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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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Timothy Morrow
23
March 2016
A Phoenix Must First Burn: Analyzing Decline in Future Narratives
From studying Literature of the Future, there is a pattern to the
narratives read so far. These stories have a scope which the author must abide
and reside within. One of the scopes is the Creation/Apocalypse narrative, where
time is generally linear and could possibly have an end much like the books in
the Bible, Genesis and Revelations. There is the Evolutionary narrative, which
popularly is backed up with more scientific principle, like the Parable of the
Sower, and finally the Alternative Reality narrative, showing a world that could
have been; an example being arguably perceived as Stone Lives. Victoria Webb in
her essay “God is Change: An Analysis of Change and Progression in Narratives of
the Future,” states that “evolutionary driven narratives asserts that while time
is always moving forward, we may change in a way that progresses us, or in way
that declines us.” This statement is correct in its assumption. The path, in
which a story takes, may in fact progress or decline. Integrated within these
narratives is the genre of storytelling called the Romance Narrative, where the
protagonist has a quest or objective to complete or overcome in the story.
The Narrative of Decline, acts within the stories,
The Parable of the Sower,
The Time Machine, “Stone Lives” and
the Biblical Apocalyptic texts, as an agent of antagonistic environmental
oppression which the Romantic hero must overcome to complete the Narrative’s
purpose of pleasing the reader with a tale of an underdog defeating the big bad.
When thinking about narratives of the future, one may make the assumption
that because it is within the Science Fiction genre, there is always an
advancement of the human race, but that is not always the case. Many Future
Narratives actually have the outer shallower perception of progress, but when
truly analyzed, it could be argued that there is the underlining theme of
decline. This element of the story heightens the journey the hero must take in
order to complete the question. This is
definitely true when concerning Octavia Butler’s novel The Parable of the Sower.
This Post-Apocalyptic story shows a world slowly falling further apart by
the environment and condition people put themselves in. In the fourteenth
chapter of the novel, the chapter begins with its title which states “In order
to rise from its own ashes a Phoenix must first burn.” This statement sets the
tone and change in the stories progress. The opening sentences of the chapter
mentioned above demonstrate the extreme declined world oppressing the narrator.
This title for the chapter reflects the idea that in order for the protagonist
in a Romance narrative to succeed in their quest, they must first endure
hardship. Lauren, the narrator
writes “Everything was Chaos. People running, screaming, shooting. The gate had
been destroyed” (Butler 153). The quote shows the intense environment which is
thrust upon Lauren and forces her to leave her comfort zone in search for
somewhere else to live and start her religion. Much like the hinge character,
who is vital to the progression of the story, the apocalyptic and declining
world in Parable moves the story
forward by pushing the heroin to her limits and causing her to advance towards
her final goal. This element in the
story not only further shocks the reader by the extent of the extremes to which
the declined world has fallen, but intrigues them to continue reading, hoping
that the protagonist will eventually achieve her goal and overcome the terrain
she is victim to by finding Acorn in the end.
The Bible itself is a Narrative of the Decline tale, which from the very
beginning sets up not only an extraordinary apocalyptic narrative, but also the
Romantic. The Book begins the story with the fall of man in the Garden of Eden,
but the focus of this reference is in the latter half of the Bible. The declined
world during the End Times is both spiritual and environmental. The "Little
Apocalypse” in the book of Matthew depicts a world torn by destruction and
sorrow, he states “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,
and there shall be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but
the beginning of the birth pains” (MacArthur). The quote stated above shows the
state of the world as predicted by Christ in the book of Matthew. These events
while horrible are warned to only be the beginning of the end. This particular
translation uses the metaphor “birth pains” to describe the tribulations that
people will endear in the apocalypse. This metaphor is appealing since the end
result of this catastrophe will be a rebirth of the world and a new Earth. The
book of Revelations speaks of the
current spiritual state of the world under the Anti-Christ. It states “Fallen,
fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the
passions of her sexual immorality” (MacArthur). The world prophesied by the
disciple John is one in complete disorder and decay. According the Biblical
narrative, the world was in perfect paradise until the fall of man. Ever since
then it has been getting worse and worse, all leading toward the End Times, when
the Tribulations begin. This apocalyptic tale is also a Romantic one, with
Christ being the protagonist, after being separated with mankind in the Garden,
needs to overcome the Anti-Christ and Apocalypse in order to regain the
relationship with his creations. The reader who reads both the Paradise story in
Genesis and the apocalypse narrative in Revelations as well as in Matthew can
see the overbearing circumstances the hero of the story must overcome in order
to accomplish his quest of retribution.
