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(2016
midterm assignment) Model Student Midterm answers 2016 (Index) Essay 1: Compare, contrast, and evaluate Narratives of the Future |
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Nikki
Jones
23
March 2016
The Three Narratives: Hand-in-Hand
In futuristic literature there are many genres and subgenres to be found,
so much so that one could potentially get lost in them all. Three of the major
genres of futuristic literature are apocalyptic fiction, evolutionary fiction,
and alternative (future) fiction. These three genres may sound like they are
completely separate concepts, and they very well can be written as such;
however, more often than not readers will find that the concepts for these
genres overlap and mesh together within their stories. Also, many symbols or
themes that are common to one subgenre can easily be utilized in another.
Examples of these storylines and symbol exchanges can be found in some of the
future presentations we have seen, but mainly they lie in the required class
texts we have read so far.
Victoria Webb best described this idea when she said in her past essay,
“Perhaps religion and science fiction are not as opposing as many would
traditionally believe.” In stories that readers could potentially see as
strictly apocalyptic literature, like
Parable of the Sower, other readers will recognize the growth aspects that
come with ideas of evolution. We see this the most in Lauren’s character. She is
always growing, evolving, and adapting to the steady changes that happen in her
life. When her town is burned and destroyed Lauren is forced to change her way
of living and even thinking and evolve, like we see in the theory of Social
Darwinism. Lauren truly begins to understand the world she is involuntarily
pushed into and relies on intellectual and natural instinct and comes to
understand the concept of survival of the fittest. Lauren proves that she is
aware and that she even accepts this concept by having her own religion,
Earthseed, revolve around the ideal that “God is Change” (Butler 1).
One could also make reference to the mention of evolutionary imagery in
the original apocalyptic literature,
Revelation accompanied with the Book
of Daniel. Where the reader may see Lauren’s story focusing on world decline
and personal progress, Revelation
seems to convey the message of world decline and
evolutionary progress in relation to
the imagery it chooses to relay in the text. Much of the text seems to refer to
mystical beings that have evolved from ordinary animals. There are many
instances of this, from the lamb with “seven horns and seven eyes” to the images
of the “lion” with “eagle wings” and the “leopard” with “four wings of a fowl”
attached to its back and “four heads” as well (Rev. 5.6, Daniel 4-6). This
theory can be pushed even further though if the reader so wishes. The image of
the angels seen throughout the text could be perceived as the evolution of human
beings if the same concept previously stated is applied. The author has taken an
image common with humans and evolved it into something mystical.
The short story, Bears Discover
Fire, is considered an
evolutionary tale. Although the main theme of the story clearly covers evolution
the primary symbol the reader sees throughout the story is fire, which is
largely utilized in much of apocalyptic literature. For instance, in
Revelation fire is used to represent
the destruction and punishment of the earth. The text says that “hail and fire
mingled with blood, and they were cast unto the earth” and as a result the trees
and “all the grass was burnt up” (Rev. 8.7). Fire, it would seem, is utilized in
the opposite way in Bears. Instead of
destruction fire symbolizes growth. The bears are evolving and potentially could
grow to be human kind’s equal. They are taking on characteristics unique to
humans, such as gaining the knowledge of how to build a proper campfire. The
narrator witnesses this newly acquired knowledge firsthand when one of the bears
begins “breaking up the dry branches by holding one end and stepping on them,
like people do” (Bisson 26).
Similarly, we can find this same concept happen in H.G. Well’s
The Time Machine. The difference,
however, is that the Time Traveler finds that the people of the future have
devolved. Their way of living and thinking has become increasingly simplistic,
forgetting about the benefits and potential dangers of fire altogether. Neither
the Eloi nor the Merlocks share the base instinct most animals naturally have to
flee from fire and instead the Time Traveler is horrified by their intense
fascination of the wild fire as he sees them plunge headfirst “straight into the
fire” (Wells 9.12). He even says Weena “would have cast herself into it” if he
had “not restrained her” (9.4). Fire is not the only apocalyptic imagery seen in
The Time Machine. We can also make
mention of the sphinx sculpture the Time Traveler sees when first arriving in
the year “Eight Hundred and Two Thousand Seven Hundred and One” (4.16). The
image of the sphinx parallels the imagery found in the
Book of Daniel. Like the winged lion
the sphynx is also a chimera, combining the characteristics common to a human’s
face, a lion’s body, and a bird’s wings.
The
final subgenre to explore is alternate futures.
Mozart in Mirrorshades is arguably
the most straightforward story relating to alternative futures and timelines.
Rice likens the idea of different timelines to the image of a tree, stating that
when the past is changed “another branch of history splits off from the main
trunk” (Sterling 227). Based on this
comparison one must then ask how this affects the evolution of society. The
futuristic people of Realtime are not allowing ideas and inventions to
conceptualize naturally, and instead are giving the people of the past access to
their modern technology which ultimately affects the natural evolution that
would have taken place. A good example of this is when the reader is first
introduced to Mozart. He is listening to Symphony No. 40 in G Minor. When
questioned about it Rice makes a remark that Mozart would have written it “About
fifteen years” into the future (224). In Mozart’s case having this piece of
modern technology prevents him from writing the symphony himself, and although
he still seems interested in music it is more closely related to the music of
Realtime. Mozart becomes captivated with modern amenities, nicknaming himself
Wolf, learning the English language at a fast pace, and ultimately abandoning
the past to evolve into the men found commonly in Realtime.
Likewise, Better Be Ready ‘Bout Half Past
Eight parallels the basic narrative of
Mozart. The subgenre of this short
story can be categorized as alternative future but it also has complimentary
themes found in evolutionary literature. The main difference, however, is that
it does not deal with alternative timelines on a large scale but with
alternative future on a personal scale and instead of an entire era evolving, it
is more about Byron’s growth and evolution on a mental, emotional, and physical
level. The reader sees that as Zach’s character physically changes from man to
woman, Byron is also taken on a mental journey of self-acceptance and discovery.
Bryon’s transformation can be noticed mainly through his thoughts about his son,
Toby. In the beginning when gender is a concrete concept to him he states
matter-of-factly that Toby is “A little man. No question about that” but by the
end of the story he happily thinks that his son “could grow up to be anything”,
leaving the realm of possibilities virtually endless for his son (Baker 28, 47).
He also shows his own personal growth by having his later thoughts contradict
his earlier ones. The reader see this when Byron first learns of Zach’s sex
change. He tells his wife that “Zach wouldn’t be Zach” after the operation,
meaning he would not be the same person because of his physical changes but
later when Byron is experimenting with his own gender fluidity by wearing makeup
he tells, the now Zoe, that even though his outward appearance is altered he is
still “the same old me, though” (24, 44).
In
all the short stories, excerpts, and novels we have read so far although there
is a main subgenre the text pertains to it can also be tied into another,
whether it be by a shared narrative or by elements common to multiple subgenres,
such as symbolism. They are all inadvertently interwoven within each other
because they are arguably the most commonly used subgenres of futuristic
literature. Ultimately one can suspect the mingled subgenres are written in such
a way as to balance each other out. Hypothetically, where there is destruction
there must be creation and eventually everything must keep growing and evolving
to maintain that cycle. That is why apocalyptic literature pairs so well with
evolutionary elements, evolutionary literature pairs well with apocalyptic
imagery, and alternate future pairs well with evolution, whether it is on a big
or small scale. Everything has an order to it and must continually change to
continue progression. The Time Traveler relays this message best when he says
the “perfect state had lacked one thing even for mechanical perfection –
absolute permanency” (Wells 10.4).
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