This week's readings were both different and yet strangely complimentary. It is easy enough to envision Lasswell's Garrison State as an intervening step between the beginning world of the Time Traveler and the world of the Eloi and Morlocks in 802,701 AD.
That being said, I found that I accepted Lasswell's vision more readily than Wells due to being unable to get over the prejudice I thought hurt the book. I couldn't help but compare the Morlocks to the lower classes or minorities and felt that, while believable due to his strange location and circumstances, the Time Traveler should have been more open to understanding not only the gentle and pretty Eloi but the dark and scary Morlocks, being a man of science as he was. Impulsively siding with those on the surface of the world seemed awfully shallow to me and I was ultimately unable to get past it. Perhaps it was simple a product of its time, as so much of science fiction falls into (whether fair or not to the piece in question).
Lasswell's thought experiment in "The Garrison State" was much more to my taste. I particularly liked the following:
“The picture of the garrison state that is offered here is no dogmatic forecast. Rather it is a picture of the probable. It is not inevitable. It may not even have the same probability as some other descriptions of the future course of development. What, then, is the function of this picture for scientists? It is to stimulate the individual specialist to clarify for himself his expectations about the future, as a guide to the timing of scientific work.” (456)
Is this not the function of all science fiction? And if not, shouldn't it be?
I found the idea of an end to unemployment an interesting idea, gained through psychologically ending it and introducing compulsory labor (Lasswell, 459-460). In the vision of the future given by Wells, labor doesn't seem to be an issue. As in Metropolis, the laborers (the Morlocks) descended into the ground while the idle rich or elites (the Eloi) rose to the surface. But as the Eloi don't seem to work, labor might well go out the window along with organized government and society, which also seems to be lacking with the Eloi and Morlocks. Civilization rose, specialized in Lasswell, and fell again to a state of nature in The Time Machine. An interesting idea.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
>>But as the Eloi don't seem to work, labor might well go out the window along with organized government and society, which also seems to be lacking with the Eloi and Morlocks.<<
Interesting point Jen, but I might have to disagree on part of it. I would say that the Eloi are living in a barely recognizable organized form of government, while the Morlocks appear to only be driven by hunger and malice. The Eloi, while seeming childlike, have some pretty self-serving tendencies, as well as some organized tendencies. For example, when Weena is drowning in a part of the stream that is not where the other Eloi could safely go, the Traveler decides to go help. This lack of willingness to assist others is indicative of several things, but chiefly that there is consensus to not risk one's life for others. Not the nicest governmental characteristic, but the fact that none of them tried to help seems to show a rule thats in place but just not discovered by the Traveler.
The organized portion of their lives would be that they all sleep in a large group, and teach their young to do the same. In fact, based on Weena's terrified reaction to sleeping away from the rest of the group, its seems clear that she had always been cautioned against sleeping alone. This could be a product of family structure, but perhaps thats what their government is based off of - a teacher or wise one in control, and everyone learns from him/her, but otherwise does their own thing.
Just some thoughts - I could be completely off base. I just don't know if there is enough information to make a clear judgment on the matter.
-Mike
>> I would say that the Eloi are living in a barely recognizable organized form of government, while the Morlocks appear to only be driven by hunger and malice.<<
I suppose it depends on what you mean by government. If you mean an organizing principle, then perhaps the Eloi do have a government. I would argue they have something more akin to instincts. Safety in numbers, self-preservation are the characteristics you mentioned, perhaps they were taught but due to my aforementioned approach to the book, I'd say they were more like instincts because a family structure would tend to cultivate feelings of some regard for the other members. But I could be wrong too, thanks for your thoughts.
Post a Comment