LITR 4632: Literature of the Future

Web-Highlight 2005

Tuesday, 28 June: scenario: off-planet; alien contact & near-contact: "Men on the Moon" (VN 238-247); "Hinterlands" (BC 58-79); "Homelanding," (VN 3-7)."The Poplar Street Study" (VN 140-148); "The Belonging Kind" (BC 43-57).

Web-highlighter: Irving Peralta

“Men on the Moon”

In Men on the Moon, humans venture out to space again to further expand their knowledge.  They, too, are escaping from Earth, in the eyes of the grandfather, just like they do in Hinterlands.  He does not understand why we do not seek for knowledge here on Earth, since there is plenty to be discovered.  It shows the diversity in humans and how they think, depending on their culture.  We see a man not versed in the ways of the high-tech world.  He thinks things are fine the way they are now.  He is able to shed light on a significant historical point in our world’s history.  He does not see landing on the moon as progress, when we still have knowledge we should be searching for back on Earth.  “Progress” is not always beneficial, when it leaves real world problems behind.  The problems only come back to haunt us, like Newton’s Sleep.

Sara Sills, LITR 4632, June 30, 2003

“Hinterland”

Hinterlands shows what extreme measures humans have gone through to escape the earth they once inhabited.  The image of heaven is used to correlate to how we think of heaven today-our escape from planet Earth, our escape from the past.  We usually equate heaven with being above us, and we are trying to reach out to grab it and to learn more about it.  That is what these “scientists” have done aboard this spacecraft.  They are reaching out beyond their grasp for knowledge that cannot be attained right now.  Because in the end, they do not find what they were looking for, and they will probably have to attain other ways to find what they’re searching for, which will bring them back to experience and knowledge already comprehended in the past. 

Sara Sills LITR 4632 June 30, 2003

“Homelanding”

Often, the foreign nature of futuristic scenarios is contrasted with the familiarity of past in order to lend the visceral impact of the latter to the former.  For example, “Homelanding” presents a world in which the Earth is being visited by alien life forms.  As far removed as that reality is from our own, it is the old concept of death which is utilized by the writer to bring a sense of familiarity to the reader.  In addition, in an attempt to explain the characteristics of humans to these aliens, the writer reverts to describing the timeless concepts of sex and mortality to appeal to the alien reader.

Travis Kelly, LITR 4632 2003 final

“The Poplar Street Study”

Another story that fails to define the situation satisfactorily is The Poplar Street Study.  While the story is enjoyable, the lack of explanation as to what the alien contact is really about keeps the reader distant from the characters.  The neighbors all seem to be very stereotypical and flat, and are difficult to relate to.  With the child-hero ending, the story fails to overcome a romantic plotline and become a plausible story.

Kate Payne, LITR 4632, June 30, 2003  

“The Belonging Kind”

“The Belonging Kind” deals with another estranged character after a similar fashion. The protagonist, Coretti, is estranged from mankind as he knows it as well – here however it is by social handicap rather than epochs of time. Gibson reconciles this matter by differently means, and satisfies his character’s need for belonging by having him discover a chameleon-like ‘alien’ species in the bans of his city and eventually, through obsession, evolve into one of these adept irritators of the human species not only does Gibson’s character find the refuge of acceptance and communion with this foreign species, he also gains the instincts of human mimicry that allow him to fit in the society and mingle “Like a real human being.” (Gibson 57).

Corrie Lawrence, LITR 4632 2003 Final Exam