Tilt

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness and death.

Annie serves as the novel’s protagonist and unreliable narrator. She is a 35-year-old pregnant woman whose journey through post-earthquake Portland becomes both a physical and psychological odyssey. As a dynamic character, Annie undergoes significant transformation throughout the narrative, evolving from an anxious, people-pleasing person into someone capable of fierce determination and primal action. The theme of Crisis as Liberation From Social Performance manifests most clearly through Annie’s character arc, as the catastrophic earthquake strips away her performative anxieties and reveals her capacity for survival.

Annie’s relationship with pregnancy embodies the novel’s exploration of Motherhood as a Force That Transcends Individual Identity. Initially resistant to traditional maternal expectations, she demonstrates ambivalence toward her pregnancy, viewing her body’s transformation with detachment and even revulsion. However, the crisis awakens protective instincts that connect her to other mothers like Taylor, creating bonds that supersede individual self-interest. Her protective feelings extend beyond her unborn child to include other children, such as the red-haired girl at the school. This maternal evolution illustrates how the disaster burns away Annie’s social anxieties and reveals her authentic, primal nature.