Dr. Moreau

I was interested in The Island of Dr. Moreau because I wanted to get into the science fiction horror genre. However, I wasn't scared by it, which I think is just the era it was written in. Perhaps if I was a reader back in that day and age, I would have been at the edge of my seat, but as someone living in the 21st century where the horror genre is just everywhere in media, I was unimpressed. The idea itself was definitely freaky, like having human animal chimeras is gross and creepy, I think just the way it was written didn't really allow for the suspense and thriller vibe that I was expecting. (Perhaps that was the point, however. Perhaps what Wells wanted to do was not to create a Stephen King, not that he would have known who that is, kind of fear, but a more eerie fear. A fear that can't be turned away from because it exists in the real world which makes it all the more horrifying.) That's not to say it wasn't a good book. I actually liked it, along with its message, or at least what I think is its message. Wells was critiquing his society at the time, with their increasing interest in evolution and controlling biology. I think with his book he wanted to say how humans are just animals themselves and vulnerable to the laws of evolution just like any other creature on this earth. I like to imagine him saying to his readers "Did you learn nothing from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein? The entire book is just the consequence of someone trying to play God, not a go ahead!"
I question whether the reader as a human is supposed to be Prendick, or the Beast Folk. Prendick is a logical man of science, who's just caught in this whole situation. Critics have said that Prendick is actually a Christ type of character to Dr. Moreau's God, but I think differently. I think perhaps Wells wanted the audience to read Prendick, grow sympathetic with him, and agree with his choices and see themselves in him. Prendick isn't a bad guy, and all of what he did, killing the Puma man and taking the over the island after Dr. Moreau's death, is understandable. By isolating himself at the end of the book, and he does this because he has seen the true nature of mankind, the reader pities Prendick. This book is definitely a cautionary tale for the Victorian readers, and it definitely worked. It worked so well that Wells was freaked himself out. But even though we as a readers are seeing this all take place in Prendick's perspective, I think that Prendick is supposed to show us an outside point of view of who we really are, the Beast Folk.
First there's the religion of the land, or the Law as it's called, and their God, Dr. Moreau. Without Moreau, the people of the land completely fall apart and back into their animal ways. They didn't know how to survive without him as he was their guidance. Even though he hated them and treated them awfully, the beast folk knew no differently so without him they all just fell apart. That's humans right there. We provide ourselves with laws and rules laid down by our gods and without them we'd descend into chaos. Another aspect is just the evolutionary one. People are still animals, even though we create society and laws, people still break those laws. I think Wells is trying to speak about the true nature of mankind. To him, mankind is still equal to that of animals, no matter we tell ourselves.
Wells was also trying to talk about how luck and life works. In the beginning, Prendick perhaps thinks himself to be lucky as the sole survivor of a ship wreck. His luck is even heightened when the other ship picks him up and a kind man aboard treats him back to health. However, that all backfires on him when he ends up on the island with no way to get back to a mainland. Everything falls apart for Prendick, to him realizing that this island is actually not all that it seems, and running into forest and Beast Folk. Suddenly he's thrown into this world that he absolutely does not want to be a part of and has to take charge, like after Moreau's death and continuing to enforce the Law. At the end, he does get his resolution, by having a boat wash up ashore and letting him finally leave the island all behind. With this, Well's was talking about how bad things happen to good people. It's also seen with Montgomery. He was a good person, and it's seen in how he takes care of Prendick out of his own choice, but ended up saddled with someone like Dr. Moreau. However, Wells isn't saying that people don't get their just desserts. Dr. Moreau definitely gets his with his death at the end after torturing all those animals (perhaps Wells was warning similar scientists about what was coming to them) and at the very end with the boat washing up for Prendick many speculate that the dead bodies found in it were actually those of the captain and sailor of the boat that kicked Prendick out. But Prendick, a regular English guy ends up with all this knowledge that he did not want nor need and has to isolate himself from civilization because he can no longer trust humanity. The world works in mysterious ways.
Overall, it's a good book. It raised ethical questions that, at the time it was written, needed to be asked, and it still remains relevant to this day. This book was, at least I think it was, a big cautionary tale towards eugenics. Dr. Moreau's experiments all backfired on him and proved that humans can't control their evolutionary destiny. We just can't. We, like all other species, are just pawns to the bigger picture. Also that we shouldn't play god. Ever. It will never work out for us.

