Themes and message

Climate change

The main theme explored in the short story “The Disaster Store” by Helen Phillips is climate change and the way it affects society. 

The first reference to climate change is made at the beginning of the story when the narrator mentions the tricky weather that seems innocent yet which must be feared. Her fear is confirmed at the end of the story when readers find out that the narrator’s family experiences a superstorm, and that they have already been through three others already. 

The narrative offers several clues that society is no longer accustomed to seeing “an actual animal” and that children have no experience of the ...