My fondness for science-fiction stories is as deep-seated as my affection for fresh air or delectable food – almost inherent; and counter to my cheerful demeanor, I find myself oddly drawn to the macabre sub-genre of dystopian thrillers. After perusing review sites such as Goodreads and weighing contenders, I decided to read Wool, a five-part, self-published work by Hugh Howey and the beginning of the Silo trilogy. The novel takes place within a tremendous subterranean silo surrounded by scorched earth and lethal air. The survivors live under strict rules, taboos, and restrictions that are seldom contested due to the generational gap from the original catastrophe. Couples must apply with the state to court and marry, a lottery system determines child bearing, speaking of the outside world is utterly prohibited, and systems of social hierarchy are well in play. Television screens of the toxic landscape contribute to psychological well-being; though over time, the sensors become hazy due to the elements. Wool begins through the eyes of Holston, the Silo sheriff, climbing up a seemingly endless stairs and intimately examining the withering tread of the Silo’s metal stairs and handrails. Holston …show more content…
Struggling with a decision his deceased wife Allison made years earlier, Holston attempts to find a reason for her death through solitary research. Disheartened, Holston follows suite to violate the silo’s ultimately taboo – he asked to go outside, a capital offense referred to as cleaning. Once outside, he (and every predecessor) cleans the Silo’s camera sensors with a patch of wool. Speculation imbues the silo’s inhabitants regarding why anyone would clean the sensors after being ostracized; but the high of witnessing the outside after years of murky buildup, no matter how treacherous landscape, quickly diminishes guesswork. Holston’s cleaning and demise spur the beginning of this epic
Similarly, the book’s three leading protagonists ultimately possess a common objective, escaping their unjust circumstances in pursuit of seeking the “warmth of other suns.” For this reason, they abandon the laws of Jim Crow and the familiarity of their hometowns as they flee to a better life. In the process, they all assume a level of risk in their decisions to rebel against the system. For example, Ida decides to embark on a precarious journey while in the beginning stages of a clandestine pregnancy. Any number of unpredictable events could have resulted from this judgment, including fatality. All of the migrants shared an unspoken agreement that the rewards would far outweigh the dangers involved.
This book teaches the importance of self-expression and independence. If we did not have these necessities, then life would be like those in this novel. Empty, redundant, and fearful of what is going on. The quotes above show how different life can be without our basic freedoms. This novel was very interesting and it shows, no matter how dismal a situation is, there is always a way out if you never give up, even if you have to do it alone.
This extract emphasises the lonely, outworld feeling that would have been felt living in such settings. This puts into perspective the feeling that will be felt during the coarse of the plot development.
The setting of the story is in the future, 2081 of what will be happening in the world. The story is told in third person limited point of view, whereby the narrator is not a character in the book. In addition, the narrator does not draw conclusions, make decisions, or make judgments about the events. The objectivity of the narrator suggests a distancing from the hostile world of the story. The tone used by the author is critical, humorous and satirical. The story is full of humor despite the fact that, it is full of dark themes of oppression. Every dark event in the story is accompanied by a light moment of melancholy comedy.
The dynamic character in the novel is a father. He endures many hardships just being a father, but in addition, the father and his son live in a dystopian United States. Because of this, the father struggles with surviving not only for his son, but for himself. The father constantly changes from being the “survivor” and the father. The survivor in
This novel represents a dark future of our world that we should pay attention to.
The complexity of the plot starts when the reader is introduced to a man lost in a cave and his source of light goes out and continues when the man realizes that “starving would prove [his] ultimate fate” (1). Readers get a sense of hopelessness the man is feeling, and this is where the tensions begins to build. Alt...
The book opens on the factory floor of the reproduction plant. What do they make here? Humans. Here in this muti-level factories people are made, not just the bodies but the minds too. In this “Brave New World” Aldous Huxley created babies are decanted not born. The cast system is no longer a frame of mind it is the devilment, mass cloning and use of chemicals to mutate or under develop embryos was used to create classes of people that could be called less human. As you travel up in this factory you see the training that children are put through so they will never question their place in society. Infants made for the lower classes are electrocuted when they move towards books or flowers because “You couldn’t have the lower cast wasting the communities time over books,” (Find and finish quote) Then moving up there are hallways full of dormitories and there peacefully sleeping are children of every age and cast and in the back ground is the soft murmur of a voice repeating every lesson of society. Never be unhappy simply use soma “A gram in better than a dam.” Cast discrimination “I’m so glad I not a gama.” Economic use “More stiches, less riches.”(55) And social behaviors like promiscuity and birth control. The ‘controllers’ of this world made the people that made up the world.
