The Year of the Flood

Ren is the novel’s second protagonist and narrator. She used to live in the HelthWyzer Compounds with her parents, but when her mother, Lucerne, fell in love with Zeb, a Gardener, she left her husband and took Ren with her to join the group. Since Lucerne is preoccupied with her relationship, she pays little attention to Ren, and the girl grows up desperate for love and care. At first, Ren misses her home in the Compounds and doesn’t understand the Gardeners’ beliefs and principles, but with time she adapts to their lifestyle and befriends her peers. Ren stops feeling lonely only after developing a close friendship with Amanda, who becomes Ren’s role model.

Even as an adult, Ren leads a childlike life and depends on others for survival. Her first caregiver is Bernice, a fellow Gardener who takes Ren under her wing when she first joins the group. Later it’s Amanda, who protects Ren from other Gardener children and ultimately saves her from confinement inside Scales and Tails. And finally it’s Toby, who nurses Ren back to health after she is attacked by Painballers and leads her to safety. Despite Ren’s naiveté, Atwood gives her agency in the form of a voice, making her one of the two narrators. Yet Ren fails to realize this agency, manifesting her vulnerability and remaining “only little Ren” (424) throughout the novel.

Adam One is a charismatic leader of the God’s Gardeners. He used to be a scientist who studied epidemics, but then he made it his mission to teach others how to resist the Corporations peacefully and care for the environment. He has a beard of “innocent feathery white” (117) and blue eyes, yet he is very purposeful. His sense of purpose is so overwhelming that when one tries to attack it, it is “like attacking the tide” (116). By warning the Gardeners about the Waterless Flood and encouraging them to stash away food, Adam One saves the lives of many Gardeners, and although the group is later persecuted, he remains a loyal leader, steadfast in his beliefs even in the face of death.

Blanco manages the SecretBurger outlet where Toby worked, and he’s one of the main antagonists. He used to work as a bouncer at Scales and Tails, so he has a big frame and a signature ponytail at the back of his head. His upper body is covered with tattoos, one of them depicting an upside-down naked woman bound in chains, with her head hanging down into his butt. As a manager at SecretBurger, Blanco chooses victims among new workers and repeatedly sexually abuses them. Toby becomes his victim until the God’s Gardeners rescue her. Vindictive and extremely cruel, Blanco is obsessed with the idea of making Toby pay for escaping from him. He survives the pandemic by being imprisoned in the Painball Arena, but shortly after Toby shoots him when he tries to find her in the AnooYoo Spa.

Amanda is Ren’s best friend and a member of the God’s Gardeners. She is a visual artist, and she likes to “watch things grow and move and then disappear” (68). Amanda used to live in Texas with her family, but extreme weather conditions, such as droughts and hurricanes, forced them to flee. Both of her parents died in their escape attempt, but Amanda managed to get to the other side of the Wall—an obstacle that was built to contain the refugees—and to join the Gardeners. Attractive and resourceful, Amanda is more powerful than any other female character of the novel. She knows how to protect herself in street fights, but at the same time, she doesn’t realize “the limits of her own strength” (357) and tends to overestimate her abilities. Although Amanda survives the pandemic, she is soon taken hostage by three former prisoners who treat her as a sex slave. Once she is released by Toby and Ren, Amanda kicks her abusers in their genitals, which symbolizes her attempt to reclaim her power and agency.

Zeb is a respected but more radical member of the Gardeners. As one of the instructors, he teaches Urban Bloodshed Limitation and how to survive in the wilderness. Feared and admired, Zeb is equal to Adam in status among the Gardeners. Zeb’s appearance contributes to this: He is a tall man with large, broad shoulders and long hair, and he looks “as if he’d break your neck if necessary, but not for fun” (78). Although Zeb is notorious for his tendency to break the Gardeners’ rules, he avoids punishment because he is a useful liaison between the Gardeners, the pleeblands, and the Compounds. Zeb soon adopts more radical beliefs and creates his own group called MaddAddam, which fights the Corporations using more violent means.