setting! (#11)

Obviously, in the case of “Vaster Than Empires, and More Slow”, setting makes up a great deal of the story.  A lot of times, setting seems to only simply help the story along, and provide little more than further description.  However, what I have noticed in the case of most science fiction pieces is that setting usually has a great impact, and is really almost as integral as the novum itself.  For example, with “Vaster”, I would even consider the setting to be the novum: the characters are on a planet seemingly overrun by humanistic plant life. Taking place back on planet Earth, this story would not have worked so well.  Or perhaps it would have, but it would have had to take place in a different time than the one we are currently in: maybe, centuries from now when scientists have come up with too good of a growth hormone for plants, and something goes terribly wrong; or if Venus Fly Traps have begun to breed out of control.  Either way, the story had to be in a different setting in order to work. 

Had the story taken place in a different setting, the actions absolutely still could have happened, but they would have had an entirely different make up and outcome.  For example, part of an investigative team could have been taken captive by natives of another country, perhaps on Earth, but the whole essence of the story would have been different.  Since it would have been people, and not plants, lines such as, “’It was washing you.  Anointing you with lotions.  Special lotions to keep you supple and, well, and green.’  Everyone stared at Sam now, and she raised her arm through the leaf mould.  Indubitably green.  Not just a reflection.  A stain,” would have been completely unusable.  The main part to take away from this story was that the plants had lost family, and were trying in vain to make a similar connection with these humans.  Without this setting, the hostages would have been taken for a different reason, and thus the story would have had a different meaning.

 Le Guin’s motive for writing this story may have been to demonstrate the idea of alien life possessing human qualities, or even of some sort of greater moral law instilled in all types of life forms.  These could explain the way the plants longed for some sort of surrogate child, or why lullabies soothed them into cooperation.  This class has taught us to look at the story an author chooses to present their own thoughts through.  In this case, the most unique point of the story is the setting.

environment! (#10)

In class, I remember being extremely adamant about the fact that nature and environment were two completely different things.  The huge riot that ensued consisted of one side (the side I agreed with) stating that nature was something completely untouched by humans, and that environment was made up of everything else surrounding us.  The other side argued that even if you take a tree out of its natural habitat, the tree itself doesn’t change, and thus remains nature, although part of it has been altered (which in my opinion, would make it “environment”).

I chose the Toyota ad that you posted for us for this particular blog.  Besides the fact that I thought the hand as roots was rather creative (enforcing the importance of the tie between man and nature in order for the survival of both), it used the terms “nature” and “environment” in the ways that I agreed with.

In linking it with what we learned from the article on Ecocriticism, I found it to be undeniably related to “reform environmentalism”.  The article states that, “Reform environmentalism informs a new kind of consumer piety, with its sometimes extraordinary language – such that buying a slightly less destructive make of car becomes ‘saving the planet’” (2).  That is exactly what is happening in the ad.  It creatively advertises the idea of “zero emissions,” while still wording it in a way that resembles fine print.  It doesn’t claim to have reached a state of zero emission, yet it is worded so that if someone were to read it off the bat without looking closely, they may think that that is what is happening as a direct result of Toyota’s technologies.

On an unrelated note, I think that most people will see the word “nature” and be more inclined to do something in hopes of feeling less guilty.  By telling people that they are “preserving the delicate balance between man and nature” by buying a Toyota, I think people are more likely to purchase one.

Marx! (#9)

I believe that Walter M. Miller, Jr. did an excellent job with his story “Crucifixus Etiam” as a demonstration of Marxism.  We can use Marxism to better interpret this futuristic world on Mars from an outside point of view, as well as through someone on the inside.

