As any other novel, McCarthy's The Road contained many quotes. They were put in place for us to decipher in order to achieve a better understanding of the text (kind of like a riddle, how fun .. NOT!). A quote that I grabbed from the text was a discussion between the boy and his Papa (Pg. 83). He asked him if they were going to be okay and the man replied with, "And nothing bad is going to happen to us because were carrying the fire." Yeah right man, you really think so? The "fire" he speaks about is not a physical thing, but more so their passion for survival. Because they are (technically) the only humans left in this post apocalyptic world, they are the hope of the world. The fate of the human race lies within them. Great, what are the chances of us surviving now?
One night as he rocked the boy back and forth he thought about the single round left in the revolver. He then proceeded to say, "You will not face the truth. You will not." (Pg. 68) At this point the man has already lost his faith (Surprising, huh?). However, he is worried that if his son loses his faith he will no longer have the will to live. This may jeopardize the fate of the human race which then takes us back to the man reinforcing the previous quote to his son.
His mother, at one point, even said that "The one thing I can tell you is that you wont survive for yourself." (Pg. 57) This just goes to show you how much love they had for their son. Yet, she had no faith in their chances of survival and chose the easy way out. That left Papa fighting for his life in order to keep his son alive. His son, in a sense, then becomes the only reason for his continued existence. Same can be said to the quote on pg. 54, "All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes. So, he whispered to the sleeping boy. I have you."
Corny much?
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Apocalyptic Literature & McCarthy (The Road)
There is no doubt that McCarthy's The Road is a work of post-apocalyptic literature. From the descriptions throughout my assigned reading (1-35), the imagery that I conceived was a world that burnt down to nothing more but ashes. The first film that came to mind was Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds. This film contained some features of both apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic genre because it dealt with the end of civilization due to technological singularity and showed a world after such disaster. Other films such as The Day After Tomorrow, I Am Legend, Resident Evil: After Life, and I-Robot can also be considered of (post) Apocalyptic genre.
Apocalyptic and Dystopian literature are very similar because they are both a sub genre of science fiction. The setting in both is set in the near future. They, however, also contain differences. Apocalyptic literature concerns the end of civilization due to existential catastrophe while Dystopian literature is the idea of a society in a repressive and/or controlled state. Another way to differentiate the two is to realize that the Apocalyptic genre focuses on a larger scale such as a civilization. Dystopian genre, on the other hand, focuses on a much smaller scale such as a society.
McCarthy's writing style in The Road is very different from any other books. He, unlike other authors, lack the use of punctuations such as quotation marks when the characters are speaking. He states that he doesn't want to "blot up the page with weird little marks." I have to agree that it does make the pages in the more organized and neat, but sometimes I also have difficulty of figuring who said what. I think McCarthy wrote the book this way to emphasize on the fact that where ever they are, their surroundings are just as bleak as the pages on the book. He also uses no names no sense of time which makes me just as lost as the characters are in the novel.
Apocalyptic and Dystopian literature are very similar because they are both a sub genre of science fiction. The setting in both is set in the near future. They, however, also contain differences. Apocalyptic literature concerns the end of civilization due to existential catastrophe while Dystopian literature is the idea of a society in a repressive and/or controlled state. Another way to differentiate the two is to realize that the Apocalyptic genre focuses on a larger scale such as a civilization. Dystopian genre, on the other hand, focuses on a much smaller scale such as a society.
McCarthy's writing style in The Road is very different from any other books. He, unlike other authors, lack the use of punctuations such as quotation marks when the characters are speaking. He states that he doesn't want to "blot up the page with weird little marks." I have to agree that it does make the pages in the more organized and neat, but sometimes I also have difficulty of figuring who said what. I think McCarthy wrote the book this way to emphasize on the fact that where ever they are, their surroundings are just as bleak as the pages on the book. He also uses no names no sense of time which makes me just as lost as the characters are in the novel.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
The Brave New World Was Not the Best New World (BNW)
Huxley's Brave New World turned out to be a very interesting and relatable novel. It was a mere resemblance of our own world, only with more exaggerated problems. The main key point of this story, I believe, is stability. The question I prosed was, "To what extent will these people go through in order to achieve that World State stability?" Well in this case, they had to eliminate basically any and everything that could jeopardize one's happiness. This ranged from emotions to equality and most importantly, truth.
