When you start reading We Spread, you assume that Iain Reid is prepping you to be afraid of the ageing process. As the novel starts with Penny entering a care home Six Ceders that she cannot remember choosing to go to, Reid prepares the reader for a conventional memory horror. But, Reid refuses to write a novel that is simply posing the question: does Penny have early Alzheimer’s or is her age being manipulated.
However, unlike a hallmark card for a 30 year-old woman, Reid does not make us fear the natural progression of time and the consequences it brings. Sure, you are afraid of loosing control while reading the novel. Yet, this is not linked to age. He flips the switch and makes you uncomfortably aware of another force that can take possession of your life – capitalism. The true horror of We Spread is the very real possibility that we could be forced to work right until our death.
In a world where the retirement age is gradually increasing (I am fully prepared for the government to have increased the age of retirement to about 90 by the time I am that old), there is nothing scarier that the idea that we constantly have to be productive.
Reid uses Six Ceders (and Shelley the manager) as a masquerade for the fear of growing older. Six Ceders is not scary because it is an unknown and strange setting where Penny is out of control. Instead, it is scary because Penny is forced to be productive while she is there. Shelley controls everything, not for a power trip, but to create the perfect situation to encourage Penny to finish her art. Shelley regulates the residents’ diet, sleep, and social time to create the optimal conditions for productivity.
Throughout most of her life, Penny was a wondering artist who started many different projects without finishing them. Yet, in her old age, she is being manipulated into completing her life’s work. Some might say a life’s work is never finished, but Shelley has other ideas. She is literally forcing everyone to finish what they started.
This idea can in some ways seem nice – I’m sure a lot of people would appreciate the chance to tie a bow around their unfinished projects. Yet, this is why Reid is so clever. He makes you rethink this. He reframes this concept. Penny has not been given free time to finish her work, she is a wind up toy that is never allowed to be off. We all know the feeling when we need to switch off from work and just simply be. Yet, Penny is in an environment that never lets her pause. Instead, just when she is ready to stop, Shelley winds her back up.
Penny is in an environment that is designed to never let her rest, and so are we. Reid forces us to encounter this. We all currently fear ageing yet we should really fear not being allowed to age.
To read my thoughts on Reid’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things, click here.
Words and Dragons 