The Age Of Miracles

Essentially, “the slowing” is a natural event that leads to catastrophic consequences for human beings. To bypass those catastrophic consequences, humans adapt and impose “unnatural” values to survive. When crops die out, they build greenhouses; when famine strikes, they take mouthfuls of vitamins to stay healthy. In Chapter 9, the President of the United States announces that society will resume a 24-hour clock time. Those who reject “clock time” and embrace the new natural order of Earth are persecuted and cast from society. The motif of humans imposing their values on an unwieldy and unmanageable natural world can be found throughout the book. 

Lying and acquiring a comfortability with deception is key to growing up in The Age of Miracles. As Julia eventually comes to see it, lying and deceit are painful but necessary parts of adulthood. Julia’s father best highlights the use of deceit to navigate life in the time of “the slowing.”When Joel returns from work after losing a woman during childbirth, he offers his daughter a lie to not alarm her. He tells Julia that the woman did not die, yet Julia knows this is not the truth. This event marks the first instance when Julia “for some reason […] really began to worry” (29) about the effects of “the slowing.