NOTE: This is for Monday (MWF classes) and Thursday (TR classes); you're on very different schedules!
Answer 2 of the following...
1. Why do you think the
work opens with a ‘frame narrative’—two space travelers who find a message in a
bottle? Why is the entire story presented
as the travelers reading this message from men long ago (and why are they so
surprised, do you think, that it was written by men)?
2. Why is the narrator so
taken with Nova, the human woman from planet Soror? What surprises and even disturbs him about
her? In what was does she confirm or
deny his assumption about humanity or being ‘human’?
3. In Chapter 11, the
narrator writes that “these apes, male and female, gorillas and chimpanzees,
were not in any way ridiculous…Both
head and hat were in keeping and there was nothing at all unnatural about any
of their gestures.” Why does he keep
emphasizing the fact that the apes were “natural” and not ridiculous?
4. Why do both the humans
and the apes act with either anger or disbelief when the narrator tries to
speak, laugh, or even smile? How does
each group interpret his attempts to be ‘civilized,’ and how might we translate
their reaction into the modern world?
What might make us act in a similar way?
Elyse Marquardt
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2: The narrator is at first so taken with Nova because she is physically perfect, according to the standards of his society. Then she surprises and disturbs him because she has no expression and seemingly no ability to feel at all; she is simply an animal mind in a human form, and this is such a shockingly foreign concept that the narrator is quite taken aback at first. She denies his, and most everyone else's, assumption that something which looks as lovely as she does must naturally have the intelligence to go along with it. The narrator spends a great deal of time at first trying to illicit some form of expression from her, for he refuses to accept that she cannot think as "normally" as she appears to be.
Question 3: The narrator is trying to stress how these apes don't just appear to be intelligent, they actually are. The way that they move and act and speak as human beings might, is so smooth that it doesn't even strike the narrator as unusual until later, when he stops to think about it. In this new world of Soror, humans and apes have changed places; the humans have the mentality of animals, and the apes are as classy and clever as the nobility of Earth. Even a foreigner like the narrator can easily see this.
Priscilla Texter
ReplyDelete2.)I believe he is so taken by Nova because this is the first female he has seen in two years. Also, he is fascinated by her actions because she is completely characteristically human, but she acts completely animal like. She does not show emotion and does not know how to take in emotion. I think that when she cuddles him the first night and also almost waits for him when the apes start coming, she is in some way human to him, but all the other times of him dancing and trying to show emotion she is more of an animal.
3.)I think that he keeps emphasizing the word "natural" because he is trying to show that they are completely human. He is trying to say that it is not out of the ordinary to have seen an ape wearing a suit or the clothes they were wearing. In their habitat, they are completely human other than their physical characteristic and he is trying to show them to consider these beings human rather than considering them apes.
Ashlyn Thompson
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1) I believe that it starts as a frame narrative to show that this book is set in the far future. Set so far, that it is almost impossible. I think that they are so surprised that this was written by man because man doesn't fully exist anymore. (mentally) They are now ape-like and not human, so it is hard to believe that the book they are reading was written so long ago by men that now can't talk read or write.
Question 1) I think that the narrator is so taken with Nova because she is the first girl that they have seen in two years, and her beauty is so perfect to him. He is surprised because she doesn't make eye contact with them, and when she does she runs away. She is very ape-like. She has no emotion when she sees them and she cuddles up to them like a dog. Her physical appearance is human-like, but her actions speak otherwise.
Question 1 and Question 2
DeleteChristian Beeler
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1:
To keep us remembering that this isn't real. It's interesting because he makes it clear that whatever these "space travelers" are, they are not human. They are so surprised that the message is from a human to allow us to realize that men are either long gone, looked upon as stupid, or forbidden to be around.
Question 2:
They haven't seen a woman in years, and they want something to happen between this naked woman, whom they know nothing about, because of the separation they've dealt with for so long. The thing that is surprising and disturbing is that she cannot smile or speak. She is completely emotionless. She confirms that there maybe humans present on this planet, but humanity the way we know it, is nonexistent. This makes her very unattractive to them.
