociopath’ and so forth seems to be such an interesting and useful one in the
genre of Horror, among others.
I agree completely. I thought Pinborough did an excellent job of highlighting the conflict between different personality types. Extremely stressful situations heighten these traits. I think it also reveals our true nature. I am not very fond of face-to-face communication, so it is terrifying to consider my very survival might depend on that. Throughout the novel, Pinborough stresses the importance of cooperation and community. However, the conflicts between the different people adds suspense by making the reader question if cooperation and teamwork is possible. I think she wants the reader to consider what is worse. The monster or the actions of the survivors.
ReplyDeleteWell done, Paul! I like your analogy of the post-apocalyptic pressure cooker. Such an analysis can really help a writer craft a good end-of-the-world story. I take it that you liked Breeding Ground. I did not, but if I look at the story through your lens, Sarah Pinborough did succeed in creating a story that showcases man's resistance to change and reliance on violence and intolerance to regain control. Recipe for a Post-Apocolyptic Story: add 1 part internal conflict to 1 part personality conflict and let the combination simmer over high external threat until explodes. I love it.
ReplyDeleteP.S.: I don't think Phelps killed his wife. The spider came out of her and he threw his daughter at it.
I also love your pressure cooker analogy. I would like to think that being place in such a pressure cooker would have more folks turn out like Matt, who loved his monster Chloe all the same (even if he was able to quickly forget her and take two other women into his bed). I fear, however, that just as many folks would react like Phelps. I mean, even Matt turned his back on Phelps in the end and let him die. Great post!
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