50 pages • 1 hour read
John LanchesterThe Wall
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Wall
The Wall is a physical structure and the central symbol of the United Kingdom’s response to climate change in the novel. Building a Wall around an entire nation reflects the values of British society. A Wall both keeps people out and keeps people in. As a structure designed to keep people out, the Wall reflects the nation’s rejection of its responsibility to address climate change, despite the fact that the consumption habits and past industrialization efforts of higher-income nations are major drivers of climate change.
The Wall also changes people on the inside. There are real dangers outside the Wall, but also internal ones: The surveillance apparatus the United Kingdom builds and acceptance that outsiders are Others create a closed society in which people aren’t open to change. In addition, acceptance of the Wall creates a geographic space in which citizens and the government can exploit Others, remove children of Others, and transform Others into Breeders—practices that are inhumane and unethical. The Wall thus represents the failure of the country to live up to its ideals.
For Joseph Kavanagh specifically, the Wall symbolizes the lack of intimacy he experiences while he serves as a Defender. Joseph discovers this aspect of the Wall after the first attack of the Others, when he remarks that lack of connection is “a wall of its own. There were hardly any times when you were just plainly and defenselessly yourself with other people” (125). The conditions on the Wall impact the psychology of Defenders. Defenders have to be psychologically prepared to kill Others, but the cost of that is an inability to be vulnerable.
The Floating Community and the Pirate Ship
The floating community and the pirate ship represent two distinct responses to scarcity. The floating community relies on mutual aid to share resources, with each person contributing their skills to gather supplies and receiving, in turn, a share. The floating community’s physical structure is one in which boats that are fragile by themselves become stronger when the boats’ inhabitants lash their individual vessels together. The pirate ship that attacks the community relies on violence and theft to propel itself, leading to the destruction of people from whom the pirates steal and the benefit of the pirates.
Lanchester takes care to show that each of these responses have their advantages and disadvantages. The floating community is vulnerable to hoarding, violence, and the weather, making it precarious. When one boat burns, they all do. The advantage of the floating community is that participating in it not only satisfies the baseline material wants of its members, but satisfies emotional needs. For example, Joseph feels a sense of purpose and connection in the floating community. The one advantage of the pirate ship is that a willingness to use force makes it easy to collect precious resources. On the other hand, victims of that violence may respond with violence, which is exactly what happens to the pirate ship in the novel.
The pirate ship and floating community allow Lanchester to explore possible futures as humans confront climate change, making The Wall an example of cli-fi.
Airplanes
In the world of The Wall, airplanes are a symbol of elite status. Airplanes are a relic of a time when there was little concern about pollution from their carbon-based fuels, and during which these fuels were plentiful. In a time of scarcity, flying by plane is likely an act that can only be justified by the urgency of a passenger’s task.
Joseph Kavanagh observes airplanes from the ground and even fantasizes about flying in one. His fascination with airplanes underscores his ambition to be one of the elites. As he grows closer to his fellow Defenders, Joseph realizes that flying on an airplane means being at a remove from people on the ground. The evolution of his perspective reflects his changing view of his relationship with Defenders and his own identity.
