# V explained — The Last Man > Chapter companion for The Last Man by Mary Shelley. ## What happens The chapter describes the onset of a global plague and its economic and social repercussions on England. Trade collapses, foreign emigrants flood the island, and the newly elected Protector Ryland is forced to abandon his egalitarian reforms to address the crisis. The narrator reflects on humanity's vulnerability to nature's destructive forces, the futility of human arrogance, and the growing fear of the plague's spread to England. ## Themes in this chapter ### Nature and Humanity Nature is portrayed as a hostile, overwhelming force—plague, storms, earthquakes—that exposes human insignificance and the illusion of mastery over the elements. ### Social Class and Equality Ryland's political agenda to abolish hereditary privilege is abandoned due to the plague, highlighting how crisis reinforces existing class structures. ### Isolation and Solitude England's geographic isolation is initially seen as protection, but the breakdown of trade and the influx of refugees create a sense of collective vulnerability and impending solitude. ## Character check-ins ### Ryland Elected Protector, his plans to suppress the privileged orders are thwarted by the plague crisis; he must conciliate the nobility and abandon his equalization schemes. ### Lionel Verney The narrator, reflecting on the plague's impact, human fragility, and the sublime power of nature. ## Key lines > Can it be true, each asked the other with wonder and dismay, that whole countries are laid waste, whole nations annihilated, by these disorders in nature? People are shocked to realize that entire nations are being destroyed by natural disasters and plague. _Reflects the dawning horror of global catastrophe._ > Nature, our mother, and our friend, had turned on us a brow of menace. Nature, once seen as benevolent, now threatens humanity. _Key thematic statement on nature's hostility._ > In the face of all this we call ourselves lords of the creation, wielders of the elements, masters of life and death, and we allege in excuse of this arrogance, that though the individual is destroyed, man continues forever. Despite our vulnerability, we arrogantly claim dominion over nature, justifying it by the continuity of the species. _Critique of human hubris._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_last_man_se/chapters/volume-ii-v - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_last_man_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_last_man_se/chapters