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Post by MegaDude on Jul 15, 2010 0:28:47 GMT -5
I think it's a misconception, although a common one, that the triffids had something to do with the cosmic light show. (I'm pretty sure that in at least one of the movies, they say the triffids are alien.)
It's not answered explicitly in the book, but do we all agree that whatever caused the mass blindness, the triffids just took advantage of the situation and became more of a threat to the survivors?
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Post by Zzing on Jul 15, 2010 3:04:14 GMT -5
My thoughts have usually been that they are related. I cannot remember right now, but does it say precisely where the triffids came from?
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Post by MegaDude on Jul 15, 2010 3:39:27 GMT -5
I'm only about a chapter into the book on this read through, but he does say that no one really knows where the triffids came from, but that his supposition is that they're genetically modified organisms.
But they'd been around since he was a kid, which was about 20 years prior to the cosmic event I think.
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Post by fear death by water on Jul 15, 2010 11:29:31 GMT -5
No. The meteor shower was just a happy accident or serendipity. If you're a Triffid of course. For everyone else though not so much.
In chapter two it gets quite a bit into the back story of The Triffids. I won't be that guy who gives it all away (even though it is in this section). I will share this. The Triffids were originally from Russia. I get the impression that they were found only in one single area. (Sort of like Venus Flytraps) So the implication could be they are extra terrestrial.
Also the interesting bit of exposition with Walter. He posits 1) That Triffids have some type of intelligence. Not a brain per say but some type of higher thought. This allows them to communicate and perhaps to plot vengeance. 2) That the only advantage a human has against a Triffid is sight. Walter says "We have sight, they don't. Take away our vision and superiority is gone."
I get the the idea the Triffids had been around a long time. It was only a rather tragic series of coincidences that allows them world wide dominion over a mostly blind population.
The next logical question would be "How many think The Triffids have some sort of rudimentary intelligence and therefore have the capacity to hold a grudge?'
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Calem
Scavenger
Reaching for the random or whatever will bewilder me... [F4:CalemPaine]
Posts: 67
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Post by Calem on Feb 6, 2012 14:53:42 GMT -5
To revive this rather old thread, I'm very excited to see people reading and loving the original book, it's one of my favourites =) As for the question of whether the Triffids can hold a grudge, I'd say definitely no. They are "just" plants. Unusually clever, mobile and aggressive plants but plants nonetheless. The story could be viewed as a juxtaposition of "Moby Dick" which essentially deals with the fact that you can't take revenge over nature. In his book Wyndham show that the Triffids aren't taking revenge either, they're just doing what they were designed for, following their nature. In both cases the only thoughts of revenge and punishment comes from humans.
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