The Island

I've read up to chapter 13 in The Island of Doctor Moreau, and so far, I'm not getting a real "sci fi" feel from it. I guess the only thing that can be classified as science fiction is the weird body modifications, a topic we've discussed several time in class already. But other than that, it seems more like a weird horror but not horror (like a Goosebumps book I used to love as a kid). That's not to say it's a bad book, because it's definitely not. I was kind of intimidated at first because of the fact that it's so old and usually old book are really hard for me to grasp just because of the way it's written sometimes. They don't have that modem flair of telling you what's right there. But I wanted a challenge, and I'm pleasantly surprised.
The closest thing I can imagine to the weird beasts on the island are the chimeras in (bear with me here and I'm sorry) on the manga/anime Full Metal Alchemist. In one of the first volumes, they meet a scientist who transmutes his daughter and their dog into this weird and horrifying hybrid. That poor child. But I'm assuming Dr. Moreau isn't using just regular people for his experiments. Considering he was caught last time and it was the reason of his fleeing England, he's probably started using bums or orphans or whatever. People that won't be missed. Which is just as bad??
But I had some things to say about the characters, namely Edward Prendick. the poor rando who just gets caught up in all of this because of a ship wreck, I really feel for the dude, I do, but come on, does he have no sense of self preservation? He immediately freaks out and bolts when he finds out what's going on in the island rather than pretending that everything's okay and waiting for the next boat that might arrive (which given is not for awhile). But no. He dips into the forest that he has no idea how to navigate through or survive on (all without eating breakfast again. Tragic.) Montgomery clearly wants to keep this guy alive which is why he's there in the first place, while Dr. Moreau doesn't care, so what's to stop him from using Prendick in his next experiment? (perhaps with the puma? who knooows) It be completely valid because no ones missing Prendick in the first place, everyone believed that they all died in the wreck, and if Prendick escapes he would very obviously blab about the events on the island to everyone. So, sorry, but I gotta side with Moreau on this one. Also, how did Prendick not realize what was going on sooner? I mean the people that live there aren't very subtle about hiding their body modifications, as well as Montgomery and Moreau aren't really hiding what they were doing. The only part that kind of annoyed me was when Prendick was like, "hey I just saw someone with cat ears?? explain??" and Montgomery was just like "sorry my dude. you're crazy." Like clearly Prendick knows something's up at this point if he noticed cat ear guy over there so why won't Montgomery come clean with him? All he has to say is "dude. don't freak out, but we might be creating human animal hybrids though. please don't freak out and run away and create all this drama."

Why I stayed away

If I had read Craphound outside of class, I probably wouldn't have labeled it as science fiction. I mean, there's aliens, but it's kinda a casual thing. Like oh it's just everyday Canada and by the way, there's aliens here. Everything else seemed kinda normal. But what I kind of realized in that interview, more things are scifi than what we realize.

I read all of the Hunger Games and Divergent books series (and one or two of the Maze Runner one), and never once thought it was science fiction. I put science fiction on kind of a pedestal, something that only men could ever really touch, which is already a backwards way of thinking. Why did they get to have this all to themselves when we have to share everything with them? Even recent science fiction movies, like Interstellar or The Martian were too far away for me to grasp because it wasn't something that was made for me. Like a lot of things it was made for men, by men. I don't think I ever truly understood that there are many different kinds of science fiction, we just only ever really see of the super popular tropes like space travel and the apocalypse. There's also science fiction for everyone, that it doesn't belong to a certain group of people just because their voices are the ones that are the loudest. Reading the interview made me appreciate the women in science fiction more because I finally got to hear their voices. Just like the men they have different opinions on topics and on the genre, and I think we often forget that. I think we often lump women together, especially those that work in a men field, as either rare jewels held in the highest regards or something that isn't even given a chance. You shouldn't stay away from something because you're confused by it, if anything this should compel you to pursue it. However I never chose to pursue more science fiction because it felt wrong for me, like I wouldn't be able to find something in it because it wasn't made for someone like me in mind. But this is wrong. There's always something out there for us, we just have to find it and bring it to the light. 