The novel focuses on one man, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, as he tries to survive another day in the Soviet Union with dignity and compassion. The action takes place at a prison camp in Russia in the northeastern region called Ekibastuz. The location is pounded by snow, ice and winds of appalling and shocking force during winter and lasted for many weeks. The camp is very isolated as it consists double rows of barbed wire fencing around the entire area, making sure it is fully concealed and private, so that no prisoners can escape. The conditions of the camp are very harsh. It is a union where camp prisoners have to earn their food by working hard in their inadequate clothing during the extremely cold weather. Living conditions are almost unbearable; heavy mattresses do not include sheets, as an alternative it is stuffed with sawdust, prisoners only eat two hundred grams of bread per meal and guards would force prisoners to remove their clothing for body searches at temperatures of forty below zero. The building walls are covered in dull and monotonous white paint and it was untidy and unpleasant. “It’s constant chaos, constant crowds and constant confusion” shows that ceilings are most likely coated with frost and men at the tables are packed as tight and it was always crowded. Rats would diddle around the food store, because of the incredibly unhygienic and filthy environment the camp is and it was so insanitary that some men would die from horrible diseases. “Men trying to barge their way through with full trays” suggests that the living conditions are very harsh indeed and mealtimes would be chaotic, as every famished men would be rushing to receive food. However, not only did the place cause the prisoners to suffer and lose their...
The story begins by highlighting the qualities that make this place seem utopian, such as the idea of immortality and only having to deal with death on a voluntary basis. The story 's main character is a man named Edward K. Wheling, waiting for his triplets to be born. More about their society is told through the hospital 's employee conversation. One of the men paints a disturbing mural on the wall that represents how it is possible to have immortality in their civilization; As new babies come into the world others have to die to keep the population at a stagnant forty-million people. If a volunteer wishes to die they have to call the “2BR02B” phone number and set up an appointment to die in a gas chamber. The triplets that being born only have one volunteer so the father kills Dr. Hitz, the creator of the gas chamber system, one of the women in the room and himself to sacrifice life for his children. The only way to speak out against the government and stand up to the lack of individuality is to commit suicide. This is ironic because to speak out against the government you must choose to die and that is what they are hoping for to bring someone new into the
Returning to the initial character, Zeena’s despair in a deteriorating marriage, eroded away by Ethan, prominently features the crucial aspects of Naturalism. In response to Ethan’s cruelty, Zeena withdraws socially and lingers in the shadows, an alien in her own home. In one passage, Zeena remarks on Ethan’s uncharacteristic primping, suspicious of its coincidence with Mattie’s arrival; she is enveloped by quietude as she waits for a response that never stirs the air. Complication reveals a nascent power disparity, which pertains to the Naturalist theme of oppression by hushing Zeena’s intuition with Ethan’s suppression of information. Concurrently, Ethan’s affair scorns Zeena, blistering her with a fire she only hears the crackling of in clandestine whispers and sees in dart-quick, longing glances. On a particular evening, Zeena is confined to the solitude of an empty home, while Ethan frolics about
In this novel the presentation of the father is portrayed as a father protecting his son’s innocence. It’s almost as if the man is placed on this planet for one major purpose to protect and keep his son alive. The burnt man passage gives the reader an insight into a world that has absence of culture and civilization in the post-apocalyptic world that both the boy and man inhabit, the role of the boy and the father are further established for the reader and many of the techniques that become typical of McCarthy’s style in the novel. Structurally the burned man scene is one of the horrific episodes that occur in the novel and it is the first to take place, foreshadowing, future horrific episodes that will take place later on in the novel. This essay will be exploring these ideas in more depth looking closely at how the father and boy are portrayed in this part of the extract.
The flat,burning with human desparation,is entered through a metal and ugly fire escape.this is the setting in which the main three characters live and stive to escape their real life.
How she had made a fire pit out of a piece of protruding rock in the ground. There were also crates being used as tables and chairs. Most astounding was the make shift bed she had made from some old straw and a dirty, moth eaten blanket. William slowly walked around the cavern, now noticing how constructive this young girl was. Her ability to make utensils and weapons out of old bones proved to William that this girl was much smarter then he thought.” He is at a lost for words “Well, I guess you will be safe here for a few days. Just until we can figure out what to do. All we can do is hope this is just another one of his rants. He smiles reassuringly. I’m sure it is.” Scarlet now gives a curious grin and chuckles.” It sure sounds like you know him well. Who are you really? And how is it that you know so much about his lordship? You are certainly not one of his servants. She takes a step back. A spy perhaps?? That’s why I keep bumping into you. You’re a spy searching the villages and forest for poor people you can extort information from. William starts laughing hysterically. “Me a spy?? That’s a joke. I can’t even make a good soldier according to my father.” He smiles “That’s ok cause I don’t want to
When Blake was inspired to write about these boys, their barbaric lives were not only common knowledge, but accepted. Throughout the passing years, however, history has lost sight of the horror they faced everyday. Therefore, familiarity with such details does help the reader to see more clearly Blake's indictment of a society that allows children to be subjected to almost unbelievable wretched conditions, and it also gives more force and point to the realism and imagery. (Nurmi, 15) History reveals that children usually began these lives at the age of 6 or 7 or even earlier. The job tormented their small bodies, leaving them to die with deformed ankles, twisted kneecaps and spines, or with "chimney sweeps cancer." The boys began their days long before sunrise until about noon when they "cried the streets" for more business. When it was time to return these young boys carried heavy bags of soot to the cellars and attics where they slept. Even the task of sleeping was torture. The boys owned nothing and were given nothing, leaving them with only the bags of soot that had swept for a bed.