There is an inarguable example of both the bourgeoisie and proletariat classes.  Viewing it this way, we as readers can better understand the disparity between the excavating crew and those with a little bit more power.  The oppressed working class aren’t even allowed to know what it is that they are working so relentlessly towards: “There was a certain arbitrariness about it, a hint that the Commission thought of its employees as children, or enemies, or servants…the supervisory staff shrugged off all questions with: ‘Why? Well, what’s the difference?” (239).  As we learned in class, Marxism heavily relies on the idea that people really only feel the most fulfilled when they are connected to the fruits of their labor directly.  In the case of “Crucifixus”, in return for their lack of information, the workers were given enough to stay alive and started finding pleasure in things like booze and effortless sleep.  As it turns out, their duty on Mars was a lot more deadly than was let on to them at first.  Marxism deals with material things, commodities, and the “truffies” ended up turning into one as well.  One part that really stood out to me as an example of that was the line, “Newcomers were segregated in a separate barracks so that their nightly screams would not disturb the old-timers who had finally adjusted to Martian conditions” (233).  Basically, they were willing to do whatever they had to do, no matter how inhumane, to keep their “factory” running smoothly.

Near the end, there is even an example of the feared “proletariat revolution” predicted by Marx.  Handell attempts to get the rest of his fellow oppressed to uprise against the people in control.  Some of the people in control actually got nervous, for they were greatly outnumbered, but after his goal was realized, Manue stopped it.

The idea of Marxism really came full circle in the end when we see Manue’s resignation to what his life has become, but also his slight fulfillment which came from now having a goal, and the knowledge of what his work was creating: “He had wanted something to work for, hadn’t he?  Something more than the reasons Donnell had given.  Well, he could smell a reason, even if he couldn’t breathe it…He knew now what Mars was…an eight-century passion of human faith in the destiny of the race of Man” (246).

I also thought the top paragraph on page 238 was rather interesting, where Donnell explains to Manue the concept of Mars as outlet for the surplus on Earth.  He is basically explaining that rather than cut down on production, Earth needed to find more room in order to continue feeding their need for material items.

Novum! (#8)

To be completely honest, when I began to write this blog on the “novum”, I decided to backtrack in the class.  The directions for the blog didn’t say that it had to be on a story from that specific week, and I felt like using either one of those would be very repetitive (for me at least, given the blogs I already did on “Baby, You Were Great” and on Marxism (in my opinion, “Dead Space for the Unexpected” was more of a demonstration on Marxism than the novum; I’m not saying it couldn’t be done, I’m simply stating that I think I could expand more upon the idea using “Flowers for Algernon”)).  So for that reason, and to try and use a fresh story, “Flowers” is what I went with.

As I think I’ve mentioned previously in more than one of my blogs, I consider the concept of the novum to be the coolest one we learned during the whole semester.

Yes, your description of the novum as the “shiny new thing” of the story is really its most basic definition.  But technically, isn’t that what really demonstrates a creative writer’s capabilities?  I won’t claim that writing a piece of informative literature, nonfiction literature, or even a fiction story with a simple realistic plot is easy.  It still takes talent to write anything that people will desire to read.  But to come up with something that hasn’t yet come into existence, and especially to take that something and be able to build a story around it, I feel like that is a unique talent all its own.

Besides being the shiny new thing, the novum can really become the main part of the story.  For example, when it comes to “Flowers for Algernon”, without the novum the story simply wouldn’t exist.  The entire plot is based on new medicine that has not been found, and that certainly hadn’t been around at the time the story was written.  Daniel Keyes could have been trying to portray one of any number of things, from the idea that ignorance is bliss, to the pain from losing something you once had, or even the notion that modern medicine is getting too experimental.  In this way, the novum allowed a story to be written that could creatively demonstrate the theme.

In my opinion, the novum is truly what makes science fiction.  It is what allows settings and characters that do not exist in any other works of literature, who could have problems that have never before been imagined.  For example, I had actually read “Flowers for Algernon” once before, (and though admittedly I never had that much of a grasp on the idea of science fiction before this class), I hadn’t really thought of the story as being science fiction.  After taking a look at the medicine as the novum, it became impossible for me to miss the fact that it was indeed, science fiction.

Theme! (#3)

In “The Second Variety”, I think trust could be considered a theme.  Many different uses of it are apparent throughout the story, and it is ultimately the cause behind every action.

