Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Memories, Downfall, And Man Vs. Aliens?


The stories Fair Game, The Father-Thing, We Remember It for You Wholesale, The Chromium Fence, and Pay Check were very interesting and unsettling. A prominent feature of these texts that caught my attention was the idea of reality. Something has to be ‘real’ but we are left questioning what is. Are we who we say we are? Can we trust our memories or those around us? Are we really at the top of the food chain (so to speak) or is something else? Each of these texts creates its own questions along these lines. They make you look deeper into what situations are going on and what we really believe in. Many of the characters in these short stories began to question themselves, became scared or defensive, and did things they did not know they could (or would have).

Some significant parts of the text I saw are as follows. In Fair Game, Professor Douglas decides to believe he’s being hunted by other-worldly beings for his intelligence when in reality he’s a meal. In The Father-Thing the children essentially take up arms against “body snatchers.” They are the protectors in this scenario. The Chromium Fence is futuristic and makes us think about what side we are on. Are our body functions really a problem or are we in danger of caving to society? Would we cave to the morphed crowds or be individualist? In We Remember It For You Wholesale the idea of implanted memories creates uncertainty. Can we change our memories and still be ourselves? This leads us to The Paycheck. The initial idea of ‘blanking’ ones memory adds onto being able to alter one’s mind. Should we be scared of the possibility because we may not be able to tell what is real or not?

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