Severance by Ling Ma Book Analysis Essay

In Ling Ma’s Severance, Bob is the leader of the surviving group that picks up Candace. The group’s dynamic is strange: instead of everyone showing a little independence, each making decisions or voting on things as a group, they all religiously listen to everything Bob says. If they disobey any of his internal rules, he will somehow punish them, and this can be directly observed in his treatment of Candace. They raid homes and businesses, kill all the fevered inside, and attribute their findings to a higher power through a pre and post raid ritual. The International Authority on Cults and Coercion uses many characteristics to identify cults, but the main three traits identifiable in the survival group are the following: 

“the group displays an excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader, and regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law; questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged and even punished; the group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify whatever means necessary… results in members participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered reprehensible or unethical before joining the group,” (Cult Research and Information Center). 

Bob’s survival group functions as a cult because the group’s dynamic has many identifiable characteristics to that of one.

The foundation of order in the survival group is Bob’s internal rules, “rules that only he fully knows and understands,” (Ma 227). Everyone–except Candace–unquestioningly follows whatever he deems as his ideology and restricts themselves to his instruction. His rules are unclear and likely change depending on his mood. He lectures Candace with some of them when they’re in the woods one night during the journey to the Facility, telling her that the reason they were still alive was because they were “divinely selected” by God. According to Candace, “that’s the story to which the group officially subscribed,” (Ma 32). The group’s commitment to Bob is on full display at the end of the novel when Candace kills him while he’s fevered. In response to the murder, Adam authoritatively yells at Candace to stop, “enunciating every word as if speaking to a child,” while Rachel stays in the mall instead of escaping with Candace. With Bob dead, they’re all finally free from his ruling, but Adam and Rachel still show commitment to him anyway. Their “unquestioning commitment” to him and his rules is characteristic of cults, and as a result of their obedience, anyone who disobeys Bob receives punishment.

It is evident that Candace consistently rebels against Bob’s beliefs and his expectations of loyalty on many occasions. However, in each of these instances, she faces some sort of discipline from Bob on varying levels. The most severe case of punishment is when she’s imprisoned in the mall for planning to leave, especially since she’s pregnant. Part of this reprimanding is also attributed to her participation in sneaking out to stalk Ashley’s house since he mentions this as he locks her away, using it as an example to show that she has “no problem breaking the rules of the group.” While she’s confined, he wants her to “work on showing [him] that [she] can follow the rules,” (Ma 168). Todd and Adam grab her arms, pull her inside, and lock the entrance without any protest. Not only is this an instance of punishment, but it's also an example of Bob’s internal “rules” being enforced as law. Todd and Adam’s behavior is also another case of “unquestioning commitment,” dragging her inside without challenging Bob’s ruling.

When the group loots homes and businesses, they engage in a pre looting routine involving a mantra that must be recited to Bob’s standards and a prayer led by him, asking the Lord to provide them with goods and to allow them to be “fair and merciful toward the previous owners, should [they] encounter them,” (Ma 59). When the group finishes looting, they line up all the fevered inhabitants and “release them”–as Bob puts it–by shooting them in the head to “put them out of their misery,” (Ma 70). Bob forces Candace to partake in the routine and shoot the last fevered victim because she pretended not to see the last victim in the room she was looting. Under normal circumstances, it is fair to assume that on the individual level the group members wouldn’t loot occupied homes and kill fevered inhabitants by themselves. However, Bob uses his religious belief to justify their actions, attributing all of their findings to the Lord and killing fevered victims to release them to Him. This is a prime characteristic of cults: the group’s beliefs “justify whatever means necessary” and result in members participating in actions they previously wouldn’t have. Also in this example, Candace is punished for rebelling against Bob’s post looting ritual, another arbitrary routine of his that must be followed.

Time and time again, the group shows complete dedication to Bob and his beliefs, and those of them who demonstrated doubt or rebellion were swiftly punished. Whatever his rules may be, they are treated as law, no questions asked. His enforced dedication to the Lord justifies all reprehensible actions that the group commits, ranging from looting and killing fevered people to showing no resistance to Candace’s imprisonment. All of these behaviors in the group coincide with the International Authority on Cults and Coercion’s identifying characteristics of a cult; therefore, the group can be identified as one.

Works Cited

Ma, Ling. Severance: A Novel. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018.

"Qualities & Characteristics of a Cult | Cult Research." Cult Research & Information Center, 30 Mar. 2021, cultresearch.org/help/characteristics-associated-with-cults/#.