Most noticeably, we see many times where trust must be put in someone that would not normally be a first choice.  Firstly the Yanks, or rather, Major Hendricks has to trust that the note from the Russians wasn’t a trap, and that he wouldn’t be shot point blank when he arrived.  Later on he had to place trust in the three enemy soldiers he encountered once he crossed to their side.  In the end, he placed both his life, as well as the survival of mankind in general, in Tasso when he let her have the ship.

Then there was the manipulation of trust, of which The Third Variety, the “David” was a prime example.  A thirteen year old boy, clutching a teddy bear was enough to turn even the most careful of officers sympathetic: “It made too good a target…and the boy would slow him down…But if the boy were really all alone…”  We found out later that this is exactly the kind of trust in innocence that got hundreds of Russians killed.  Later, because they were really the only two people Hendricks could trust, he put his faith in the information that both Tasso and Klaus were giving him.  Once Tasso proved to him that Klaus was a machine, Hendricks began to put more and more faith in her, as he had been led to believe they had killed the last Variety, the Second one (Klaus).

Unfortunately, Hendricks incorrectly believed that the machines wouldn’t kill one another.  I had a sneaking suspicion once we met Tasso that she was a machine.  The thing that really gave it away to me was her repetitive questioning for cigarettes.  It seemed as though she were programmed with that commonplace tendency.  She manipulated him into trusting that she had to be human, and then betrayed him in the end when he told her how to get to the Moon Base.  I also had the idea that there were perhaps more Varieties, but the desperate situation in which Hendricks found himself had really left him without a choice.

In the end, the story really revolved around the theme of trust.  Machines began to lure humans in by getting them to trust them.  Often the only choice they had was to trust an enemy, and the trust they did put in others was betrayed. 

The Sequel

  This class has really opened my eyes to the world of science fiction. When I first signed up for it, I assumed the stories and our discussions would let the geek in me come out, close-mindedly expecting to read only stories taking place in outer space or with robots or something.  I have to say that I was so pleasantly surprised that this was not the case, and that I absolutely adored coming to class! (No sucking up here, I promise it's true!)  The stories were so interesting and creative.  I can truly say that after learning what it is that makes a science fiction story science fiction, it might just be my new favorite genre.
  Which brings me to what I think was the most useful thing I learned throughout the semester, the concept of the "novum." Looking at a story in terms of what it is that makes that world different from the real world is really the whole point of reading it.  It seems like a pretty basic concept; something has to be different in order for the story to be fiction.  But actually learning more about that concept made me really start to consider it more for every story. Authors of these science fiction stories had such unique ideas, for example with my personal favorite of the semester, "Baby, You Were Great," Wilhelm took the concept of reality television and just added in the factor of being able to experience emotions as well. Since I was focusing a lot more on that little tweak I was able to read the story with, as you mentioned for our third paper, a sort of lens. Everything from minor details in the story to the style in which the author wrote it seemed to be surrounded by that small change.
  Another thing we learned that I found useful was the concept of close focus reading.  Again, though it seems so simple of an idea, it's not something that I really ever thought about.  Examining the text so closely line by line really makes you realize that everything the author puts into a story is there for a reason.  Reading this way taught me to think so much more about a certain character or setting, and why they said something, did something, were described in a certain way, etc.
  I really really enjoyed this class and all the stories, and how you would get us all talking about them every class.  As I said before, "Baby, You Were Great" was my favorite, but "Persistence of Vision" was a close second! Oh, and on that note I think starting the class off with "Liar!" is a really good idea...it is a fast moving interesting read that, at least in my opinion, really did a nice job of getting me excited to see what science fiction was all about!

Bloodchild - Close Reading

"Lomas began to groan and make choked sounds" to "I wouldn't have thought anything about her could seem alien to me"(Butler 126-7). 

"Lomas began to groan and make choked sounds. I had hoped he would stay unconscious. T'Gatoi put her face near his so that he focused on her."

