36 pages • 1 hour read
Jeff VanderMeerAnnihilation
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Initiation”
Annihilation begins with a description of the “tower,” a structure that “was not supposed to be there” and “plunge[d] into the earth in a place just before the black pine forest begins to give way to swamp” (3). There are four members of the expedition into the abandoned territory known as Area X, in which the tower is found. All four are women. They are “a biologist, an anthropologist, a surveyor, and a psychologist” (3). The first-person narrator is the biologist. The leader of the expedition is the psychologist. Their mission is “to continue the government’s investigation into the mysteries of Area X, slowly working our
way out from base camp” (4).
After reaching the base camp, they replace old and broken equipment. In the environment surrounding the base camp, there are several species of animals, such as bears, coyotes, and snakes, as well as signs of human habitation, such as rotting cabins and livestock enclosures. The members of the expedition can hear a moaning sound in the distance. They find the tower on the fourth day. The tower is not on any of the maps or documents they have with them. It is described as “a circular block of some grayish stone” (6) with a diameter of about 60 feet. An opening in the block gives view onto a set of stairs that descend into the darkness below. The narrator insists on seeing the structure as a tower, even though it descends below ground. The psychologist says that she is “excited by this discovery” (8) and asks the others if they are excited as well. The narrator begins to feel a sense of unease. The surveyor chooses not to answer the psychologist’s question.
The narrator then remembers the beginning of the expedition: There was a linguist amongst the group, but she does not materialize in the staging area before they cross the border into Area X. The psychologist says that the linguist had “second thoughts” and then proceeds to hypnotize the remaining members of the party so that they can successfully cross the border into Area X. After waking up inside Area X, the narrator looks back and sees “perhaps a gate, perhaps a trick of the eye. Just a sudden impression of a fizzing block of light, fast fading” (11).
In the present, the four members of the expedition discuss what to do about the tower, which everyone except the biologist calls a “tunnel.” The anthropologist proposes that they gather more data before focusing on the tunnel. The surveyor proposes they explore the tunnel to rule it out “as something invasive or threatening” (13). The narrator also wants to explore the tunnel, which she continues to insist on calling a tower. The psychologist announces that she, too, wants to “rule out the tunnel” (14). They hear the strange moaning out in the night and go to sleep.
They wake up early the next morning. The surveyor issues guns to each person while continuing to hold on to the assault rifle herself. They return to the tower. The psychologist announces some basic measurements of the tower, which the narrator finds “endearing,” as it seems she might be trying to “reassure herself” (18). The surveyor offers to enter the structure first and descends into the tower. Shortly afterwards, she calls up, “Clear to this level!” (20). The anthropologist and narrator descend together, and the narrator describes what they see: “Approximately twenty feet beneath the surface, the structure opened out into a lower level. The ceiling was about eight feet high, which meant a good twelve feet of stone lay above us” (20-21).
The surveyor, anthropologist, and narrator study the space. The surveyor notes that it descends farther down. The narrator observes the blankness of the walls. The anthropologist notes a “precision in the creation of the building” (22). As the narrator asks the anthropologist a series of questions, the surveyor calls everyone to look and points her flashlight to a stairway that leads down the structure. The narrator again describes their discovery: “At about shoulder height, perhaps five feet high, clinging to the inner wall of the tower, I saw what I first took to be dimly sparkling green vines progressing down into the darkness” (23). The vines form words on the wall. The narrator approaches the wall. She can understand the language the words are written in. The words read: “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…” (23). The letters are connected in a cursive script and made of a moss or fungi-like substance. The words sway slightly as though underwater. Embedded in the words are small living creatures that look like “tiny hands.”
The narrator leans into the wall, and a spray of golden spores spews out. She thinks she feels something enter her nose. She conceals what happened from the others and suggests they go back up. Upon learning what they’ve seen, the psychologist decides to descend as well. The psychologist speaks to the narrator in a way that the narrator later understands is an attempt to hypnotize her. The psychologist descends and reappears 15 minutes later, simply calling the writing, “[i]nteresting.”
