Throughout the process of reading the novel, I will ask you to analyze the setting and the responses characters have to the setting. The explanation and questions below will help you analyze these two aspects of the novel.
SETTING – How is the world within the novel flawed, corrupted, fallen? How do its flaws reveal flaws in the modern world?
"Something is rotten in the state of..."
These dystopias are all set in some imagined version of the future, but each of these future is based on some aspects of the modern world. (In the modern world, we have video surveillance. In 1984, every moment of life is under video surveillance.) The authors ask the question "What if this or that aspect of modern life were to grow, to expand, to take over? How would human life change?" In dystopian novels the authors are especially interested in how certain aspects of modern life could worsen human existence or could so radically change it that being human would become unrecognizable.
While reading your novel consider the question, what aspects of modern life appear (perhaps in an exaggerated or expanded or intensified form) in the novel? How does the novel critique these aspects of modern life? How does the novel function as warning to the modern reader? How does the novel warn against expanding and intensifying some of the beliefs and behaviors made possible in the modern world?
Then, evaluate the critique of modern life. How revelant is the critique? In other words, how likely is the sort of future presented in the dystopia? Or, how likely is something *like* the future presented in the dystopia? And, how similar are aspects of *our* world to aspects of the novel?
Then, consider whether you agree or disagree with the implied critique? (For those reading 1984, Is video surveillance really that bad? Would it be better if there were more of it in our world? Or for those reading Oryx and Crake what do you think about genetic engineering in the novel and in our world? Think along these lines.)
CHARACTERS – How do characters respond to living in a flawed, corrupted world?
"Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer/The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,/And by opposing end them?"
How do the characters respond to the dystopia, the flaws in her or his world? Do they suffer the slings and arrows? Do they take arms against a sea of troubles? What do they do? How do they assert (or not assert) their sense that the world is broken, corrupt, flawed, an unweeded garden? Or do they not have that sense? Do they see nothing wrong with the world as it is?
Consider what each of the major characters thinks about the world within the novel and how each of the major characters responds to it. (The answers will vary from character to character. The characters in Hamlet see the world quite differently and they respond quite differently too. The same will be true in your novel.)
5 comments:
Alicia Unis
Player Piano
setting- From what I've read so far New York is divided into three divisions. One is composed of the majority of the population,one of the more intelligent people with difficult occupations (similar to alphas of BNW) and the third consisting of all machines. So immediately into the first sentences of the novel we're shown the large role machines have in the society by their inhabitance of one third of the land. Early in the novel I can only slightly infer the trouble machines will cause just by the reliance man has on it. The characters rely on the efficiency of machines for everything, like cars are completely automated. The people of this society rever the mechanics of machines. The main character Paul Proteus shows us this when he says his secretary was being "annoyingly unmachinelike" (p10). The flaws of this machine reliant society are show in the setting through language (like Paul wishing his secretary were like a machine), the segregation of the classes of people and most especially humanity's dependency on machines. Only the people of the Homestead were forced to fight the war, while the professional people like engineers and managers were the "know-how" safely in the protection far away from the front line.
characters- The main character Paul Proteus reminds me of Bernard and Helholtz from BNW. Although he is of the established superior class of people, he is sometimes embarrassed and bored by this, most especially when he didn't have to go to war like the people on the homestead. He was "sheepish about not going to fight, and humbled by those who did go" (p14). He also doesn't like the superiority his father and the earlier generation assumed they possessed that was now granted to Paul's generation. Paul is often depressed much like Bernard although he is one of the superior class which shows the fault in this system when even the highest aren't happy with their lives.Paul visits an old section of a building to cheer him up. He appreciates this building because it was Edison's original machine shop and it showed that "mankind really had come a long way. [He] needed that reassurance from time to time" (p14). This shows that Paul is questioning the ways of his world and its progress, unsure whether everything their sacrificing to uphold it is worth it, if its the right way.
Setting:
From what I’ve read so far, I have been introduced to a similar-yet-different world that is Illium, New York. It is divided into three sections; one for normal people (The Homestead), one for engineers and mechanics, and another dedicated to building and buildings of machines. Thus far, an on going question I have in my mind is, apart from fighting in bloody wars, what do the people of the Homestead do (I’m assuming nothing because it would make the utopia so much more interesting). Acting under the assumption that the normal people have a very minor role in the course of the human society it draws me into the real focus of this utopia, mechanization and automation. The machines appear to create everything that a person would need, and the only thing that a machine needs is a human engineer to repair and monitor them. Another interesting thing is the fact that even the managers of the elite engineers are engineers. I also made note of the description of Paul’s wife as “unmachinelike” this instantly gave me ideas as to the situation that the world was in. I want to be an engineer when I get older and on some level I am fascinated by what is occurring thus far but I’m sure the flaws of the utopia will soon become apparent (they always do).
Character:
Paul Proteus, whose name reminds me of a “polyprotic acid,” is the main character of this novel and he really reminded me a lot of both John and Helmholtz. On one hand I see the boredom created by his position and the distaste he has for others in his position who consider themselves elite, but on the other hand I can see the seeds of dissatisfaction in his mind the need for him to go see an old building just to reinforce the fact that the human race has indeed come far is both touching and sad. He is clearly in need of some sort of change or revolution but as a character I see him becoming interesting and conflicting.
