The Day of the Triffids (novel by Wyndham) | Summary & Analysis

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</div> </figcaption> </figure> </div><div class="topic-header"> <div class="d-flex align-items-top justify-content-between"> <div class="d-flex flex-column"> <div> <div> <h1>The Day of the Triffids</h1></div> </div> <div class="topic-identifier font-16 font-md-20">novel by Wyndham</div> </div> </div> <div class="d-none d-sm-flex flex-row"> <div class="mr-10 mb-15"> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="d-none d-sm-block md-topic-tools qa-action-buttons mb-15" data-topic-id="153110"> <button class="js-tooltip btn btn-sm btn-outline-blue border pr-10 border-2" > <em class="material-icons md-icon ml-n10 my-n5 mr-5" data-icon="more_vert"></em> More Actions </button> <div class="md-more-popover popover popover-sm p-0 font-14 z-1"> <div> <a class="js-modal btn btn-sm btn-link gtm-topic-tool font-weight-bold btn-link" href="/print/article/153110" target="_blank" > 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They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2024-11-01T00:00:00CDT" >Nov 1, 2024</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Day-of-the-Triffids/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 ai-ask-button btn border-2 module-spacing btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref1330640"></span>The Day of the Triffids</strong>, post-apocalyptic <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/science-fiction" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">science fiction</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/novel" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">novel</a> that was created by English science fiction writer <span id="ref1330641"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Wyndham" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">John Wyndham</a> and published in 1951. Though it initially received only moderate acclaim, <em>The Day of the Triffids</em> later became a science fiction classic (as well as a low-budget movie in 1963) and a defining novel of the post-disaster <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="genre" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genre" data-type="MW">genre</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The novel is set in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/London" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">London</a> in a world which has become dependent on the oil produced by the recently introduced triffid plant. Triffids, however, can grow to a height of 7 feet (2.1 m), can walk on their roots, are carnivorous, and possess a lethal stinger. The action opens with biologist Bill Masen in the hospital, bandages draped over his eyes as he recovers after a triffid sting. It is the morning after the most spectacular <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/meteorite-shower" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">meteorite shower</a> the world has ever seen, but Masen discovers that the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/meteor-shower" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">meteor shower</a> blinded everyone who saw it. He meets Josella, another sighted survivor. Seeing a light atop the Senate House at the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/University-of-London" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">University of London</a>, the pair go there and find a group of sighted people, headed by the Colonel and Michael Beadley, who plan to collect food, leave London, and begin a new society. The next day, though, a gang led by Wilfrid Coker breaks in and kidnaps sighted people, including Masen and Josella. Each sighted person is assigned a district of London and a group of blind people, and they are to survive by <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="looting" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/looting" data-type="EB">looting</a>. Soon, however, a mysterious illness begins decimating the surviving population, and everyone is under attack by triffids.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Masen tries in vain to locate Josella and then returns to the Senate House, where he sees an address in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Wiltshire" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Wiltshire</a> written on a wall. He then encounters Coker, and the two take trucks and head to Wiltshire. where they find a splinter cell of Beadley’s group. Coker remains there, and Masen leaves, still searching for Josella. On his journey he finds a 10-year-old sighted girl named Susan who has lost her family to triffids, and he takes her with him. He finds Josella living in a house that she had told him about, together with the blind owners and another blind friend. Later Masen learns that the group in Wiltshire have all perished. Years pass, as Masen and Josella and the others survive by stealing food and fuel and fighting off the triffids.</p><div class="module-spacing"> </div><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">One day a helicopter arrives with news that Beadley has set up a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="community" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/community" data-type="MW">community</a> on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Isle-of-Wight" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Isle of Wight</a>, from which they have <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="eradicated" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eradicated" data-type="MW">eradicated</a> triffids. After another dramatic escape from another would-be dictator, Masen and Josella escape to safety on the Isle of Wight.</p><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">On the face of it, <em>The Day of the Triffids</em> seems to be a reasonably straightforward survival adventure, but it was the first of its time to anticipate disaster on a global scale. Wyndham predicts the technologies of biowarfare and mass destruction, offering a sophisticated account of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Cold-War" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Cold War</a> anxiety that was well before its time in terms of its exploration of the psyche of individuals in the face of overwhelming <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-change" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">social change</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="md-signature"><a href="/contributor/Anna-Foca/9837649">Anna Foca</a></span> <span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":1,"pageId":153110,"pageLength":511,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"D","adLeg":"D","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"MEDIUM","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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The Day of the Triffids (novel by Wyndham) | Summary & Analysis | Britannica