Jeff Vandermeer's Annihilation focuses on observation of the individuals and their environment as if it is a social experiment and psychological evaluation. First, the expedition was controlled by "the Southern Reach, the clandestine government agency that dealt with all matters connected to Area X" (Vandermeer 10). The novel begins with four female characters: a biologist, surveyor, psychologist and anthropologist, are told to observe each other and chronicle their experience in a detailed journal. Once the four women reach the "tower or tunnel" the biologist mentions this line, "The discussion of the tower was, in a way, our first opportunity to test the limits of our disagreements and of compromise" (Vandermeer 12). This first section of