The indication that truth may jeopardize one's happiness clearly meant that the World State was composed of lies. The truth does hurt after all hence, the creation of soma. Soma is a drug (almost like anti-depressants or happy pills) that causes one to hallucinate. By shrouding one's realities, social stability is promoted. John was one of the very few (if only) resident of the World State that chose truth over happiness. His loyalty to himself and his morals led to his tragic death. He is also the only person that has not and refuses to take soma.
By artificially creating human beings and 'programming' them to complete certain tasks without questioning exemplifies the fact that they are in a sense, robots. From this I concluded that pure humans in the World State was nothing more than an inconvenience to the ever growing society.
Towards the end of the novel, the values and beliefs of the World State were more clearly discussed. A central idea that kept the World State successful was the concept of consumerism. This is the reason why pieces of literature such as Shakespeare is not allowed due to the fact that his work is timeless. Therefore, it doesn't encourage the consumption of new goods which plays a vital part in the growth of the World State.
The indication that truth may jeopardize one's happiness clearly meant that the World State was composed of lies. The truth does hurt after all hence, the creation of soma. Soma is a drug (almost like anti-depressants or happy pills) that causes one to hallucinate. By shrouding one's realities, social stability is promoted. John was one of the very few (if only) resident of the World State that chose truth over happiness. His loyalty to himself and his morals led to his tragic death. He is also the only person that has not and refuses to take soma.
By artificially creating human beings and 'programming' them to complete certain tasks without questioning exemplifies the fact that they are in a sense, robots. From this I concluded that pure humans in the World State was nothing more than an inconvenience to the ever growing society.
Towards the end of the novel, the values and beliefs of the World State were more clearly discussed. A central idea that kept the World State successful was the concept of consumerism. This is the reason why pieces of literature such as Shakespeare is not allowed due to the fact that his work is timeless. Therefore, it doesn't encourage the consumption of new goods which plays a vital part in the growth of the World State.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Can Science Be Ethical? (BNW)
A huge correlation between Dyson's article, Brave New World, and Harrison Bergeron is obviously the use of technology and the science behind it. Like everything else in the world the use of science has both positive and negative aspects. Determining which outweighs the other however, is entitled to one's own opinion.
This article illustrates the evolution of and humans' increased reliance on technology. This is clearly shown in Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron given the fact that the whole story takes place in front of the TV. In reference to Brave New World, Dyson stated that with such software available (Ex: CAD-CAM) the next step will be using it to design our own babies. That is exactly what the workers at the Hatchery and Conditioning center accomplished. It is also mentioned in the article that "the idea of improving the human race by artificial means is widely condemned" (as if we were chickens on steroids).
The sentence, "Science also gives warnings of doom and promises of hope" is a hypocritical statement that is represented in both stories. For example, the mass production of human beings promises hopes of a more efficient future by conditioning them to certain jobs. It's warnings of doom became clear when the conformed citizens began to fall in love and birth babies (which is unorthodox). In Harrison Bergeron, the introduction of handicaps promised the hopes of equality (physically & mentally). Harrison Bergeron, himself, was a warning of doom. This became pretty obvious when he defied the laws and announced himself as emperor. Dyson also says that, "Understanding will then lead to new technologies that offer hope of preventing tragedies and ameliorating human condition." It goes back to his hypocritical statement because in order to fix what science has done, more science has to be created ("Ethical progress is the only cure for the damage done by scientific progress").
