Unequal Effects of Climate Change in Maggie Gee’s The Flood

Year 2022, Volume: 13 Issue: 1, 30 - 36, 10.02.2022

İbrahim Koç

Abstract

The Flood is generally labelled as a post-apocalyptic dystopia and a social and political satire due to the realistic details that connect it to the agenda of the days it was written and the deteriorating environmental conditions that can be related to global warming and climate change. There are direct references to the extreme weather conditions like excessive precipitation, flash flooding and droughts that have been seen more frequently both in England and in many other regions of the world. Excessive rainfall causes permanent floods in low-lying areas of the city. This situation creates a great problem especially for economically disadvantaged social classes. Besides, because of the floods, schools are closed in most places, but the children of the well-off families are not deprived of education opportunity even under these conditions. This situation evokes inequalities during the Covid-19 when schools are closed for face-to-face education in many parts of the world. The Flood provides examples for the negative impacts of inequality of income distribution both local and international levels, and at the same time conveys a strong message that the climate crisis is a global problem and whether rich or poor all humans share the same planet.

Keywords

Maggie Gee, The Flood, ecocriticism, climate change, socioeconomic inequality

Maggie Gee’nin The Flood Romanında İklim Değişikliğinin Eşit Olmayan Etkileri

Abstract

The Flood, yazıldığı günlerin toplumsal gündemi ile ilişkilendirilebilecek gerçekçi ayrıntılara ilaveten küresel ısınma ve iklim değişikliğinin bir sonucu olan çevresel bozulmanın izlerini taşıyan bir ortam sunması nedeniyle de genellikle bir kıyamet sonrası distopya ve sosyopolitik hiciv olarak etiketlendirilmektedir. Romanda gerek İngiltere'de gerekse dünyanın birçok bölgesinde artık daha sık görülen aşırı yağış, ani sel ve kuraklık gibi aşırı hava koşullarına doğrudan göndermeler bulunduğu görülür. Aşırı yağışlar şehrin alçak kesimlerinde kalıcı sellere ve su birikintilerine neden olmaktadır. Bu durum özellikle ekonomik olarak dezavantajlı sosyal sınıflar için büyük bir sorun oluşturmaktadır. Ayrıca seller yüzünden çoğu yerde okullar kapalıdır ancak hali vakti yerinde ailelerin çocukları bu koşullarda bile eğitim fırsatından mahrum kalmamaktadırlar. Bu durum, Avrupa'da ve dünyanın birçok yerinde okulların yüz yüze eğitime kapatıldığı Covid-19 dönemindeki eğitim imkanlarındaki eşitsizlikleri düşündürüyor. Bu özellikleri ile The Flood hem yerel hem de uluslararası düzeyde gelir dağılımı eşitsizliğinin olumsuz sonuçlarına örnekler sunmakta ve aynı zamanda iklim krizinin küresel bir sorun olduğuna ve zengin ya da fakir tüm insanların aynı gezegeni paylaştığına dair güçlü bir mesaj vermektedir.

Keywords

Maggie Gee, The Flood, ekoeleştiri, iklim değişikliği, sosyoekonomik eşitsizlik

References

• The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) (2020). Human Cost of Disasters An overview of the Last 20 Years (2000-2019), The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, UCLouvain, Belgium, viewed in 29 January 2021, https://cred.be/sites/default/files/CRED-Disaster-Report-Human-Cost2000-2019.pdf
• Dillon, S. (2007). Imagining Apocalypse: Maggie Gee’s “The Flood”, Contemporary Literature, Vol. 48, no. 3 (fall, 2007). pp. 374-97.
• Egan, M. (2007). Barry Commoner and the Science of Survival the Remaking of American Environmentalism. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
• Evernden, N. (1996). Beyond Ecology. In The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology, Glotfelty, C & Fromm, H (eds.), University of Georgia Press, Athens, pp 92–104.
• Gee, M. (2005). The Flood. London: Saqi Books
• Glotfelty, C. (1996). Introduction: Literary Studies in an Age of Environmental Crisis. In The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology, Glotfelty, C & Fromm, H (eds.), University of Georgia Press, Athens, pp. xv–xxxvii
• Hammerstein, S., König, C., Dreisoerner, T., & Frey, A. (2021). Effects of COVID-19-Related School Closures on Student Achievement. A Systematic Review. <https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.746289>
• Hoggard, L. (2004). Damp if you do..., book review, 15 February, The Guardian International Edition, viewed 10 October 2019, <https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/feb/15/fiction.features3>
• Johns-Putra, A. (2018). Maggie Gee’s The Ice People (1998) and The Flood (2004) – State of the Nation Cli-Fi. In Goodbody A & Johns-Putra, A (eds.), Cli-Fi: A Companion. Genre Fiction and Film Companions, Peter Lang, Oxford, pp. 91-5.
• Maldonado, J. E., and De Witte, K. (2020). ‘The effect of school closures on standardised student test outcomes’ Discussion Paper Series, KU Leuven Faculty of Economics and Business. <https://lirias.kuleuven.be/retrieve/588087>
• Marx, K. (1956). Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Volume II. Moscow: Progress Publishers
• McLaverty-Robinson, A. (2020). Homi Bhabha – An Introduction and Critique. Volume 2: Colonialism and Inbetweenness. Morrisville: Lulu Press.
• POST The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (2012). The Autumn 2000 Rains and Floods, UK Parliament briefing paper, London, viewed 19 February 2020, <https://post.parliament.uk/research-briefings/post-pn-151/>
• Tyson, L. (2006). Critical Theory Today. New York: Routledge
• Zirange, R. S. 2014, ‘Maggie Gee's The Flood: A Socio-Political Satire in the Apocalyptic Mode’, The Indian Review of World Literature in English, Vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 1-8.