LITR 4632: Literature of the Future

Sample Student Midterms 2003
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Kate Payne
LITR 4632
Midterm
June 16, 2003

In signing up for Literature of the Future, I was expecting a course that would cover familiar topics for me.  As a major fan of science fiction literature, I thought that the class would revolve around concepts that I knew well.  However, the class has been more traditional than I had expected.  First of all, I was unprepared for dealing with The Bible as our first reading assignment.  When I thought of literature of the future, I was thinking of shining space ships, aliens and galactic battles.  However, the framework in which the course has been set up in has been much more enjoyable than a class in those topics ever could have been. 

While the content of this class is somewhat different than other literature classes, I feel that the methods that we use to discuss them and analyze them are very similar.  The idea of set narratives that unify a type of literature is a familiar one.  Also, in every literature class, the concept of clear-cut meaning is quickly thrown out the window.  Even within our three types of narratives defined for this class, there is overlap, conflict and confusion about what story fits into what slot, and what to do with the stories that don’t seem to fit at all.

This course has shown how much a part of our culture is based on ideas of the future.  We deal with literature of the future everyday, in many different realms, so dealing with it in the classroom is not as far-fetched as it first might seem.  Rather, dealing with it in the classroom has made the concepts that are ingrained in our culture more understandable and deep.

In literature, there is often a broad framework in which the reader takes in a story.  Narrative includes what the reader is bringing to the story from the outside culture, as well as what the author is trying to say in reference to that same culture.  There is a unifying sense in narrative that allows common themes and ideals to be dealt with.  Specifically in literature of the future, there are several common belief patterns that lend themselves to narratives.  People are familiar with these narratives, whether they realize it or not, and this allows a certain level of interaction between the reader and the story as the reader’s beliefs meet with the views of the author.

In literature of the future, there are three categories of narrative that are most prevalent.  The stories that we have read often do not fit neatly into a category; they overlap, and often shift from one to another during the course of the text.  However, the fluidity of the categories and stories work together as examples of the broader narrative of the human experience, which cannot be broken down into categories.  The three primary narratives for the future are apocalyptic, evolutionary and alternative.

The main apocalyptic story that we dealt with was The Revelation, taken from the New Testament.  This story is the basis of western culture ideas of the future.  Even if a person is not familiar with the text itself, the images that come from it will be recognized.  The Revelation works on the assumption that time is a linear process with a distinct beginning, middle and end.  The Revelation is the story of what is to take place at the end.  It is full of symbols and images that can be interpreted many ways, and for this reason, the story remains flexible and applicable no matter what the time frame it is being read in. 

Apocalyptic literature, in general, remains prevalent in our culture because there is usually a sense of hope or a chance of deliverance found within the text.  In the end of The Revelation Jesus offers an escape from the horrible future that has just been depicted, saying, “Blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14).  Similarly in the novel, Parable of the Sower, an apocalyptic future is shown, but in the end there is hope for escape.

In Parable, other apocalyptic thinking becomes more pronounced.  There is a world that has been nearly destroyed, but the fatalist attitude that is often seen in apocalyptic literature has been shifted to a survivalist one.  Lauren and her group begin to see that there is hope of a life outside of the dangerous cities that they are used to.  One idea that has been brought up in several class discussions, including the discussion following Sara Sill’s presentation, is that people seem to deal with issues much better in small groups rather than in general society.  There is a strong “us against them” mentality that is seen in apocalyptic writing.  In Parable, ethnic diversity is not a problem in the group, but outside of the neighborhood, and later, the group, there are strong race relations problems.  On a narrative level, it seems that people can overcome differences and work together much more easily in small numbers, but it is shown as being unusual. 

Another idea that has been up for discussion in class several times is the blurring of lines between the three primary narratives.  While Parable is a primarily apocalyptic text, it can also been seen as evolutionary.  At the very least, there are some evolutionary concepts.  While the world has obviously gone through a horrible time, humans are still alive and functioning in resourceful ways.  Human adaptation is a key theme in evolutionary literature.  The short story “ Stone Lives”, is another example of humans adapting to situations that are a result of some apocalyptic event.  The story blends apocalyptic thinking with the survivalist views of evolution.  Whether humans are adapting to a new world in terms of lifestyle or government, as in Parable and “Stone Lives”, or a changing world, as in The Time Machine, there is still an underlying belief that humans can and will adapt in whatever ways necessary for survival.

