Apocalypse/Devolution

The author uses this theme to depict the ways in which society would break down during an apocalyptic event, how values would change (or stay the same), and how the status of women would be adversely affected. In this apocalypse, the process of evolution has begun to reverse itself, and no one knows what this means for the future of humankind. Cedar is writing her journal in order to record these events for posterity, so her baby might one day know more about the strange world he was brought into.

It is unclear exactly what precipitated the events of the novel, or when they are taking place. Cedar mentions in the beginning that there were problems related to “the Mideast, Afghanistan, then Russia, the increasing chaos of our elections, and our first winter without snow” (9), suggesting political and environmental factors. The novel ends with Cedar's...