The Year of the Flood

The Waterless Flood symbolizes the punishment for human sins, especially the deliberate destruction of nature. Unlike the biblical flood it references, this pandemic is designed to only kill people; it doesn’t affect any other living creatures on Earth. This suggests that its only goal is to wipe humanity off the face of the planet so that “the planet could repair itself” (399). The God’s Gardeners, having a much more acute awareness of the consequences of human activities on the ecosystem, realize that atonement for people’s actions is unavoidable, which is why they prepare for the pandemic in advance.

The term “Waterless Flood,” a combination of two contradictory words, is an oxymoron, and Atwood utilizes this figure of speech to create a twofold effect: The term alludes to the biblical flood, but it also suggests that this modern-day cataclysm is of a completely different nature.

When the Flood hit, it had all the features the Gardeners had foretold: “it traveled through the air as if on wings, it burned through cities like fire, spreading germ-ridden mobs, terror, and butchery” (24). The Flood takes the form of a lethal virus that cannot be contained and becomes a force beyond human control.