Though Gan has seen and prepared himself for the pain that he knows he will eventually feel when his time to engage in this procedure comes, this is the first time we as the audience are seeing it directly. We feel pain for the man in question, as Gan wishes the man would stay unconscious, and so feel nothing throughout the entire experience.

"'I've stung you as much as I dare for now,' she told him. 'When this is over, I'll sting you to sleep and you won't hurt anymore.'

'Please,' the man begged. 'Wait...'

'There's no more time, Bram. I'll sting you as soon as it's over. When T'Khotgif arrives she'll give you eggs to help you heal. It will all be over soon.'"

Here we see the extreme gruesomeness of what is actually going on here.  These creatures have turned into parasites, essentially breeding humans for the sole purpose of incubating their young. The man is begging for his own Tlic, so that some of his pain may be alleviated as his body is ripped open and the larvae are removed. Despite the torture that this man is going through, the "birthing" process continues, without the help of his Tlic's stings.

"'T'Khotgif!' the man shouted, straining against my hands.

'Soon, Bram.' T'Gatoi glanced at me, then placed a claw against his abdomen slightly to the right of the middle, just below the left rib. There was movement on the right side - tiny, seemingly random pulsations moving his brown flesh, creating a concavity here, a convexity there, over and over until I could see the rhythm of it and knew where the next pulse would be."

Suspense is building here, more and more we see what the whole awful experience is like, and more and more we see Gan coming one step closer to having to go through it himself as well.

Stylistically, we see a pattern start to build in the way in which Butler describes much of the story's action. So far, every movement of these creatures is a flowing, undulating one, described as "not only boneless, but aquatic - something swimming through the air as though it were water." I think it is through this smooth movement that the audience, and even the characters, are supposed to relate to the creature as being natural. If the creature is viewed as natural, it is easier to see the process to which they subject their families as being natural as well.

"Lomas's entire body stiffened under T'Gatoi's claw, though she merely rested it against him as she wound the rear section of her body around his legs. He might break my grip, but he would not break hers. He wept helplessly as she used his pants to tie his hands, then pushed his hands above his head so that I could kneel on the cloth between them and pin them in place. She rolled up his shirt and gave it to him to bite down on."

Though T'Gatoi and the other Tlics do their best and sometimes succeed in appearing as though they actually care for their families, when it comes down to it they are incredibly strong, and will use that force against their "hosts" in order to survive (which in cases such as this one include ensuring the survival of even another Tlic's young). The Tlics now how to ease the agony of their Terran, but at such a small interval that it most likely isn't even noticed.

"And she opened him.

His body convulsed with the first cut. He almost tore himself away from me. The should he made...I had never heard such sounds come from anything human. T'Gatoi seemed to pay no attention as she lengthened and deepened the cut, now and then pausing to lick away blood. His vessels contracted, reacting to the chemistry of her saliva, and the bleeding slowed.

I felt as though I were helping her torture him, helping her consume him. I knew I would vomit soon, didn't know why I hadn't already. I couldn't possibly last until she was finished."

These descriptions further intensify the pain that we as the audience feel for the Terran, and ultimately for Gan. As he stands there watching, he is ambushed with two very real fears: one coming from witnessing the horrific scene in front of him, wishing to ease the man's pain, and the other coming from the knowledge that one day he will be the man in front of him, experiencing the very suffering that he is almost to sick to continue watching.

"She found the first grub. It was fat and deep red with his blood - both inside and out. It had already eaten its own egg case but apparently had not yet begun to eat its host. At this stage, it would eat any flesh except its mother's. Let alone, it would have gone on excreting the poisons that had both sickened and alerted Lomas. Eventually it would have begun to eat. By the time it ate its way out of Lomas's flesh, Lomas would be dead or dying - and unable to take revenge on the thing that was killing him. There was always a grace period between the time the host sickened and the time the grubs began to eat him."

