To Paradise

The third part of the novel begins in autumn 2093, in a futuristic and dystopian version of New York City. The narrator is a woman who works as a lab tech at a state-sponsored research facility. She lives with her husband and sometimes struggles to find things to talk to him about. The woman and her husband are subject to strict rations and have limited access to food and other necessities; she describes how “today was a meat day, and because it was the third Thursday, I was also entitled to our monthly ration of soap and toilet paper” (366). Everything is controlled by the state. The woman takes care of domestic responsibilities, such as cooking for her husband. They live in an apartment in Washington Square and are sometimes subject to random and frightening searches. The woman has fond memories of her grandfather, who raised her and died shortly after she got married.

New York City has been converted into a series of zones with different purposes within the totalitarian society. The woman lives in Zone Eight. Central Park has been converted into “the Farm,” where research is conducted into animals and plants. The woman’s husband works at the Farm, growing and harvesting different specimens of exotic plants.