Holston numbly obeyed.

It was surreal to be on the other side of this--this mechanical

death walk of the condemned. Holston had often wondered why people complied, why
they just went along. Even Jack Brent had done what he was told, as foulmouthed and
verbally abusive as hed been. Allison had done it quietly, just like this, Holston thought
as he inserted one hand and then the other. The suit came up, and Holston thought that
maybe people went along with it because they couldnt believe it was happening. None
of it was real enough to rebel against. The animal part of his mind wasnt made for this,
to be calmly ushered to a death it was perfectly aware of (20).
Wool by Hugh Howey is a work of science fiction filled with suspense and mystery. It is
also rich with philosophical material and complex themes. Howey, in Wool, presents a
world in which the air of Earth is dangerously toxic, and the people have had to move
into a large underground silo. The silo can only produce limited amounts of resources,
so the population must be kept under control. The only way the people of the silo can
see what lies on the surface is a screen that plays video feed from aboveground
sensors. The sensors need to be cleaned incrementally to remove the dust and dirt that
builds up on them. In order to control the population and give the people a constant
clear view of the surface, harsh laws are in place that demand anyone who commits a
crime, or expresses a desire to leave the silo be sent to the surface to clean the sensors
and die in the process. Wool examines whether such a world is worth surviving in.
The book begins at a time of change for the silo. Holston, the sheriff, had come to the
belief that there was nothing left for him in the silo. His wife had willingly died in a
cleaning a few years ago and he was beginning to question what he was holding onto.
Life in the silo was dark and cramped. He was tired of fulfilling his duties as sheriff of
enforcing the harsh cleaning laws. He decided he wanted to go to cleaning, hoping that
perhaps, the surface was livable. He was willing to risk losing the bleak life he had, in
hope that maybe the surface was not what it was made out to be. Holston was fitted
with a suit and sent out to his death, only to find a lush green world, different than the
one shown on the screen in the silo. Filled with joy, and pity for those in the silo, he
quickly cleaned the sensor. When he finished, his helmet went black, and he began to
die. He had been seeing a digital screen. He took off his helmet and saw the brown
dead world before collapsing and dying. There was no hope for a life outside the silo, so
the question becomes whether or not there is a life living inside the silo.
Howey began to answer this question, by transitioning to Mayor Jahns, the leader of the
silo. Jahns was a good mayor, who kept the peace, and genuinely sought the
betterment of her people. She reluctantly upheld the laws to prevent uprisings and keep
the people happy. She saw her purpose in life as leaving behind a better, safer silo for
the future. This is why she took great care in choosing Holstons replacement. Deputy
Marnes, a man who had worked with Holston, presented her with a candidate who lived

down in the depths of the silo working as a mechanic, named Juliette. Mayor Jahns and
Deputy Marnes traveled the tremendous distance down the central spiral staircase to
the mechanical level. Along the way, Jahns learned the woman Marnes appointed was
an obsessively hard worker who never left the depths of the silo. Marnes had selected
her because of her determination and work ethic. Before meeting Juliette, the Jahns
and Marnes stopped by the IT floor. The IT people were extremely powerful and were in
charge of the silos technology. The head of the IT, a man named Bernard, adamantly
opposed appointing Juliette, and offered his own preferable candidate. Nevertheless,
Jahns and Marines continued and met Juliette to convince her to become sheriff.
When they first met Juliette, they saw a woman obsessed with keeping the silo running.
She found value in her life through her ability to maintain the silos machines. Hugh
Howey used Juliettes mindset to show how so many in the silo had lost their sense of
why they are alive. He described the mindset Juliette and the other mechanics had
saying that to Juliette and the deep dwellers: The point of the silo was for the people to
keep the machines running, when Jahns had always, her entire long life, seen it the
other way around (105). The mayor convinced Juliet to become sheriff, but on the way
back to the top level of the silo, was poisoned. Marnes was sure it was Bernard of the
IT.
Juliette, quickly assumed the duties of sheriff, and did some digging into what exactly IT
was up to and why exactly the previous sheriff had gone to the cleaning. With the help
of a friend in IT, she learned that IT had created code that could create false images.
She began to suspect something sinister was going on. Then people started dying.
First, it was deputy Marnes, who was found hanging by his belt in bedroom. Then, her
friend in IT died. Both were ruled as suicide, but Juliette suspected they were murdered.
During Juliettes short time as sheriff, she had learned a great deal about life. While
trying to find out why Holston voluntarily went to cleaning, she began to question the
purpose of life. She wondered What was it all about, this life they lived in underground
confines? What was out there, over those hills? Why were they here, and for what
purpose (128)? Juliette found purpose from then on, in seeking the truth of the silo.
Before she could investigate too far, she was removed of her post as sheriff, and was
later arrested for conspiring against the silo. Her sentence was cleaning.
At this point, it became clear that Bernard Holland, the head of the IT, and the interim
mayor seeks power and control to give his life purpose. We found him killing and
deceiving all to further his own power.
In Wool, by Hugh Howey, everyone trapped in the silo must find a purpose in their life to
cope with their inability to travel or explore. Some, dedicated their lives to work. Others
dedicated their lives to leaving a good legacy. Others dedicated their lives to power. The

problem is, all of those things were ultimately mere distractions from the confinement of
the silo. Wool demonstrates the basic human need to explore, and satisfy curiosities.
When those are denied, as they are in the silo, a crucial part of humanity is taken.