Much like the two narratives of the future mentioned above, the short
story “Stone Lives” continues the concept of extreme and apocalyptic
environments standing in as an underlining antagonist whom the hero must
overcome in order to complete the quest in the Romantic style of narrative. In
the story there is a high contrast on the have and have nots. The well-off live
in the futuristic and progressive city, while those less lucky, like the
protagonist Stone, and must survive the harsh and digressed conditions of the
world of the Bungle. He describes
the Bungle as “a gathering place as vital as a Serengeti water hole, where the
sneaky sluffs and raw deals that pass for business in the South Bronx FEZ-a.k.a
the Bronx Jungle, a.k.a. the Bungle can be transacted”(Filippo 179). The
conditions of the world which Stone exists, is dangerous and deplorable. The
man’s world which once was proud in its defense of being above the animal
kingdom is now reduced to being called things like “Serengeti waterhole” and
“Jungle.” These allusions to the animal kingdom shows how dilapidated the world
has become which Stone lives in. Stone as the hero of the story must overcome
his adversaries in order to achieve his quest. The narrative of decline in
“Stone Lives” is depicted by the Bungle. This world is one that Stone has made
it his mission to survive from. Throughout the short story, he works his way to
the top of his society and becomes the leader over the fallen world, thus
overcoming his surroundings. In theme with the Romantic hero, Stone’s goal of
overcoming and surviving his environment is ultimately achieved when he defeats
his declined environmental adversary the wild Bungle.
Although the next example keeps an under toning theme of the narrative of
the decline, it demonstrates it in a fashion quite different to the other
examples stated above. In H.G Wells’ The
Time Machine, the protagonist, the Time Traveler is transported to the
future. Once there he observes an Eden-like world, where the natural world had
been tamed and becomes almost a garden paradise. The Time Traveler discovers
soon after that this world, thousands of years in the future, had become so
comfortable and utopian that the humans had begun to decline in their evolution
from being too comfortable. He reflects about the future world of the Eloi and
states “This has ever been the fate of energy in security; it takes to art and
to eroticism, and then come languor and decay” (Wells 35). The world that Wells
presents in his novel is not one falling into destruction from decline, but
through advancement. The future of the
Time Machine is a narrative of the decline, but it came about from the
purest progression of the human race. The protagonist is flung not only into to
the future, but also into a declined environment. The Time Traveler exhibits the
characteristic of the Romantic hero, who, while trying to achieve his quest of
escaping the future, must overcome the dilapidated and decayed world he now
exists within. Although the future of the
Time Machine seems like the perfect paradise, it was in reality a world in
decline, where the human races began to weaken from the environment they evolved
in. The Time Traveler eventually completed his mission of escaping the world of
the Eloi and Morlocks by defeating and overcoming the declining environmental
antagonist.
Although it is clear that all the stories mentioned above are narratives
of the decline, this detail is not the point of this paper but an attribute to
the overall message. The worlds of the future are dilapidated and act as an
antagonist for the overall plot. With
Parable of the Sower, Laura, although living in a world of decline, is
confined in her community, yet once the apocalyptic world shatters her
protection, she must venture out on her mission to find a new safe place to
start her religion. In this way, she acts as the romantic hero who must overcome
the adversary in order to accomplish the goal. After being separated from his
creations, by the fall of man, Christ, in the Biblical Apocalyptic narratives,
in order to complete his quest of reunion, must overcome the Antichrist in
Armageddon. The sinful world and Antichrist act as the antagonistic oppression
the hero, Jesus, must overcome in order to fulfil his purpose. Stone, in the
short story “Stone Lives,” is a product of his dilapidated present, and wishes
to escape and become better. Once hired by the corporation, he soon overpowers
his environment and becomes the top dog in his city. Although the
Time Machine works differently than
the other narratives, by presenting a garden utopia in the future, which gives
the impression of paradise, yet it is discovered to be a lie, and the truth is
the world of the Eloi is a declining one. Once the Time Traveler discovers he
inhabits a dilapidating and failing world, he makes it his quest to return to
his machine and escape the danger he puts himself in. Thus the Time Traveler
keeps the theme of the Romantic Hero who must overcome and defeat the
antagonistic environment of dystopia in order to achieve his goal. All this
information matters because this trait of story-telling, the Romantic narrative
is something that captures the attention of the reader, who wishes to see the
underdog hero overthrow the antagonistic circumstances they face while achieving
their goal. In the narratives of the future mentioned above, the declined
environments act as an antagonistic factor which the narrative’s hero must
overcome in order to complete their quest; this pleases the reader who yearns
for the romantic narrative and seeing good overcome evil ultimately.
Works
Cited
Butler, Octavia E. Parable of the Sower.
New York: Warner Books, 2000. Print.
Wells, H. G., and Alfred J. Adam. The
Time Machine ; and The Invisible Man.
New York: Barnes and Noble Classics, 2003. Print.
MacArthur, John. The MacArthur Study
Bible English Standard Version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles, 2010. Print.
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