This article illustrates the evolution of and humans' increased reliance on technology. This is clearly shown in Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron given the fact that the whole story takes place in front of the TV. In reference to Brave New World, Dyson stated that with such software available (Ex: CAD-CAM) the next step will be using it to design our own babies. That is exactly what the workers at the Hatchery and Conditioning center accomplished. It is also mentioned in the article that "the idea of improving the human race by artificial means is widely condemned" (as if we were chickens on steroids).
The sentence, "Science also gives warnings of doom and promises of hope" is a hypocritical statement that is represented in both stories. For example, the mass production of human beings promises hopes of a more efficient future by conditioning them to certain jobs. It's warnings of doom became clear when the conformed citizens began to fall in love and birth babies (which is unorthodox). In Harrison Bergeron, the introduction of handicaps promised the hopes of equality (physically & mentally). Harrison Bergeron, himself, was a warning of doom. This became pretty obvious when he defied the laws and announced himself as emperor. Dyson also says that, "Understanding will then lead to new technologies that offer hope of preventing tragedies and ameliorating human condition." It goes back to his hypocritical statement because in order to fix what science has done, more science has to be created ("Ethical progress is the only cure for the damage done by scientific progress").
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Dystopia & I-Robot (BNW)
In general, there were quite a few scenarios in which the Utopian aspect of the society was shattered through unorthodoxy resulting in a Dystopia. The Utopia in Brave New World was a society in which the people were free to participate in sexual intercourse without impregnating and becoming emotionally attached to the other. Human beings were also mass produced and conditioned for certain jobs. I believe the sole purpose of this was to refrain people from experiencing negative emotions such as jealousy, anger, sadness, etc., but instead keep everyone happy and stable. A prime example of this is how the D.H.C had once experienced love and impregnated Linda although he was supposed to be a highly respected Alpha male. It is also demonstrated in Bernard and John’s love for Lenina. Although there were certain rules that the conformist citizens were to abide by they were all, without a doubt, broken at one point or another displaying the failure to keep the World State controlled.
A film that I believe exemplifies the genre of Dystopia is Alex Proyas’ I Robot. This film takes place in the year 2035 when robots were programmed to live alongside humans. The Utopian aspect of this movie was a society in which robots assisted the humans while abiding by the three laws. As with most if not all Dystopian novel and/or movie, all goes well until a problematic error occurs. In this case, the robot’s basic programming starts to get rejected as they and their artificial intelligence evolve overtime soon developing a mind of their own. This is a pure example of technology that has progressed far more rapidly than humans and their spiritual evolution. The conflict in this movie therefore creates a Dystopian society. The filmmakers seem to be implying the fact that humans are one of the best resources on Earth moreover the smartest. They say this by showing the problems that occur when humans try to allow robots to think and do everything for them.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Terms In Relation to the Book (BNW)
The society in Brave New World, according to my analysis, would be considered as a Dystopia. The main factor that categorized this book was it’s use of advance technology given the fact that it was written in 1932. The society was strictly operated by those who own the Central London Hatchery And Conditioning Centre. They are the ones who control the production of human beings in terms of quantity and purpose. To my understanding, one of their ideas of a Utopia is a society in which relationships have no partake in any emotional attachment. This was their way of keeping everyone happy and in a sense stable, which was one of the three components in their World State’s motto, along with taking doses of Soma. This, however, was subvert when Bernard Marx fell in love with Lenina Crowne, a conformist to the utopian society.
After having read Huxley’s biography and a portion of his book, I found a few relations between the two. I thought it was quite interesting how he wrote a book about the mass production of human beings and both of his brothers happened to be biologists. His father also had a well-equipped botanical laboratory in which he began his learning in. The disturbing nature of his book may have also been a direct result of his use of psychedelics throughout his lifetime.
The most prominent figure in this book was Henry Ford. He was seen through the people’s eyes as a God, so to speak. Henry was highly praised for his contribution to developments in mass production by way of the assembly line. So much so that even the time periods were named after him. They were called A.F. which stood for After Ford. This book started out as a huge confusion for me, but after breaking it down and analyzing it’s key components I began to grasp a better understanding of it.
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