Bonds Amidst Ecological Ruin: Friendship, Loyalty and Human Resilience in Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Drowned Cities

Abstract

The post-apocalyptic world explores a society with various devastations
and ecological reconstructions to frame an innovative creation for future
protection as well as accommodation. Bacigalupi envisions the emerging journey
of America after climate catastrophes from his novel The Drowned Cities,
published in 2012. He travels through different versions of human life analysing
importance of environment and human bond through the medium of various
characters. The shared experiences of individuals within their own devastated
land of survival created mutual bonds of respect with fellow biological
organisms. The war zone affected the livelihood of younger generation due to
their forced migration in backstabbing their own innocent people. The characters
Mahlia and Mouse share a bond of loyal friendship considering themselves as a
single family without same blood lineage. The non-human creature named as
Tool does not accept the ideas of human mind in suppressing their own
inventions. He enumerates as a half man fighting for his own resilience through
broader ways of knowledge gained from Mahlia’s friendship. The theory on
Ethics of Care helps in understanding the elements of attentiveness,
responsibility, competence and responsiveness to favour the bond of mutual
loyalty from Bacigalupi’s destructed land of Orleans. The study finds resilience
not from physical adjustments of individuals but also through the psychological
contributions regained from emotional supports. The wider risk to protect fellow
friends adapt everyone within the collapsed society, but through the
psychological compassion of acceptance from humanity.