Fireflies by Owl City

After we watched the two episodes in class I decided to finally take Firefly off my list on Netflix and watch it. I only got through three episodes and a half when I decided to call it quits for the night and go to bed.
I've decided to talk about the characters and some of their flaws (now these aren't things that necessarily anger me because I feel like these were things that they were maybe planning on overcoming or something and never could). For Zoe, what bothers me about her is that she never seems to stand up to Mal. She's loyal to her crew and her captain (which I admire) and still manages to be a loving wife to her husband regardless of the life they lead. However, she has these moments where she clearly disagrees with what Mal wants and it's almost as if she's about to say something but then decides against it. Wash notices this when he tells her that she should just tell the captain what's what right up front but she doesn't. I feel like she has the potential to be a really great leader and character but I think that this might her back a lot on some accounts. Speaking about Mal, what bothers me the most about him is his inability to tell people what he thinks. When Simon and River are kidnapped and Simon asks him why he came back for them in the first place, Mal just brushes him off. The rest of the crew (Jayne) asks repeatedly why they keep them onboard since they're such a big risk as fugitives but Mal's always like "whatever" (although I can understand maybe not wanting to dignify Jayne with a response). Simon also has his moments. He seems to keep his cool most of the time (or at least pretends to) but has times where his sarcasm can turn mean and accidentally hurt someone (usually Kaylee's which makes it even worse) feelings. This is him being unsure of the new world he's been thrust to and not knowing how to deal with it. I mean I get it. He used to be a respectable doctor with a bright future but now he's even lower than common criminals. I feel for him, I really do, but that doesn't mean I don't get annoyed.
Something I really enjoyed was the whole culture mash. Like the people were American in a Chinese and Indian environment. It made the clothing really cool to me. It's a really hard aesthetic to describe but it's such a look™. I can't really say more about it other than it was a really cool aspect of the show that is honestly a believed possibility for humans if we ever start terraforming other planets because of globalization here.

Mars

One of the consistent conflicts in the book is what to do with Mars. Sax believes that Mars should be colonized like Earth with all of these cities and people, while Ann thinks that Mars should be kept at its purest state and should just be studied. I side with Ann over this issue because I can see where she's coming from. She talks about how much we've messed up Earth with everything that they've done and that they could be messing with life that already exists on Mars. This is a modern topic as well as we see many places that are being endangered (like the Amazon Rain forest) at the expense of mankind wanting to make money. Many people want to preserve the beauty of our world but others, who are much richer and thus can be much more influential, see differently. I really side with Ann about wanting to keep Mars as a place to study from because I hate the thought that everything humans see we must destroy. Humans don't see beyond their scope of understanding, and the book portrays this beautifully. The characters can never see what the other characters might see, and if they do, they just act ignorant about it. They don't wish to compromise, as seen with Sax and Ann, it must be their way or no way.
Another aspect of the book I really enjoy is how real the characters are. They're all just awful humans, but that's what makes them so realistic. I could never see myself doing what these characters do, like what they say Maya does with sex (use it as a weapon), but I can see people like that. I can see an Arkady who's just always weaseling around and slightly annoying everyone, or a emotionally disconnected Frank. When John talks about Sax's self made religion (thisness), it really struck something with me. When they see Mars and the entire crew of the Ares gets deliriously happy, Maya talks about thisness. She rejoices in how happy everyone is because she knows it won't last. When John and Maya see each other again and decide to rekindle their relationship, John thinks about thisness. He just thinks about the intensity of the moment and how much he loves where he is right then and there. Later, thisness causes John to propose to Maya. But these moments are just so relatable. Everyone's had those times when life just feels too hyper realistic and you feel with so much intensity everything that's going around. You take a step back from yourself and think, this is my life, this is who I am, this is the world I live in, and you either love it or you hate it. It's a moment of complete introspection, and very rare. Those are times that you look back on and think about what you were doing then, like Maya does when she remembers how happy everyone was and just wishes she could go back to that time. For these characters, I think, do they deserve this happiness? They're such god awful people so do they deserve this immortality they're getting? Why do they have the right to dictate whatever happens on Mars? But then I realize, I'm just as human as they are, I can't judge them. With these characters, they're just being too driven by their personal needs and wants. Vlad and Ursula are driven by science to create their immortality solution. Maya's driven by power. John's driven by fame. None of these people do anything for anyone else, and if they do, they just think about how that'll impact their own lives. Maybe that's why I agree with Ann so strongly. Ann didn't want for anything specific, she just wanted to study Mars like they originally intended to do. That's what I would want to do if I was in her shoes. But there's always a Sax in everyone's lives that complete destroys everything you wanted. As more and more people come to Mars, it's harder to control. People are hard to control. You tell them to do one thing and they instantly want to do exactly the opposite. The first hundred reflected mankind at the time, because as you see more and more in Mars, they're exactly the same as the first hundred. Helmut is just as power hungry as Sax is, but except he was on Earth. There're more where they came from.

Is it weird if I write about Red Mars? I'm writing about Red Mars...

