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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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Melissa Holesovsky
27
June 2015
The Idea of Evolution
Civilized humans have existed for the last 10,000 years and in that time
span have continued to adapt to not only the world around them but to growing
technology. This human evolution is not something only seen in science, but is
also illustrated in the world of literature. Paired with other themes such as
creation and apocalypse as well as alternative histories and futures, most
Literatures of the Future also have an evolutionary element woven into the
storyline.
In her 2013 midterm submission, Rachel Jungklaus stated, “every
evolutionary or apocalyptic tale is an alternative future”, but I believe the
opposite to be true as well. In Parable
of the Sower, an apocalyptic event has occurred leaving Lauren to fend for
herself and band with other survivors in hopes of establishing a new community
and ultimately a new world. Labeling her new community Acorn and planting trees
for deceased loved ones is representative of rebirth seen in other apocalyptic
narratives. While Parable illustrates
an apocalyptic decline in society and the human race, the narrative also
develops Lauren as an evolutionary character as she presents herself as a man
and even kills; Lauren’s evolution here is born from a self-preservation need.
Adam
and Eve undergo a certain evolution as they have to learn to live in the world
once they are apocalyptically expelled from the Garden of Eden. There is a sense
of order within the Garden that ceases to exist once they are outside its walls.
Though the book of Genesis begins
with the inspiring story of creation, the expulsion of Adam and Eve resulting in
their “rebirth” as worldly beings is both apocalyptic and evolutionary. Almost
like a second half to Genesis, the
book of Revelation gives the reader a
sense of revealed truth, though it’s wrapped in symbolism. A most significant
symbol within this apocalyptic narrative is the Whore of Babylon representing
all the sins of the world. Reading like that of a romance, people of the world
are offered multiple chances at redemption prior to Christ’s finally reaping of
his saved people. In Revelation,
evolution is seen each time a non-believer gives themselves to Christ in hopes
of salvation. The people adapt to the apocalypse around them by seeking
redemption where they would not have done so before completing their rebirth as
sanctified believers.
In
The Time Machine, visions of
evolution are very apparent and almost concrete. Humans have evolved into two
species now shaped by their environment. 800,000 years in the future, the
Morlocks living in a dystopia below the ground have developed light skin, white
hair and larger eyes to allow for low-light vision. The Eloi living above ground
in a utopia, or even ecotopia, possess rounded, small bodies and live only on
garden fruit. In her midterm submission in 2013, Sera Perkins recalled, “The
Time Traveler comes to a future of a “perfect” garden” relating elements of
The Time Machine to the creation
narrative in Genesis representing a
cyclical nature of time seen in both these evolutionary narratives. Both species
have evolved according to their environments and have been reborn as a new
species. The time traveler eventually makes a journey far into the future and
experiences an alternative future where humans no longer exist and the planet is
now only inhabited by large sea creatures and overgrown insects symbolic of
decline from the abuses of the human race.
The Time Machine as a whole seems to
be a symbolic representation between the growing gap in the “haves” and “have
nots”, the ground serving as a symbolic divider, as well as the depiction of the
evolutionary end of humankind at the hands of humankind.
Bears
Discover Fire
and Better be Ready ‘bout Half Past Eight
are entirely evolutionary narratives with little other literary appeals. Though
there is some high-tech technological research in
Better be Ready, the heart of the
plot is the evolution of Zach/Zoe transitioning from male to female and Byron’s
evolution of thought regarding the future of his son, Toby. This evolution of
thought is in response to experiencing Zach/Zoe’s predicament and how unfriendly
the world can be to such changes just as the use of fire by bears is in direct
response to the changing environment at human hands. In
Bears, humans seem to be on the
decline and bears are making progress through the use of fire and conducting
themselves in a civil manner. In contrast to these two narratives,
Stone Lives illustrates the evolution
of humans forced by the evolution of technology that preserves appearances and
extends life expectancy which, in turn, shapes the development of society and
widens the gap between the “haves” and “have nots” as seen in
Time Machine. This technology fringes
on sublime much like that in Nina’s future-vision presentation of
The Uglies where there is beauty
laced with fear and horror. In her 2013 midterm submission, Adria Weger points
out “The technological evolution also leads to a Social Darwinism in the
societal divide between the rich and the poor”. This statement embodies the
element of social evolutionary adaptation which results in the huge disconnect
between the upper-class and lower-class.
In
The Garden of Forking Paths, choices
are symbolized as a labyrinth or tree; at the end of each path lays a choice
which determines the fork in the path. However, just because a choice is made,
does not end the other paths. There are parallel worlds occurring outside the
chosen path similar in essence to Mozart
in Mirrorshades where travelers from the future set up operations in the
past. The future continues to exist despite the travel to the past. While
Mozart contains high-tech quantum
mechanics like in Time Machine and
Garden is low-tech such as in
Bears Discover Fire, time continuums
are paralleling one another in both narratives. This being said,
Garden has an evolutionary aspect as
Dr. Yu Tsun changes his approach to espionage; to relay his message he kills a
man of the same name as the town in which the British have a weapons hold just
as Toinette changed her approach to obtaining a green card in
Mozart by selling out her beloved
Rice to Ferson.
Though these narratives vary in plot, content, setting and theme, they all have
an evolutionary element linking them together while setting them apart and
provoking analytical discussion and critical thinking. These narratives are
ideal inclusions in Literature of the Future and, in turn, Literature of Ideas.
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