Emily Castro
Player Piano
Setting
-1.) In his dystopian novel “Player Piano”, Kurt Vonnegut exaggerates and expands on the industrialization of society, specifically the use of machinery to perform simple tasks that could be done thoughtlessly by human beings. Vonnegut writes about the machines as if they were people, for example in the beginning of the novel Paul (the main character) gets word of “number three in building 58” from his secretary and goes to building 58 to check on number three. Vonnegut doesn’t directly state what number three is, but from the text is becomes obvious that number three is a certain machine within building 58 that is nearing the end of its life because it is quite old and somewhat archaic. Through this, Vonnegut shows that making such use of machinery devaluates human thinking. Throughout the novel Vonnegut portrays the use of machines as a means of mass production as a positive thing, because if humans were to be working in factories they just be “using their senses, then a reflex, using their senses, then a reflex, and not really thinking at all”, but Vonnegut also makes it known that this world, Ilium, can be quite boring, or at least in Paul’s opinion. The system and organizational politics of Ilium sometimes make Paul feel annoyed, bored and queasy. This acts as a warning to society, that if machines are used for everything, there suddenly is no need for human thought, and much less room for human discovery. Because humans are not needed to and do not exercise basic sensory skills and response, they become less intelligent and less able to think imaginatively and independently. This critique is somewhat relevant to modern society, because society is industrializing continuously, as has been for about a century, so it does seem possible that one day machines may be used to perform simple, perfunctory tasks rather than human beings. However, I think there is too large a populous that would be opposed to an economy powered almost solely by machinery. A rather large portion of the world’s inhabitants would think that giving such power to machines is seriously wrong and potentially dangerous. Also, replacing humans with machines would cause a massive increase in unemployment rates, because so many people are employed in factories. With this, I think the idea has merit, but I don’t think the world will ever reach the point where humans are in no way involved in industry. I do, on most levels, agree with the implied critique. I think Vonnegut is right in warning the world of the dangers of relying so heavily upon machinery to fuel industry. I think the world is already industrialized enough. I think there is room for experimentation and discovery in fields that could be beneficial to the global environment and human population, but I don’t think that there needs to be more industry as it pertains to mass production of unnecessary materials that contributes to pollution and is extremely wasteful.
Emily Castro
Player Piano
Characters-2.) Thus far I have only been exposed in depth to one character, Paul Proteus. Paul Proteus is the most brilliant, important person in Ilium; he is the manager of the Ilium works. Even though Paul’s title suggests that he is in fully content with the overly mechanized society in which industry is almost completely controlled by machinery, he is not. More often that not, the system, organizational politics, and his job make him feel annoyed, bored, and queasy. Paul does support the use of machinery, and is fascinated with machines and their creation, but Paul also experienced industry prior to the revolutionary use of machines. Paul remembers when Humans worked in factories, and although he agrees that the job is better done by machines, he still recognized that this system devaluates human thinking, and Paul likes to think, especially about the past. Paul likes be reminded of the past, specifically of historical events dealing with the creation of the futuristic world in which he lives. Paul also likes to feel emotion, which is why he was so attached and cared for that cat so deeply, because the cat, I think, may have been the closest thing to human that he had been in contact with a long time. There are, of course, his cohorts, and his wife, but they all exist with a certain ignorance as to the way the world once operated and seem to be perfectly happy living in the world as it is now. I can also make an inference as to how Katharine, Paul’s secretary feels about the world. Katharine says “It was so ridiculous to have people stuck in one place all day, just using their sense, then a reflex, using their sense, then a reflex, and not really thinking at all.” But Katharine was also not alive to experience the world before machinery was used to perform almost all industrial functions. Because Katharine is unaware of the way in which the world used to work, she sees nothing wrong with the way that it is now. I think that Paul's character is going to play a similar role to John Savage in Brave New World.
Alicia Unis
Second Response
Player Piano
the world/setting- In Player Piano this world is flawed because technology has overthrown human involvement. Jobs that could be performed by the "lower classes" like people living in the Homestead have been replaced by machines the engineers create. Human influence in the world is slowly decreasing, and there becomes a divide between the classes in the world that the machines create. The engineers, inventors and controllers of the machines, which are excessively educated are separated from the uneducated people that are meant to do the tasks now performed by efficient machines. As the engineers continue to invent machines, there is continued elimination of the necessity for humans. These humans lose their dignity and sense of purpose in life and there is a social and geographical divide between classes. Even the people of the higher class, like engineers and managers, are bored with their technological world. Examples of these people are Finnerty and Paul. Everyone desires machine-like qualities in humans, and people slowly lose their humanity. America is leading this machanic frontier and a leader from a different country can point out the flaws in this world, that their work is making the middle class is become more like "slaves". As machines continue to take over their world, humans lose their humanity and there becomes a creation and division of classes.
characters- Various characters respond to this world differently in the novel. Paul Proteus, the protagonist in the novel, is stricken with confusion over his feelings of the world. His father was a pioneer for the transition into a mechanical world and revered it, along with agreeing with the divide of social classes. His father became very successful and these expectations were placed upon him. Since his father died when he was young, Paul doesn't want to dissapoint him or his reputation. His father's friend Kroner is Paul's boss and whole-heartedly agrees with this mechanized world and its progress/persistence. Kroner tries to help Paul advance in the establishment and promotes this way of life. Anita, Paul's wife, that based on intelligence should live on the homestead, is a "regular" person obsessed with her husband's advancement in his job and doesn't seem to be preoccupied with much else. But Paul also has his own opinions about this world and becomes bored with it. He doubts the progress this type of world creates for humanity, and whether it actually is helping humanity at all, rather than undermining it. Paul is searching for hope, which he thinks is lacking in humanity because of the power machines have in the world. His negative perceptions of this world are shared by an old friend and schoolmate, Ed Finnerty who embeds the idea of change in Paul's mind. They both become members of a secret rebellion group, the Ghost Shirt Society, which idolizes the past's appreciation for the human race and how it found humanity as the only source of hope in the world. These Ghost Shirt members destroy the infrastructure of Ilium Works, but Paul is still left unsatisfied. He realizes that what he really desired was hope for and in humanity and its progress,rather than revolutionizing society.
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