LITR 4632 Literature of the Future

Sample Student Midterms 2009

Danielle Kutowy

06-24-09

Science Fiction Affecting Our Future

            When I signed up for the Literature of the Future course, I was not looking forward to sitting through a three hour course with intense “Trekkies” and “space invader” science fiction students. However, as I attended more and more Literature of the Future classes, I discovered that science fiction themes and stories are much more boundless and thought provoking than what I had expected. Many of the science fiction stories that are assigned to the students in our class, like “Somebody” and “Better Be Ready ‘Bout Half Past Eight”, have main ideas and topics that are relevant issues in today’s society.

            One way that science fiction stories can be applicable to humans today, is writing these stories through the narrative perspective. A narrative can be defined as a way of telling or expressing a story through literature, dance, song, plays, and many other art actions. Narratives can often be a pressure release to humans, by letting society escape from their present lives and then they are able to dive into a different fantasy world. The narrative genre, including romantic narratives, has showed up in almost all of our Literature of the Future stories. For example, Parable can be described as a romantic narrative because of how Lauren is on a quest through most of the story and in the end finds love. Most of our Literature of the Future course readings so far have focused on three important narrative themes, such as apocalyptic, evolutionary and alternative futures.

            Apocalyptic narratives tend to be dramatic and violent stories in which the story is limited and has a crystal-clear beginning and an end. Usually, apocalyptic stories have a destruction of one world leading to a new world. For instance, one can see this apocalyptic theme turning an old world into a new world in the book of Revelation. In this particular story, one will enter the new world, heaven, if their individual soul is saved after the obliteration of the old world. Even though the story of Revelation is an apocalyptic type of literature, millions of people believe in the story today. As Lauren Kerckhoff explained in her midterm essay from 2007, “Revelation is such an attractive story because it provides people with the idea that good will prevail over evil and this provides people with hope”.

            Evolutionary narratives, unlike apocalyptic narratives, are usually infinite, meaning the story’s shape does not have definite beginning and ending. In most evolutionary literature, the story’s sequence of events is cyclic or has a spiral like pattern.Two perfect examples of evolutionary narratives are “Bears Discover Fire” and The Time Machine. In The Time Machine, the time traveler discovers the evolution or cycle of human existence turn from the present human life form to the Eloi and Morlocks human life societies. The similar concept of adaptation to changes in the environment develops in the story of “Bears Discover Fire” when the well known bears now turn into more intellectual bears in the future. These bears’ minds change through the story and now no longer need to hibernate because of their innovation of fire and seasonal change, like global warming. Both of these stories are great examples to show that the key to evolutionary narratives is survival.

            While the apocalyptic and evolutionary narratives usually differ in the design of their stories, both styles of narratives can also be combined into one story.This kind of narrative is usually dramatic and draws the audience’s attention in by having the apocalyptic characteristics towards the beginning of the story and the evolutionary characteristics at the end of the story. For instance, in Parable, Lauren’s neighborhood is destroyed, and she has to start a new life in a different place with her fresh Earthseed ideas. This combination narrative can also be seen in the story of “Stone Lives” where he has to live and work in his new world, when his old life is ruined. I feel that many readers love the overlap of the apocalyptic and evolutionary narratives because after a dramatic apocalyptic beginning the ending of the story is usually filled with optimism and anticipation on what is going to happen next.

            Lastly, the alternative style narratives can be described as like having certain actions or events in the story that can branch off into different paths of the story. Alternative stories tend to let the audience think about “what-if” situations. An alternative narrative can be compared to playing a game of chess; your particular move can lead to many different series of events or consequences. When reading the story of “Mozart In Mirrorshades” and “Better Be Ready ‘Bout Half Past Eight”, one can see this kind of alternative style very clearly. In “Mozart In Mirrorshades”, Rice discovers the consequences of changing the past and how these changes can affect the future. Also, in “Better”, the advancing technologies to change genders personally affects Byron’s life when his best friend Zach decides to turn into a woman. I believe that alternative narratives are so powerful because they show how a personal decision can change their individual future and others as well.

            Our Literature of the Future course readings and subject material has personally grown on me. I feel that the stories that we read have opened my eyes to many different outlooks of life that I would have never thought of before, like the alternative style of thinking.From what I have learned in the class, I believe that the future is being written everyday not only by authors, but by personal beliefs and individual choices that each of us makes in our lives. I really enjoy learning about all of these thematic narratives and look forward to soaking up more knowledge and education from the course.