So I started to read Red Mars, and was pleasantly surprised. I found it very easy to read and it flowed very quickly, but the story was enough to keep me reading. I haven't read that much to be honest, only through most of The Voyage Out (which is the second chapter), but I wanna talk about spoilers so sorry spoilers ahead.~~~
So far, someone's died and that's not at all what I was expecting. The timeline was weird for me, starting with John's murder and then how everyone ended up on Mars in the first place. My first impression of the characters was "these aren't exactly good people" which I found strange. In books, there's always the big moralist protagonist, and Red Mars seems to be lacking that. From the first chapter, I thought maybe Frank was the main guy, but he definitely is not the best guy. Throug The Voyage Out that he actually kind of plans John's murder and that's implied in the first chapter but you don't really see how much he hates John until the second chapter.  Maya seems to be a really complex character so I'm curios to find out more about her. In the first chapter John and Maya were together and so obviously was very sad about his murder ( how will she react that to discovering that Frank played a part?) but in the second chapter she was kind of in love with Frank. Or at least might have been. What I also like about the book is that it's not very American centered the other astronauts are from different countries and they talk about them a lot and and how they almost make fun of the Americans and was it  just really nice like perspective to see. What really upset me about the characters is that it's kind of weird to put yourself in their shoes. No one seems to really trust each other even though they've been living together for I forget how long almost like several months now and it's just hard to imagine that. They don't have friendships and just tolerate each other and that's very strange to picture that you kind of have to live with someone for that matter time and you don't really build friendships.  I really want to find out more about about how Frank and John and how their relationship came to be. They're frenemies  because Frank is like the captain and I think Frank might just be jealous of John because John is like they say he's like the super charismatic type and stuff and everyone loves him and they kind of listen to Frank out of just obligation because he's their leader. What I don't think I like about this book is that a lot of things are implied and I'm not very good at receiving subtle hints. So I'm reading and think was that supposed to mean something I did not catch that what just happened. For example when Maya and Frank have sex for the last time she says she looked into his eyes and it was like looking into an empty house and she knew it was over and I was like what what what.  You don't really know how much time passes between where they are now as in leaving to go to Mars and from where the book starts. They've already built cities and stuff and they said that the Arabs already got there before them and I wonder how long ago that was before the rest of the world showed up. John's played off as the antagonist  and you kind of sympathize with Frank  at the very beginning at least and then you kind of see from a different perspective. From Maya's point of view, you see kind of Frank as  this cold guy thats almost calculating in her eyes and John is is like super charismatic that's probably why he so influential  and probably why Frank wants to kill him or plotted against him ( I actually don't know if he did this but I feel like he did or that it's heavily implied so I'm just going to go with that). What I want to see is kind of the development between Maya and John how they came to be about because I'm assuming a lot of time passes between the two chapters so I'm really interested in seeing how those two happened. In the beginning when Frank talks to Maja you don't get anything that they might've had something together but like second chapter comes along and you find out they totally did. But I'm really enjoying  it so far.

Bloody child

When I read books or short stories I'm always curious as to where the name comes into play. Like in Neuromancer it's the AI or in Snow Crash it's the computer virus. It's always weirdly gratifying to see the author drop in the name and you're like "woaaah I get it now ha", but for this short story, I didn't get that. I was left wondering who, or what, is the blood child. I think back to the part in the story where T'Gatoi is operating and Lomas and she pulls out the worms that are literally latched onto his insides and Gan comments on how bloody and red they are and how he can't tell what color they actually are because of how much blood they're covered in.  Later, when Gan is contemplating murder or suicide, he asks T'Gatoi what Terran blood tastes like because she fed on the veins of his father. Maybe blood child are the Tlic that are born from the blood of humans. 

During the part where T'Gatoi is performing the surgery on Lomas, Gan sees that she feels no emotions as she has to dig around Lomas' internal organs to find more worms. I think this reveals a lot about her character and what she actually feels for humans. She doesn't care that Lomas might die or is in pain just as long as the babies survive, and Gan realizes this as well. This disturbs him because how can someone not feel remorse or fear when they see one of their own being put through such intense pain? I think Gan pictures himself in this position and that T'Gatoi will react the same way. Perhaps he sees that maybe T'Gatoi doesn't actually care about him like he previously believed. This is what I got from this interaction at least.

I also just had a few questions about the Tlics and N'Tlics. How does one reach the stage where Lomas was in? Why did these babies need to be put into an animal so quickly before they were born when other Tlics could be born from humans? These are just semantics but things I was confused about as I read the story.