Survival

By way of the three main characters’ endeavors to withstand their apocalyptic circumstances, the author considers what the individual might do in order to ensure her survival. At the start of The High House, Sally, Caro, and Pauly are equally as incapable of imagining the climatic devastation that their elders portend. “This was when it was still the beginning of things,” Caro explains in Chapter 1, “when we were still uncertain, and it was still possible to believe that nothing whatever was wrong, bar an unusual run of hot Julys and January storms” (9). However, by the end of the chapter, when Father calls Caro, urging her to flee the city for the high house as soon as possible, the impending disaster suddenly impresses itself upon Caro and her brother. As Caro’s and Pauly’s storylines converge with Sally’s, all three characters are forced to rely...