Boyle’s short story titled Top of the Food Chain follows a narrator that recites a crisis of nature. While it may seem to be a bleak insight into the nature of humankind as a cruel and domineering force, this is only because it is presented through an ironic lens. The recurring event and theme of the work include the mass deaths that occur not only among the animals and vermin but also impact humanity. In order to curb the hazardous nature of vermin insects, poison, followed by geckos, is introduced which also becomes problematic. After this, the situation is managed with cats which begin to die and result in an infestation of rats. Boyle presents a general image of escalating destruction as a result of a series of self-centered and poor decision-making.
However, the ironic tone is crucial to depicting the morale of the story. The narrator themselves state that ‘Borneo wouldn’t be Borneo without some damned insect blackening the air’ (Boyle, 1993). Despite this, their actions of utilizing poison and the introduction of geckos led directly to a change in the population of both mosquitos and flies in the area. The narrator consistently lacks hindsight, as the geckos ‘started turning belly-up in the streets’ after being brought to the village (Boyle, 1993). Essentially, the narrative suggests that the immoral and careless actions of humanity are not only detrimental to their surroundings, but to themselves as well. The narrator finalizes the story with the following quote: ‘it could be worse and to every cloud a silver lining’ (Boyle, 1993). Meanwhile, the final sentences of the story describe a very dire status quo with an emerging virus and a return of the geckos.
Work Cited
Boyle, Thomas C. Top of the Food Chain. Viking Press, 1993.