Them! as a Depiction of Society:
The Scene in the Store
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A good example of how Them! depicts
the danger of modern technology and institutions 
can be found in the scene in which Sgt. Peterson
and his partner investigate the destroyed store
before anyone understands what is taking place.
It is dark out and the sand storm that was building at the beginning
now howls outside with a high-pitched sound
not unlike the sound made by the giant ants.
Sgt. Peterson, who has just come from the destroyed trailer,
is bewildered as he walks through the store,
which has been subject to the same destruction.

As he walks around, amid the destruction, a radio drones on about efforts
to put out "the latest storms" in the European defense program.
Moments later, the radio reports that Dr. Adolf Rensselaer
has told a gathering of the World Health Organization in Geneva
that science is putting an end to many diseases around the world.
The implied optimism of the report is deeply ironic,
because the science that the radio claims will save us,
has created monsters.
The irony is heightened by the name of the scientist --
Dr. Adolf Rensselaer -- which contains echoes of words
with unpleasant meanings,
including "ant", "rancid", and "leer",
along with the first name of Adolf Hitler, who turned Germany
into an antlike society of inhuman murderers.

Watching Sgt. Peterson walk uneasily through the disordered store,
looking as if he is prepared at any moment
for something to leap out and attack him,
while the radio blares on about international relations and medicine
makes for an unnerving (if not exactly subtle) symbol.

What is being described on the radio
is the essence of the modern world --
giant international organizations interacting
on a world stage; the danger of world war;
and the ability of science to improve our lives
or to run amok and destroy us.

Of course, while attention is focused on international relations
and Europe, the real danger is in this corner of nowhere
in New Mexico, which is being drawn into world events.
The sand storm it is experiencing is the storm of war haunting the world,
and the reign of death being brought by science, embodied in the giant ants,
who aptly symbolize the massive scale and destructive power
of modern weapons.

The broadcast blares on
and the storm rages outside
as Sgt. Peterson warily searches the store
and is disturbed by what he sees,
just as humanity was warily entering the modern age, at the time,
as the storms of war and destruction
howled around it.

Moments later, Sgt. Peterson finds part of a rifle
bent in the shape of a V
(which makes it not unlike an ant limb --
another example of technology with antlike characteristics.)
He and his partner then find the store owner's body,
appropriately in an underground cellar.

Sgt. Peterson's partner, who stays on the scene
after Sgt. Peterson leaves, is soon killed
with a chilling scream that is heard off screen.
He will make one more appearance
as the skeleton in the ant graveyard,

a fitting symbol that tells us humanity
is being devoured by the modern age.

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How is all this revealed? You can go to Part 3,
"Them! as a Story of Discovery"
to find out.