Examining Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood as a Cli-Fi: An Effort Towards Survival and Sustainability

‘Environmental humanities' is an interdisciplinary field that offers a sound understanding of human-based causes for social, economic, scientific and environmental changes. It helps to understand the intricate relationship between people and the environment they construct. The paper proposes to study Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood as an important contribution to environmental humanities. The study evaluates the text as a ‘Climate Fiction' (cli fi) to find ecofriendly ways to co-habit the planet. The novel portrays a post-apocalyptic scenario after the fatal blow caused by an epidemic that nearly wipes out the human race. Two female characters Toby and Ren, locked in a spa centre and a sticky zone, narrate the past and the present. Along with their memories, the text also presents oral hymns told by Adam one, the leader of eco-friendly group of the God's Gardeners. The narrative reveals that Glenn (Crake, the protagonist of Oryx and Crake), the top-compound genetic engineer, creates and spreads the pandemic to replace the species with a better version of post humans called Crakers. On a parallel ground the Gardeners who have been active for nearly twenty-five years before the arrival of the epidemic, respond to the sensation of making a positive change by recourse to religion and re-telling of the biblical myths.