They return to camp and eat lunch. The narrator monitors her body for strange reactions to the spores she inhaled. Each person goes about their own work near the camp. By dinner, the four are slightly more relaxed and even joking with one another. They hear the low moaning coming from the marshes and drunkenly call back out to it, but they stop when it seems that whatever is doing the moaning knows it is being mocked.
The psychologist announces a plan to return to the tower the next day, and then “abruptly stood and said three words: ‘Consolidation of authority’’” (32). The surveyor and anthropologist go slack. The narrator mimics them but does not fall under the same hypnotic spell. The psychologist then announces a series of commands regarding what the others are to remember, feel, think, and experience the following day: “You will continue to see a structure that is made of coquina and stone. You will trust your colleagues completely and feel a continued sense of fellowship with them” (33). The narrator realizes the spores have made her immune to the hypnotic suggestions of the psychologist.
Chapter 1 Analysis
The personalities of the four characters are established in the first chapter. The anthropologist appears as intelligent and focused on her task. The surveyor is brusque and practical. The biologist—the narrator—is inquisitive and shows a keen eye for observation of the natural world. The leader of the group, the psychologist, shows signs of being manipulative, if not dangerous, especially in her penchant for hypnotizing the other three.
Many questions are raised but not explicitly answered. Does Annihilation take place in the present, or sometime in the future? Is Area X an extension of natural landscapes on the earth, or is it a created zone—created either by man or by something else? Beyond exploring the area, why exactly have the four members of the expedition been sent there? Answers to these and many other questions remain just beyond the periphery of the narrative, hinted at but never stated outright.
At the center of these mysteries is the narrator, the biologist of the group. She is an expert in “transitional environments” and believes she qualified for the expedition because Area X “transitioned several times, meaning that it was home to a complexity of ecosystems” (11-12). Throughout the first chapter, she provides rich accounts of these ecosystems and the wildlife they contain. These accounts are more than just aesthetic or poetic descriptions, however. The portraits of the biological life discovered in Area X are central to the mystery of the place. For example, she recalls an instant as the expedition was hiking to base camp in which they were charged by a wild boar. Through close observation, the biologist notices the strangely human-like features of the animal. She describes the boar as “dealing with an extreme of inner torment” and says “I had the startling impression of some presence in the way its gaze seemed turned inward and its head willfully pulled to the left” (16). These observations of the human-like aspects of certain creatures in Area X continue in other chapters and provide important clues as to the workings of the mysterious land.
The effects of the spores the narrator inhales while inside the tower remain mysterious. There are suggestions, however, that the spores are capable of compelling the narrator to take on certain behaviors. She feels a strong compulsion to remain behind in the tower and explore more, for example. She says, “I also knew if I stayed there much longer I might experience a compulsion to go back down the stairs to continue reading the words, and they would have to physically restrain me, and I did not know what I would do then” (27). This suggests that the spores are willing the narrator to explore more—that they perhaps have their own agenda. Since another effect of the spores is that the narrator is suddenly immune to the psychologist’s hypnotisms, it is possible that the spores’ aims are different than the aims of the psychologist or the expedition generally.
At the end of the chapter, the narrator recalls the return of the members of the previous expedition: “[I]n most cases, family members had called the authorities, finding their loved one’s return uncanny or frightening” (34). During interviews, members of the previous expedition reported experiencing “no unusual phenomenon” and “no unusual internal conflicts” (34) while in Area X. These members had managed to cross the border and return home, although none had any recollection of how they had done so. All of these members displayed a similar flat affect upon their return, as though they were all speaking “across a vast distance in time and space” (35).
Though providing no definitive answers, these descriptions hint at the effect Area X might have on the biologist and members of the 12th expedition should they remain for a significant amount of time. Furthermore, the biologist suggests that such a condition is just what she is seeking, although she doesn’t reveal why. As she explains, “At the time, I was seeking oblivion, and I sought in those blank, anonymous faces, even the most painfully familiar, a kind of benign escape. A death that would not mean being dead” (35).
