Annihilation (6 points)

Relations with Lovecraft mythos

I have read a few of Lovecraft's stories, and I can say there is something they all had in common: being changed. Most of the narrators don't return from their expeditions to the realms featured in Lovecraft lore, and those who do are never the same again. Whether they feature physical mutation or mental warping, they are not who they once were. The sentence when this all clicked for me in Annihilation is when the Psychologist tells the narrator "You've changed." This was like a punch in the gut for me. The narrator, at that point, wasn't showing major signs of physical change. But the psychologist could still tell something was different about her. I think the most chilling part of the story wasn't the experiences the narrator had but rather the transition of being human to something else.

Separation of Soul and Body

Part of the transition is a physical change. The narrator starts to noticeably glow, and there could be other factors she is unable to see. Since we know Area X is affecting her mind it may also affect her perception of self. The narrator's husband documents seeing ethereal figures of his squad members and himself go into the "tower." I came to think of this as, rather than those figures being "ghosts" or "spirits" that they were their bodies returning. What remained in Area X were their spirits, which become altered and twisted, many taking on animal forms (or moss statues). We know that upon returning to the real world, their bodies were perfect replicas, but they lacked individuality.