Faith Armstrong
ReplyDelete1. I think the story opens with the narrative because it is the complete opposite of reality. In reality we wouldn't find apes reading a message in a bottle written by men. This is a fictional novel, and the narrative at the beginning makes that very clear.
2. The narrator is very taken by Nova because she has no emotions. She is "there", but she's not really there. She doesn't do anything. It's almost like she's a robotic person just walking around. The fact that she has no emotions is what makes him doubt her humanity.
Amber Simpson
ReplyDelete1.) I think the ‘frame narrative’ is given to show that, in time, anything can change—even mankind. The story is presented in this way to make us question what the future will be like. Will humans become nearly extinct, trying to find life on other planets? Or will everything we know and create just keep growing like it has all our lives?
2.) He thought she was beautiful—a goddess. Then he noticed her facial expression, and it was new to him. Her expression didn’t seem human, almost as if she were of a different species. She came across as an animal by the way she acted frightened and skittish. When she spoke, she mumbled, and that is when they were left with the impression that she wasn’t ‘human.’
3. On Earth if a monkey was wearing a hat or clothing trying to “act” like a human it was funny because they really didn’t know what it was for. But on Solor the monkeys wore them naturally like a human would. They knew what the clothes where for, knew how to use them, they are just as comfy in those clothes as we are.
ReplyDelete4. The humans are frightened by it, in fact in the beginning of the book they run away from him and his companions every time they acted human. As for the apes, they cant believe they are seeing an “animal” with no intelligence as they are acting like they would do. In fact if a monkey was to walk to us and smile and laugh we wouldn’t know what to think especially if it started talking to us in another language
Ryan Jolly
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1:
I think that the book opens with a 'frame narrative' for several reasons. First to remind us that the book is science fiction. Second to give the book a setting, which seems to take place far in the future. It seems quite possible that the entire book was written to be the message that the two travelers found in the bottle, basically being the reporter's story.
Question 4:
The author seems to be emphasizing the humanness of the monkeys. everything that they do is so human like and natural, like sipping a drink or smoking a pipe, that they author seems to forget that the apes are animals and not humans. He states that they are not :ridiculous" to say that they are not fake, like the circus animals that are on earth. Unlike the trained circus animals, these apes seem to be naturals at being human. Basically, it was not "ridiculous" for an ape to be human on Soror, but on earth, the same actions would be ridiculous.
Savannah Lincoln
ReplyDeleteQ2.
He is so taken with her because of her beauty. All of the humans from Soror are extremely handsome, but her more so than the rest. It's disturbing him that she acts like an animal. She can't communicate in any way. She confirms her humanity when she rears back at his smile, and when he talks, and by being so animalistic towards the chimpanzee. She reacts to all of these things like a frightened animal would.
Q3.
Because to us on Earth, seeing an ape, or any animal for that matter, with clothes on is silly. It's usually meant to make people laugh. They look and act awkward when in clothing, but to the apes of Soror, it was normal. They didn't seem uncomfortable at all.
Question 2
ReplyDeleteI believe the initial reason is just human desire (they have been stuck with only men for two years and I am assuming they are not gay), but another reason is because he senses something different about Nova before he even really sees any differences. When he does notice her animalistic tendencies he is really bothered by them (didn’t really desire her then now did he?). Her noises, grace, skills, fear, and simplistic ways of thinking (swimming and playing games like seals?) throw him for a loop and prove to him that they are not on earth despite its similarities.
Question 3
He keeps emphasizing the fact that the apes are not ridiculous because to us it seems outlandish. Here on earth apes are considered animals not conscious, thinking, caring creatures like ourselves, but on this planet the apes are the higher race, they were their clothes with dignity, because that is what the do in their culture, not because some higher race forced them to.
1. To show that this has already happened, and that nothing can be done to save these 3 travelers that went exploring for new life. Of course, this couple reading this message are very startled since they are quite a ways away from any known life form's planet, and most "men" had apparently been eradicated and a new species had came in. (i.e. homo rhodesiensis to homo sapians.)
