Jonathan Miles' 'Eradication': A Grieving Man's Mission to Cull Goats on a Remote Island

About "Eradication"

• 💡 Jonathan Miles' novel "Eradication" explores a man's difficult mission on a remote island.
• 🎯 The story centers on Adi, a grieving man seeking purpose after experiencing profound personal tragedy.

Adi's Gruesome Mission

• 🏝️ Adi accepts a job to go to the remote island of Santa Flora with the perceived goal of "saving the world."
• 🐐 His primary task is to eradicate non-native goats that were introduced by 19th-century whalers.
• ⚠️ These goats have severely decimated the island's ecosystem, leading to the endangerment and disappearance of native plants and bird species.
• 💬 The interview highlights the use of euphemisms like "remove" instead of "kill" when discussing the mission's objective.

Motivation and Personal Struggle

• 🧠 Adi is driven by a search for "respair," an archaic term for recovery from despair and the resumption of hope.
• 🌱 He views the mission as a chance to save something after being unable to save his own son.
• 🎭 Despite being an urbanite with no hunting experience, Adi is incompetent at killing and begins to see the goats as individuals and companions, even naming them.

The Weight of Eradication

• 💔 After shooting his first goat, Adi experiences the act as an "absolute desecration".
• 🚶 He attempts to carry the carcass back to his camp to eat it, believing this will "square the natural cycle" and make the act right.
• 🌊 This arduous journey symbolizes his struggle to unburden himself and humanity from the moral weight of such actions.

Literary Context

• 📚 The novel draws comparisons to classic works like "Lord of the Flies" and "The Old Man in the Sea."
• 🌍 The concept of goat eradication is grounded in real-world efforts undertaken on various Pacific and Caribbean islands.