The Time Machine is a chilling portrayal of evolution in the future.  It is easy to accept evolution in terms of humans adapting to new situations, but Wells depicts a future in which few humans would find anything admirable in our development.  The two species that have evolved from humans, the Eloi and Morlocks, are equally unattractive.  One group is mindlessly being provided for, while the other fattens them up for the slaughter.  The image of a rancher and a herd of cattle is a fitting comparison of the relationship between the two groups in Wells’ future.  This disturbing image brings to light one of the hardest points in evolutionary narrative.  If one accepts the idea that time is not linear, not fixed on a certain path, with a certain destination, one has to accept the lack of importance that the human race has in the larger narrative of time.

This issue is what makes evolutionary narratives so difficult, because the thinking becomes so broad and overwhelming.  In apocalyptic narratives, the frame of reference is, at most, several thousands of years.  In evolutionary narratives, our modern scale of time becomes obsolete and our frame of reference no longer works.  The Time Machine is one of the few examples of evolutionary narratives that works and has remained relevant because it manages to deal with time in such a way that it is reasonable for the reader.  It almost ignores the massive amounts of time, instead focusing on the story and how the Time Traveler relates to the new world he finds himself in. 

The last type of narrative that is found in literature of the future is alternative.  Alternative narratives are stories that do not fit in either other category, but they are predominantly stories that deal with the future as an open-ended concept.  Alternative narratives deal with time in a completely different way than either apocalyptic or evolutionary, and it is the most difficult in that it is the most unfamiliar to our culture.  Alternative futures deal with the idea that time is not set in any way, and that there are many possible futures, stemming from many possible presents.

It is impossible to discuss alternative futures without using the image of foliage.  Whether a branching pattern is used to describe the converging and diverging futures, or futures stemming from one another, or a “Garden of Forking Paths”, the idea of a future that comes from one past and launches into many new futures is most easily described in that way.  “The Garden of Forking Paths” can almost be viewed as a definition of alternative futures.  The story describes one man’s journey into discovering many different futures.  His ancestor is left to deal with the present and future that he is currently living, and as the story unfolds the possible pasts, presents and futures all converge.  Alternative futures are difficult to describe, but they, like the other two narratives, are somewhat ingrained in our culture.

Most people have the ability to see that their own life could have turned out in very different ways.  Alternative futures tap into that idea and expand it so that there are multiple futures, presents, and even pasts.  One story that incorporates the idea of multiple presents is “The Gernsback Continuum” in which the narrator begins to become caught between the present that he knows, and the present that Americans in the 1930’s and 40’s hoped for.  This story deals with alternative futures in a very accessible way.  Alternative futures deal with futures that are not based in apocalyptic thinking or evolutionary, but it does not discount them either; they just become one of the many possibilities.

All of the narratives that we have discussed can be used to look at human nature.  The desires that people have for the future show where their priorities lie.  Apocalyptic stories lend themselves to those that feel that the world is becoming worse and worse with each generation.  It also allows them to believe that there is a chance of redemption and escape from the negativity that this world has fallen into.  Evolutionary stories may seem scientific at first, but they too reflect human beliefs.  Even in evolution, most authors see that humans have a role in the future.  Human nature does not allow for the acceptance that humans are insignificant, for most people.  Evolutionary stories also depict the strength and adaptability that we perceive in ourselves.  Alternative futures also show that people have a desire to explore the possibilities that life offers.  If there are multiple futures, then there are infinite possibilities for humans.

While many stories about the future are written, future itself seems to be being written.  I came into this class with the view that not necessarily my future was written, but that there was a general path that the universe was on, headed somewhere.  However, in reading these stories, even the apocalyptic ones, I feel that there is no set course that man is on.  There is no way of knowing what future we will end up in, but that is fine.  If the future were a fixed certainty that we already knew, our lives and our culture would be much less interesting.  The search for what the future holds is everywhere in our culture, and in literature there is a rich genre that explores the possibility.  If people had certainty about the future, there would be less to worry about, hope for, and write about.