Bugged Brexit: It Is Not Easy to be Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Ian McEwan’s The Cockroach

Abstract

This essay reads Ian McEwan’s novella, The Cockroach, explaining the author’s pungent sarcastic scheme in presenting the British ruling party’s leader, Jim Sams, and his Cabinet members as cockroaches as they push through their Reversalism (a proxy for Brexit in this book) policy. To depict the real picture of what cockroaches eat, as well as their favourite environment and their deceptive behaviour, the author offers a satirical insight into politicians behind Brexit. This essay traces the devious tactics Jim Sams implements and the illusory Reversalism he obsessively tries to execute. In all these, the present work reveals that the cockroaches are relying on human duplicity and corrupt nature. What becomes clear in this analytical reading is that Homo sapiens is self-contradictory and Homo sapiens lacks sapience.