The Tamarisk Hunter

1. Happiness only seen in flashbacks

1.1. Throughout the story there are quite a few points where Lolo thinks back to how things used to be before the droughts. In one instance he fondly remembers the plentifulness of water. When people didn't really think that the drought would last for so long. How people only limited their time in the shower, then how they only showered once a week, then devolved to using buckets. "...people started showering real fast. And a few years after that, they showered once a week..." (Bacigalupi 15)

1.2. Another example is how Lolo reminisced upon normal life before the droughts began. He talked about knowing Hale before he became part of the national guard, how he remembers that he, "They played football together a million years ago." (Bacigalupi 22) when it was still normal to water the grass to keep it green.

2. A lack of people

2.1. Lolo spends the majority of his time alone traveling the riverbanks cutting down Tamarisks. He expresses how glad he is to see a single person in the wilderness, Travis, even though he is a competitor for tamarisk hunting. "Despite the ambush, he's happy to run into Travis." (Bacigalupi 16)

2.2. There is a general lack of people. In this world without water, people follow it like a moth to a flame. Because of this people moved to areas where water was still available. In this case many have left the desert to go to california. Very few still remain living upon the river that they cannot drink from. Those who are left are called Water Ticks. "Everyone else has been blown off the land as surely as dandelion seeds..." (Bacigalupi 13)

3. Survival

3.1. Here there are two different types of survival. Survival of an individual and survival of a community. Lolo is the individual, he is replanting Tamarisks for his own benefit and his own personal survival. He does things that undermines the government and what they have implemented for the populations survival. "Now he and Annie steal buckets from the river..." (Bacigalupi 20)

3.2. Then there is the communities survival. They have 'evaporated' entire towns and section water away from some people for a greater population to benefit. They store water away and keep locals out of the rivers by law. The steps they've taken are a utilitarian approach where they save as many as is possible and cut away those that hinder this mission. "...California and the Interior Department drew up all these plans to decide which cities they'd turn the water off when." (Bacigalupi 18)

3.2.1. Bacigalupi is trying to reveal here the struggle of choosing to either attempt to save everyone and fail, or to leave a select few out and save the whole, which can lead to corruption.

4. The triumph of nature over man

4.1. The obvious example is the drought itself. The lack of water has forced man to change and adapt to the lack of water available. Resources are scarce and new laws/rationing have been put in place to keep the human race alive. "Ten years ago, towns like Grand Junction and Moab thought they could squeeze life out of the river." (Bacigalupi 13)

4.1.1. Bacigalupi tries to enforce the feeling of a hopeless world when humans have pushed nature beyond its boundaries in an attempt to express subtly that this earth is our home that we must take care of

4.2. The Tamarisk itself triumphs over man (in this case the National Guard) by being a pain in their side. Their attempts to conserve and store water are undermined by a meager species of tree that is especially good at sucking down water. "A big tamarisk can suck 73,000 gallons of river water a year." (Bacigalupi 13)