ReplyDelete3. These gorillas and chimpanzees were acting as if they were human. They would walk on two feet and greet each other. Took war the same as humans. Everything so familiar to us, they did perfectly back, as if copying our every move. Their kings were civilized and knew what he was doing. Each guard and every scientist there acted as if humans were the animals now and not the top of the food chain.
Mikayla Sparks
ReplyDelete1. I believe that the novel opens with a frame narrative to give us all the sense that the story continues on even further into the future. The story is presented as travelers reading this to show how the world keeps on evolving. They were surprised that the message they found were written by men, because like these men were surprised to see how "men" now were illiterate, and the gorillas are the intelligent ones, the travelers think back to how long ago it was that men were like the ones on Earth. They could even be thinking that these men were originally from Soror and the only men they know from that planet have no intelligent mind. It was different for them.
4. The humans and the apes act with either anger or disbelief when the narrator tries to communicate because it is something they are not use too, or have never seen before. The narrator looks like the humans, but none of the humans there have expressions and emotions like him, and they didn't know what to think of it. They both were frighten and felt threaten by his attempts to be "civilized". The humans however, could have felt like they were in harm, because it resembled the gorillas, for they communicate verbally like he attempted to do. In the modern world, people become frightened and threaten when someone tries to speak what is on their mind. People don't like it when you try to act different. We might act in a similar way as them if we were to express our opinion on stuff like politics, education, or even drama. In a way, this narrator could be saying we are acting like animals when we act out in an unnatural way.
Clarissa Martinez
ReplyDelete1. The work opens with the frame narrative in order to show that the dominant race are no longer human, they're apes. The two travelers find out that the writer of the message in the bottle is a men and it surprises them because in that time period the roles are reversed. The humans are not literate, they have no humanity, and they act like animals. So this letter shows them that along time ago they were at one point like them.
2. The narrator is so taken with Nova because she's a woman that happens to be a human. The apes haven't seen a female human for about 2 years until Nova. What surprises the narrator is that she's perfect. She has all the physical characteristics of a human but what disturbs him is that she has no humanity. She has no expression, she's just living in the moment like how an ape that acts like an animal would. She helps him get to the conclusion that humans don't have humanity and they're like any other animals in a perfect body.
Q1. the frame narrative helps the reader relate to the story because it is being told from the perspective of the writings found after they have travelled far in time and space. i also believe this helps make the story seem more realistic because it is told in a form similar to that of the book series Ink heart. i think the two travelers are so surprised because of the fact it was written by humans who by this time cannot read or write or even are completely extinct by the time the travelers find the message.
ReplyDeleteQ2 he is taken by nova because she is acting more like a Neanderthal or an ape than she is homo sapiens. she cannot speak or read or write or smile. she is buck naked and she is "paranoid" to the extent that the main character cannot move without frightening her. it makes the main character feel like the human race has somehow devolved back into a sort of dark age.
Jessica Olivar
ReplyDeleteQ2. He is surprised by Nova because she is a very beautiful woman, and has a perfect figure. She acted like an animal more than a human being, which was disturbing for him. The way she showed him that she isn't very human like is when he smiled at her and she recoiled and got scared and stared acting aggressive towards him at simple things he did to her that normal humans wouldn't get worked up over.
Q3. He keeps saying the apes wearing clothes look natural here is because on Earth it would look ridiculous and they're used as entertainment in circuses, but on Soror it is the norm. No one say or thinks anything different.
Victoria Murray
ReplyDelete2. The narrator is so taken with nova because he sees her as a goddess. What he finds odd about her is that she doesn't act like a human, or well a human like those on Earth. Nova is very animalistic in her actions. She does not show any facial expressions and she speaks no language. He begins to think that maybe being human is a way of acting and expressing rather than appearance. In this sense, Nova is not human.
3. Maybe the apes look natural because the apes were the highly developed species and they could think and feel more than the humans of Soror could. The apes in a sense were more human than the humans. So, the clothes we just natural.