Annihilation Introduction and Study Guide

The novel Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer is narrated in the first person point of view of a female biologist who volunteers to be part of an expedition to the mysterious “Area X.” Area X is a “pristine wilderness” around which some thirty years prior, a mysterious “border” descended, to which an equally mysterious government agency, “The Southern Reach,” has sent multiple expeditions to explore. The novel (we learn later, in the form of a journal) chronicles the experiences of the biologist in Area X, where her husband had also explored during the previous expedition. Through the course of the novel, we also learn how the biologist sees the social world, the natural world, herself, and others around her.

As you read Annihilation for the first time, I ask you to keep in mind the research questions below, and to take notes and annotate your text appropriately as you look for scenes and moments in the text that could be relevant to these research questions, and ultimately to a possible answer to one of them that you argue in your final essay this semester.

You will write two observations on Annihilation, each on early findings and thoughts related to one of the research questions. You will write a fully developed essay on the one research question that you feel you can best understand, approach, gather a d explain evidence, and argue an answer for.

Here are the requirement and forms of the essay.and I will provide the previous observation of this assignment