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.)
Your first two responses (one on setting, one on characters) are due by March 17. Base these responses on what you have read so far. Your next responses (one on setting, one on characters) are due by March 31. These final responses should take into consideration what your peers have said and should show an understanding of the novel as a whole.
4 comments:
BRIAN HAND
THE ROAD
In “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, the modern world is a barren, post-apocalyptic wasteland with little food or water. The air is heavy with thick gray ash and when snow falls, it too is a thick gray. There a few plants besides the dead wood used for fires. This world could be the result of many things—the destructive nature of man is something frequently discussed in The Road—but it is never really revealed by any of the characters or the narrator. McCarthy leaves the reader in confusion primarily because any number of human or non-human actions could lead to a world like this. His focus lies heavily in the characters’ responses to this fallen world rather than the cause of it.
McCarthy never tells the reader how the world came to be like this and to some degree it doesn’t matter. He presents the reader with only a handful of characters, and with them several different reactions to a corrupt world. First there is the man’s wife who has opted to take her own life rather than face the disgusting place the world has become. She exists in the man’s flashbacks as he recalls her final words and death. She has decided to leave the world rather than become the prey of one of the packs of cannibals that roam the road. The scarce food supply has driven some people to hunt other people for food. Here, McCarthy presents a very animalistic response to hunger and need. The cannibals have chosen to dismiss any convention for the sake of survival. However, McCarthy illustrates that survival can take place even while holding on to basic human principles. The man and the boy have chosen to walk the road carrying their few belongings and some food. They carry on by envisioning a better life once they reach the coast. The man knows not what he will find there but he has given himself and the boy a reason to live each day—without resorting to cannibalism or committing suicide. They are “carrying the fire” as the last remaining hopes in their world. The man reassures the boy that no matter how hungry they become they will “never eat people.” They have nothing but each other, but as McCarthy puts it they are “each the other’s world entire.” These two figures represent decency and hope in a corrupt world. While many humans have either killed themselves or killed others, the man and the boy stand for hope and revival of a world that once was.
Kathryn Heassler
"We"
1.)SETTING – How is the world within the novel flawed, corrupted, fallen? How do its flaws reveal flaws in the modern world?
The world of "We", created from the brilliant mind of Yevgeny Zamyatin, is a not-so-distant future, filled with order and organization. There are no names, just a letter and number. It takes place in a distant "future" with all but a mere 0.2% of the world's population wiped out. The only things separating the people who survived a tumultuous war known as "The Two Hundred Years War" is a ginormous wall, the Green Wall, The remaining population survive in a city known as the One State. Mathematics is of the utmost value, as it is their names, their identity, and how they live their lives. Every hour of the day is organized and pre-programmed. There is no "free time" for people to roam freely about the One State. In OUR world, we have a lighter version of this. There is a school schedule that is expected to be followed, respectively to each student's classes; adults are given a time frame for when they are supposed to be at work. There are appointments assigned based on a specific day and time. We count down the minutes until school/work is over. For those who have a favorite television show, we know when it is on, and want to stop what we are doing and watch it, for how ever long the show lasts. However, the One State makes a point to organize essentially every moment of every day. All actions, relocations, etc. must be cleared with the proper people. Even sex is provided an exact time, and people choose a select few people to have intercourse with, and they even have pink slips to show that the event, or even just personal time with that person, actually took place. The One State people do not have control of their lives. They follow the letter of the law(s).
2.)CHARACTERS – How do characters respond to living in a flawed, corrupted world?
In the One State, the characters have knowledge of the occurrences of those who came before them, but live lives unlike them. The protagonist, D-503 (male), is a mathematician. All people of this world follow the same basic rules: follow your timelines and life is good. They know there is a time for everything, and there is a sense of general happiness in their ritualistic actions. The females are identified by a vowel and a series of even numbers, whereas the males are known as a consonant followed by a series of odd numbers. Order and balance is everything to them; odds and evens, consonants and vowels, men and women, new and old, and time. They do not question the present way of life because though they know of the past, they do not really see the grip their reality has on them.
BRIAN HAND
THE ROAD
2
Cormac McCarthy still has not revealed how or why the world is this way (so i can't touch upon many of the questions) but i still believe this is because the cause is not McCarthy's focus. As the novel progresses the road has changed very little, but the man and the boy encounter more and more reminders of the past civilization. They come upon a basement with a full stock of food, but abandon it as they continue their journey to the coast. They also find a boat stocked with items from civilized life and a sextant from Hezzaninth,London. McCarthy notes that it is the "first thing he'd seen in a long time that stirred him." This item from civilized life has a profound effect on the man; it briefly reminds him of a time when he was not struggling to survive, and that "stir[s]" him. a final note should be made on Mccarthy's language in the closing paragraph. He describes the beautiful fish that once swam in the water. Strangely, he uses past tense verbs to describe them. He does this to demonstrate that no matter how much empathy and human tenderness exists in this world, nature and the world have been permanently changed. They have something that could "not be made right again."
A deep idea that is further developed in the later chapters is the concept of morality--simplified for the boy as good guys and bad guys. The man tells the boy that they are good guys because they don't eat people, or in other words they put forth empathy and selflessness over their own need to survive. The man has an interesting internal conflict in the story, whether it is better to lie to his son so he is not frightened, or to tell him the truth at the risk of scaring him. Also, he knows something the boy does not, that he is getting sick and it will not be long until he dies. He is now faced with the problem of whether it is better for the boy to live in the world without him or for both of them to die. They have a pistol that is capable of ending both of their lives, yet they have found a way to carry on by envisioning a better life at the coast. It is interesting as to why the boy and the man do not commit suicide, especially because they have access to a pistol. The man realizes that no progress will be made in a world of suicidal people and growth and rebirth must come from struggles. Cormac McCarthy has created vastly different responses to the post-apocalyptic world in THE ROAD and he unties them once again in his ambiguous ending. The boy chooses to go on with the strange man as opposed to dying. We never find out whether this man is a "good guy" or a cannibal but in speculation i have realized that either way, the world goes on. McCarthy has already demonstrated in the fish paragraph that the world is permanently changed, and maybe humans have to go through savagery and cannibalism to eventually reach civilization. Or maybe still, Mccarthy is suggesting that humanity is better off this way. It is after all a breeding ground for love and causes humans to be inventive and resourceful. Perhaps the cannibals are a result of civilization--a dependence on always having food and water at one's disposal--and the destruction of technology will only better humanity. hmmm...
Post a Comment