The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
"The Day of the Triffids" is a science fiction novel that explores a post-apocalyptic world where humanity faces the dual threat of blindness and lethal, walking plants known as triffids. These seven-foot-high plants, which were cultivated for their valuable oil and juice, gain notoriety due to their venomous sting and possible intelligence. The story follows biologist William Masen, who, after being blinded by a triffid sting, awakens to find that a comet has caused a global epidemic of blindness, leaving the majority of the population incapacitated.
As Masen navigates this new reality, he encounters Josella Playton, and they join a group of sighted survivors led by Michael Beadley, who seek to establish a new, self-sufficient community. However, their plans are complicated by competing factions, the challenges of caring for the many blind individuals, and the looming threat posed by the aggressive triffids. Over time, the dwindling resources and increasing danger push Masen and his group to seek refuge on the Isle of Wight, where a more promising community has emerged. The narrative delves into themes of survival, societal structure, and moral responsibility in the face of catastrophe, making it a thought-provoking read for fans of speculative fiction.
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Subject Terms
The Day of the Triffids
First published: 1951
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—catastrophe
Time of work: The mid-to late twentieth century
Locale: London and parts of southern England
The Plot
For years, humans have been cultivating a mysterious species of plant called the triffid because the oil and juice extracted from the plant make excellent cattle feed and are profitable for business. The origins of the seven-foot-high triffids are obscure, but the plant appears to have been the result of human biological experimentation. After their first appearance, triffids quickly spread all over the world and also developed the ability to pull up their roots and walk. They possess a venomous sting that is often fatal to humans. A few people even believe the plants are intelligent and able to communicate with one another.
Narrator William Masen, a biologist and triffid expert, is recovering in the hospital from a triffid sting to the eyes. He awakes one morning to an eerie silence. Removing his eye bandages, he leaves his room to investigate and discovers that everyone in the hospital is blind. He goes outside and sees blind people creeping along the streets.
The cause of the near-universal blindness is obvious. The previous day, a comet apparently passed near Earth, and the debris from it filled the sky with bright green flashes. Almost everyone watched the greatest-ever fireworks display, with disastrous results.
As he traverses the city, Masen rescues a young sighted woman, Josella Playton, from the clutches of a blind man. Masen sees triffids on the prowl and decides to leave London. He and Playton join a group of mostly sighted people, led by Michael Beadley, who are planning to set up a new community. This group refuses to help the many thousands of blind; they look to the future and decide to build a self-sufficient community that will preserve the race. Their plans are interrupted by a group led by the sighted Wilfred Coker, who feels a responsibility to help the blind. Coker’s group kidnaps Masen and Playton. Each is put in charge of a group of blind people, assigned to an area of London, and instructed to keep everyone alive until help comes (from America, many assume). A plague breaks out and leaves few in Masen’s group alive.
Masen later contacts Coker, who has realized the futility of his plan, and they decide to follow the Beadley group, whose members have headed to a location west of London. Masen also wants to search for Playton. The Beadley group proves elusive, but the two men stumble on a community, most of whose members are blind, run by the evangelical Miss Denning, who lacks the organizational skills to succeed but is too proud to admit it.
Masen leaves and finally is reunited with Playton at a farmhouse in Sussex. For six years, Masen, Playton, and three blind people run the farm and keep themselves alive in reasonable comfort. As essential supplies dwindle, however, the future looks bleak, and the triffids present a growing menace. The plants continually encroach on the farm and are kept back only by an electrified fence. The farm group eventually is contacted by the Beadley community, which has established itself on the Isle of Wight, a small island off the southern coast of England. Their community is more promising than the alternative, an authoritarian group of survivors who promote a kind of feudal system with the blind as serfs. The Isle of Wight community thrives and plans one day, through research conducted by Masen, to find a way of reclaiming the mainland, which has been taken over by triffids.