LITR 4632: Literature of the Future

Sample Student Final Exams 2011

Meagan Hamlin

Less Can Be More

            As a lover of nature and a lover of our planet, I often wonder what will become of it if we continue down the road we travel now.  Our highways and beaches are covered in trash, water and air polluted, and our natural resources are being plowed through as though they are endless.  Green ways of living are becoming more prominent and accepted, but not exercised widely enough.  We studied two ecotopian pieces of literature this semester and they were my favorite to read, because I am fascinated with the idea of living off of our land and getting back in touch with nature as they lived long ago, as in House of Bones.  This story was a somewhat backwards look at the future that actually took us back in time to a place where people lived amongst each other in harmony and simplicity.  Chocco thrusts us forward in time; however, the people live very similarly to the village in House of Bones.  What is the lesson to learn here? Less is more.   As a species we travel further away from nature and advance more toward technology, but our planet is not replaceable.  As we become more careless with it, we put our own future in jeopardy.  As I advance to graduation I often contemplate what I would like to do with my life, and after discussing the fate of our planet so extensively in this class I realized that we all need to do our part and I would like to eventually be involved with environmental conservation.  Conservation of our planet can only be accomplished if we, as a planet, make many changes, but we can learn from both Chocco and House of Bones how immensely important it is, and how much it could benefit us all both environmentally and culturally.

There is no denying that Chocco is a warning to us, the Machine People.  The River People see similarities between the Machine People and themselves; however, they question our intellect due to our lack of preservation of the planet.  They do not understand how a human race could be so selfish and careless.  Our generation seems to worry little about the distant future only concerning themselves with instant gratification and pleasure.  Despite all of the machinery, technology, and architecture we have created today to make life simpler, none of it survives us leaving little to show for our injustice to the environment.  In Chocco, Mikal speaks of the Machine People with disgust, “They were arrogant and their survival instincts had atrophied…and so dependent on mechanical devices had the Machine People become that they were no longer competent to insure their own biological survival.”  Our arrogance is key to the downfall of our people.  We continue in our ways in order to make life more enjoyable for the moment, instead of contemplating what long term effects they will have.  If a catastrophe were to occur today very few people would know how to survive off of the land as in Chocco, or even as Lauren and her Earthseed followers do in Parable.  Ernest Callenbach utilizes very real truths from today to speak to the heart of the reader who is experiencing guilt of epic proportions noticing the possibility of this demise for our future generations. 

House of Bones also emphasizes the importance of living off of the land, as well as the importance of banding together as a group.  In a physical sense, we live much simpler lives than the tribe in House of Bones, hardy people who work hard to survive.  The narrator notices the indifference the tribe feels for their way of life, not knowing anything different, “These are robust people. They lead a tough life, but they don’t know that, and so their souls are buoyant.”  Even though their lives are rough, they can depend on each other to survive.  This sense of camaraderie is also essential in creating an environment conducive to leading a more simple life.  When life is hard, you need more help plain and simple.  People today are not always so willing to help each other.  The tribe tested the narrator’s sense of compassion in order to fully take him under their wing.  These are a people that we could greatly learn from if we took the time to study them more. 

The knowledge we could gain from reading ecotopian literature could change the way that many people think about our environment.  Perhaps we could change things before circumstances get so dire that we have no other choice, or perhaps we could embrace some of their ideas.  Although I will not be teaching, I would be sure to include some of this literature in my class syllabus if I did.  It can spur intensive class discussion, as well as inform students of the consequences we face if we continue to disregard the signs our planet is giving us to make a change.  I found these stories to be insightful and eye opening, and I will carry the feeling of duty I now have to Earth as I leave this class.