This book, while not long in length, leaves a very long shadow. This is a study of what it means to be human, what is hope, and how loneliness can define us.
Our protagonist is a young girl that is living with 39 other women, caged in a bunker with no windows, lights on at all times, and men patrolling them without ever interacting with them. The only voices they hear are their own. They shun the young girl, who has no memories of before being in the cage. The older women have memories, but they will not share with the girl.
One day there is an opportunity to take the keys of a distracted guard, and the women are able to unlock the cage. They are, however, uncertain of what to do. The guards seem to have disappeared. No one comes to check on them on the regular schedule or bring food. When the women find the courage to explore outside the remainder of the area surrounding the cage, they timidly emerge from underground into a desert landscape. They see nothing but barren land, and no guards. They have disappeared. The women then must decide how to move forward to take care of themselves outside the cage that men had kept them in.
SPOILERS:
To me, this is a metaphor for how women are treated by men. The men put the women, of all ages and backgrounds, into a cage to patrol them. The men controlled all parts of their lives from the definition of day and night, to what and when they eat, and who they could interact with. They guarded these women against any intruder or change. They were not allowed to be too loud, too lazy, or too anything. And they were not allowed to learn and grow.
When the cage is unlocked there are those afraid of the freedom, those that embrace it, and those that begin to make their own rules. When faced with being responsible for their own survival these women made a plan, executed it, and cared for each other with respect. The loneliness each feels even when surrounded by others is the inability to understand where they are, who they are, and why they were placed there. It is loneliness forced upon them by the men’s forceful breaking of community norms. The weight of other’s valuation of them holds them down.
We may not see the walls going up around us, we may not recognize that what we cherish is being stripped away from us. We may not recognize ourselves or those around us when we finally open our eyes. We must work together to unlock our cages, and support each other so we survive.