Not only is the gestation and birthing of these creatures excruciatingly painful to the Terran, but it is also potentially lethal to them. The fact that death is a possible outcome of this process yet the Tlic continue to engage the Terran in it just confirms the fact that the Tlic are only using them, and that is it. The 'bond' between Tlic and Terran is a superficial one. The Tlic allow the Terran to believe that to carry their children is a huge honor, and so the Terran are manipulated into somewhat being okay with their Tlics using their bodies for their own purposes. The Terran suffer the beginning stages of death ONLY because of the creature that is PUT inside them, yet the creatures have developed in such a way that the host is rendered incapable of defending itself or inflicting harm on the parasite once the process has begun.

"T'Gatoi picked up the writhing grub carefully and looked at it, somehow ignoring the terrible groans of the man."

Further reminding the reader, and also Gan, that the Tlics feel no remorse for what they do; they have become immune to the anguish they inflict upon their Terran. Their sole concern is with the furthering of their species.

"'Good,' T'Gatoi looked down at him. 'I wish you Terrans could do that at will.' She felt nothing. And the thing she held..."
I think this is Butler's way of saying that not only do the Tlics not care very much, they actually find the screaming and pain the Terrans feel to be annoying, bothersome, a nuisance that comes along with the territory.

"It was limbless and boneless at this stage, perhaps fifteen centimeters long and two thick, blind and slimy with blood. It was like a large worm. T'Gatoi put it into the belly of the achti, and it began at once to borrow. It would stay there and eat as long as there was anything to eat."
This description of the newly born creature shows the reader how blood hungry this species actually is. Their first instinct is to devour whatever there is in front of them, and no matter how savagely, it is encouraged.

"Probing through Lomas's flesh, she found two more, one of them smaller and more vigorous. 'A male!' she said happily. He would be dead before I would. He would be through his metamorphosis and screwing everything that would hold still before his sisters even had limbs. He was the only one to make a serious effort to bite T'Gatoi as she placed him in the achti."
Continuing the graphic description. Even a word like "probing" gives so much description the situation at hand.

"Paler worms oozed to visibility in Lomas's flesh. I closed my eyes. It was worse than finding something dead, rotting and filled with tiny animal grubs. And it was far worse than any drawing or diagram."
Gan is again seeing what it is that is going to happen to him in the future. He probably had been shown on paper what it would be like, but seeing it in person is putting it into perspective for him. He seems to be in shock that this is happening to an actual live being, not something that is already dead and numb.

"'Ah, there are more,' T'Gatoi said, plucking out two long, thick grubs. You may have to kill another animal, Gan. Everything lives inside you Terrans.'
I had been told all my life that this was a good and necessary thing Tlic and Terran did together - a kind of birth. I had believed it until now. I knew birth was painful and bloody, no matter what. But this was something else, something worse. And I wasn't ready to see it. Maybe I never would be. Yet I couldn't see it. Closing my eyes didn't help."
The Tlic depend on the Terran to survive. Up until this time Gan had been preparing for becoming a part of this procedure which ensures their survival. It almost seemed like it was an honor for him to be a part of this, something that would be shameful for him to deny. Now for the first time he is seeing it for what it really is and beginning to question the humanity of it.

"T'Gatoi found a grub still eating its egg case. The remains of the case were still wired into a blood vessel by their own little tube or hook or whatever. That was the way the grubs were anchored and the way they fed. They took only blood until they were ready to emerge. Then they ate their stretched elastic egg cases. Then they ate their hosts.
T'Gatoi bit away the egg case, licked away the blood. Did she like the taste? Did childhood habits die hard - or not die at all?"
Everything about these creatures is barbaric. The way they plant their eggs into their Terran appears to be extremely painful, and the fact that, left in there too long, they could possibly begin to eat the very thing giving them life is altogether chilling. Gan even begins to look at T'Gatoi in a new light, trying to figure out if she is just as savage as these little beings, having only learned to hide it well.

The whole procedure was wrong, alien. I wouldn't have thought anything about her could seem alien to me."
This line wraps up the turning point in the story where Gan goes from loving and feeling safe with his Tlic, to discovering her true nature. He no longer looks forward to the bond they have and will continue to share in the future, and is instead frightened by her. This event has completely changed him forever.