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(2015
midterm assignment) Model Student Midterm answers 2015 (Index) Essay 1: Compare, contrast, and evaluate Narratives of the Future |
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Liz Davis
Three Tales of Fear
People always wonder why science fiction is so popular. The nerds love to read
it, the general population loves to watch it and scientists love to imitate it.
It has a strong influence on society but why? It is because as a race we are
scared of the future and the things it can hold. Aliens, robots and cyborgs, oh
my! In Christi Wood’s 2009 essay, she writes that, “Fear and survival are
symbols or themes that we see,” in narratives of the future. I agree with
Christi; fear and survival are instinctive traits that humans possess. We as a
race are scared of the unknown. That is why we cling to what we know: Books. In
literature of the future, the three most common types of narratives are
creation/apocalypse, evolution and alternate futures. People are scared of the
future so they embrace the familiarity of stories and books. As a race, we look
up to the heroes of the stories we are told as children and re-tell these
stories to our children and so on. It is as if humans are mentally preparing
themselves for the future and maybe even learning some survival tactics during
the process. These are the most common narratives of futuristic literature and
maybe it is because they are the most plausible or maybe it is because they are
the most frightening.
The
creation/apocalypse narrative is one of the most recognized forms of science
fiction stories because it is possible. Everyone is terrified of the world
ending. Maybe not in this lifetime, but in the near future it could happen. The
sun can die out or an asteroid could hit the earth. The idea is linear, there is
a set beginning and ending for this lifetime. In
Revelations, the prophet John
predicts that those who do not read the Bible will have to suffer the holy
judgement and endure the plagues. God says that he is the “alpha and omega,” the
beginning and end. Pastors today still preach fire and brimstone to instill fear
into people. Fire, it always seems like the world will go up in flames or catch
on fire.
In
the post-apocalyptic novel, Parable,
the world had an environmental apocalypse, but they were stable and content in
their walled community. The main
character, Lauren, could be seen as somewhat of a prophet. She knew that they
had to be ready for the town’s apocalypse and be prepared for a life outside of
the walls. The painted devils from outside the wall would eventually break
through their walls and one day they did. Their gated community literally went
up in flames. While at target practice one day, Lauren noticed a wild dog nearby
and pointed it out to her friend, Joanne, who began to shake with fear. Lauren
says “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were afraid of them.” Joanne responds with “I
didn’t know I was either.” The idea that these people are so out of touch with
modern society that they don’t recognize a dog is unfathomable. These people
were afraid of what was outside these walls; they feared the unknown. In
apocalyptic narratives, there is also a creation aspect; rebirth, the New
Jerusalem, the phoenix. And out of the flames of the town came a rebirth of a
new religion, Earthseed, and a new community, Acorn. People enjoy reading the
apocalyptic novel because it is almost like it is an instruction manual on what
do and what not to do when the apocalypse actually comes. This is a comforting
way for people to deal with the impending fear of the apocalypse.
Evolution is a scary thing. People are scared of what the futures holds for the
human race. In H.G. Wells’ The Time
Machine, the Time Traveller goes to the year 802,701 A.D. and finds that the
environment has changed and humans have adapted into two distinctly different
species. This Social Darwinism is a statement on the social classes of
Communism, the laborers and the privileged, which was greatly feared at the time
that the novel was written. The privileged Eloi are terrified of the Morlocks.
They fear the darkness of the night because they do not know what might be
waiting for them there. The cycle of evolution has taken place and the human
race has adapted to its new environment of the future world. The Time Traveller
states that “the whole earth had become a garden.” Selective breeding had taken
place to keep only favored plants and animals. Evolution is a cycle, like the
moon or the seasons and in the end it is survival of the fittest. Much like in
Parable, there is the symbol of fire.
The Time Traveller possess the power of fire and once he releases the fire at
full capacity, he instills fear in both futuristic races. Society is scared of
what the future has in store for them so they cling to the novels that tell them
what the author thinks the future will be like.
Continuing with the idea of time travel, the third type of narrative is
alternate futures. If someone was to travel back in time and step on one
butterfly, the entire timeline for the future could be messed up…or would it?
The idea of alternate futures, parallel worlds and quantum physics means that
there could be multiple strands of time where the same people exist but are
completely different. Quantum physics, now that’s a scary thought. In
Mozart in Mirrorshades, the whole
premise is that the government is going back in time to get gasoline from the
past. As people are doing this, they are taking modern technology back with them
and it alters the past. Marie Antoinette is reading Vogue and Mozart is a punk
kid that rides a moped and carries a boom box. The crazy part is, that what is
changed in this timeline doesn’t affect the future. The main character, Rice,
tells President Thomas Jefferson, “when you go back and mess with the past,
another branch of history splits off from the main [tree] trunk. Well, this
world is just one of those branches.” How many timelines have been altered? The
number could be infinite. People fear they don’t make the right choices but how
do they know they made the right choices? No matter which path you decide to
take, there will always be a multitude of other paths that you could have taken
instead, but maybe you did in a parallel world. It could be as simple as
flipping a coin or being dealt a different hand of cards in a poker game.
Often
there are times when two or more of these narrative forms mesh together.
In Half Past Eight, the idea of
evolution and alternate futures are both present. The main character, Byron,
begins to think of all of his alternate futures when his best friend decides to
have a sex change. Byron thinks to himself, “Well, it’s not my life. Nothing has
changed for me,” when in actuality it has. When his friend has the sex change,
his future changes from the future he expected to happen. He has to get up to
speed with the times and realize that people are beginning to change their body
through cosmetic surgeries and evolve into a different gender. Byron then begins
to attempt to see through his friends eyes and realize that if he were to become
a woman, he would be treated differently his whole life. What if he were to have
a sex change? What if his mother was still alive? What if his son decides to be
homosexual? There are so many alternate futures that Byron is scared of the
unknown future. Nothing is certain and change is a scary thing.
In
literature of the future, creation/apocalypse, evolution and alternate futures
are the three most commonly read narratives because they all deal with the fear
of the unknown; the future. Stories are a comforting thing and have been around
for generations. Since people are comfortable reading stories, this is how they
learn to deal with real-life situations. Stories have always told us how to act
and how not to act. People can relate to these types texts because even though
some of them are far-fetched, they help them to deal with how to approach change
and the future. Fear is innate, we just have to overcome it and embrace change.
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