How do the stories balance real life and apocalypse?
How do the stories balance real life and apocalypse?
One of the things I always admire about apocalyptic fiction is the balance the authors have to create. They need to make the apocalypse scary and jarring as well as make us feel as though this could be our world if we continue down a certain path. The technique of making readers feel as though this is an unlikely yet still possible reality pulls readers in because it opens their imagination of what could happen in their world.
In Ray Bradbury’s There Will Come to Soft Rains we see this high tech house that can cook food as well as cleans and do all the chores people normally hate to do. With the capabilities of robots I’m sure there is a robot out there that can make eggs and after a programmed amount of time throw them away like in the story. Many people have robotic vacuums like the mice we see in the story. Therefore, these details make us feel as though we could be living in this society at first. However, we then here about the apocalyptic environment, Apparently there was a nuclear attack where everyone died and this is one of the few houses left standing. We are given the image of the families silhouettes made from ash and suddenly this world we could imagine living in is really scary and we are all dead.
Another example is The Machine Stops. Although we don't have the chairs and pods that can do everything for us we do rely heavily on technology like the characters in the story. At first, this idea of a machine that does everything for us doesn’t seem scary it seems nice and we are once again left feeling like this could be our society. But, we are soon hit with the realization that these machines and our technology can fail and we would be left very vulnerable and possibly eventually die like the characters in the story.
We can also see this in the other stories like speech sounds set 3 years after the time it was written and the comet set in the present time of when it was written.
In my opinion, a good piece of apocalyptic fiction creates an environment that you feel is similar to yours and is one you can relate to. This gives you a sense of comfort that is quickly ripped away from you when you hear of the tragedy that occurred. The characters in these stories didn’t know these apocalypses were going to happen, this implies that we may be wiped off the face of this earth with absolutely no warning and that's scary to think about but interesting to read about.
This is a really interesting question that I think gets at what separates stories that resonate from ones that don't. While the stories are science fiction, they often comment on aspects of our society that could prove detrimental. I think "There Will Come Soft Rains" did a really good job with this, especially because it didn't reveal what had happened to the humans until later in the story. You're lulled into a sort of false sense of security when the house just seems like an idyllic, futuristic form of suburban life. Robotic butlers seem pretty convenient and the mice vacuum cleaners are kinda cute, and you recognize that, with roombas and stuff, technology is headed in that direction. Then you see them just scoop up and incinerate the dead dog, then hear abut the silhouettes of the blown up humans, and you remember the detriments of technology.
ReplyDeleteI think that the balance you mentioned is something I see poorly acted upon in certain books or stories I've read. Most books I've read on this topic are way too focused on the fictional elements, and so the ideas of the stories aren't very well shown. I definitely agree that these two stories are well balanced, and with "There Will Come Soft Rains" being one of my favorite short stories we've read, it's nice to see that the balance of fiction and truth works in the story.
ReplyDelete"There Will Come Soft Rains" made me fearful of the dependence that today's society has on technology. I agree with your point about the state of vulnerability this dependence would leave us in if our technologies collapse. The society depicted in the story seemed like a heavily exaggerated version of the world we live in, but there were similarities nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting question that I hadn't really thought about until this blog post. I definitely agree that these stories are combinations of reality plus the impossible, which is what makes them so appealing and compelling to readers from the very beginning. Speech Sounds is a story that particularly stands out to me because I find it difficult to imagine a future where there is no communication, especially since communication takes up most of our days. Based off of your interpretation of apocalyptic fiction, it would have been interesting to actually read the "disaster" that takes prior to the beginning of Speech Sounds.
ReplyDeleteI never realized that apocalyptic stories need a balance between being very scary and being realistic. The stories we've read, as they show our growing dependence on technology, which we are dealing with in real life, definitely have this balance as it relates to real life. By having the stories take place in the future, though, and with more advanced technologies, the author is able to add a fictional aspect.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good observation about apocalyptic fiction that hadn't really occurred to me. It makes sense that in all of these stories, there can't be too much of a divide between our society and the one described, or we wouldn't be interested in it, but if the world described is too similar to ours, it isn't apocalyptic anymore. I think it's really interesting that you brought up how in these stories, a very stressful moment for the reader tends to be the moment when we see the way in which this society is different, that makes it so much worse than our own. Many of these apocalyptic stories often seem like they could initially be about our own world, until you get to the point where the true apocalyptic elements are revealed. You did a really nice job of explaining how this balance has to work, and how apocalyptic stories are usually set up.
ReplyDeleteYou're totally right, and I agree that apocalyptic stories are scarier when they seem like they could plausibly happen in real life in so few as a couple years. Reading these types of stories in class always makes me feel kind of weird because I 100% contribute in-real-life to whatever in-story circumstances are leading to certain death. I really don't like how much I identify with the antagonists of some of these. I refuse to do any self-introspection though.
ReplyDeleteI think you're definitely right, there certainly is a "sweet spot" between realism and terror. I have to say though, There Will Come Soft Rains was scarier for me because it felt more imminent: The Machine Stops isn't quite realistic because it's so far in the future. Overall, I agree with your observations.
ReplyDeleteI really like your interpretation of what makes a good apocalyptic story. I agree that when an author is able to consolidate realistic elements of daily life with the horrific elements of an apocalypse, the story is made much scarier. What I liked about "There Will Come Soft Rains" is the gradual introduction of unsettling elements to a scene of complete normalcy, which makes the ultimate reveal of the apocalypse even better.
ReplyDeleteI think your analysis of apocalyptic stories is very insightful. I especially agree that what makes "There Will Come Soft Rains" unsettling is how the story begins with familiar and comforting images and slowly introduces more information until it reveals that catastrophic events have wiped out humans and human civilization. However, I would also expand on this point by discussing the rest of the story. The story does go on after this revelation and I think that is really significant. The house is depicted as being the last remnant of human civilization that remains after everything around it is destroyed. It slowly revealed to be in conflict with nature until, in the end, it is destroyed. Throughout the course of the story, the house is not only made to seem alive, but also humanized. It is shown that the house believes its human inhabitants to still be alive. I interpreted this as meaning that, despite the fact that humanity has been wiped out, there is still some hope because a small part of their civilization remains. When the house, too, is destroyed, there is a certain sense of finality. The last evidence of humans is gone, so there is no more hope left. This hopelessness and finality that results from the complete destruction of humanity what makes "There Will Come Soft Rains" scarier than "The Machine Stops," in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI like your analysis of this concept. I think that to effectively make an impression on a reader, authors have to introduce the chilling or creepy aspects of their setting slowly and build to a climax. Like you said, the stories start with a seemingly ordinary or commonplace setting and add a level of unease as time goes on. The picturesque rituals of daily life slowly give way to the realizations that there are no people left for the house to serve, or that the machine is breaking down bit by bit. The relatability of the setting makes its eventual collapse more impactful.
ReplyDeleteI really like your interpretation of what makes a good apocalyptic story. I think another important aspect is the suspense and adding elements that are very similar to what our society is like today is a good way to hook and terrify the reader. It's a good way to bring out an emotion out of them. "There Will Come Soft Rains" was way more chilling for me because most of the technologies that were described are technologies that exist in our world today, and the idea of nuclear war is also something that has been talked about for years.
ReplyDelete