October 1st: The Alien Other and
Worlds Beyond

Moodle2 Posts and Preview

Because you'll have your Midterm Exam on Thursday, you'll have until midnight Friday (10/04) to post to this week's prompt to Moodle2.

Remember, you won't get full credit if your initial posts aren't at least 250 words. Some of you post in response to others, and that's great, but you need to have an initial post that meets the 250-word requirement.

Preview next week.

The Alien Other and Worlds Beyond

Both stories for today deal with the alien other: a being or beings that aren't of our world. We've already met aliens in our readings, but these two stories--although different--share a common theme related to the alien other. Although this could be argued about any sci fi alien encounters, today's stories ask readers to consider what it means to be human in contrast to alien behavior. Weinbaum's story has the main character, Jarvis, explaining Tweel's extraterrestrial logic in contrast to human tendencies for generalizations. Kelly's story has the main character reconsider what many would claim is a "universal" human ethical concern--preserving life--because he is influenced by his alien employers.

When confronting the alien other, humanity is relative.

Stanley G. Weinbaum's "A Martian Odyssey" (1934)

Let's consider some surface features of the story before going under the surface and interpreting between the lines (yes, this parallels the narrative where Jarvis and Tweel walk on the Martian surface then go underground and find the cure-all egg). We'll move from this to an analysis based on Weinbaum's life and then on to a cultural-historical interpretation.

The Excitement of a Desolate Martian Surface

Mars doesn't seem all that exciting, does it? It's practically a barren wasteland with dangerous and goofy creatures, an environment with severe temperature fluctuations much like deserts on Earth. But, just like the Mojave Desert, you can find an oasis. Jarvis and Tweel don't find Las Vegas,* but they do find creatures that defy explanation and survive on different chemical composition needs. What could we say about the brick-laying silica creature building pyramids forever (pp. 149-150)?

Humans have always been fascinated by the tales of exploration. Long before our mass media technologies that beam "instant" news to us and even long before the printing press, humans told stories about explorers going to distant lands--some were based on actual exploration like Marco Polo's travels to Asia, and some were based on mythology like Homer's Odyssey about Odysseus's (Ulysses in Roman mythology) journey back from the Trojan Wars to Ithaca (in upstate New York--just kidding). Weinbaum's story contains all the components for an exciting adventure story:

• A sidekick he saves and who travels with him
• Bizarre creatures unknown to the adventurer
• New civilizations and battle--need to fight to get home safely
• Treasure or products of value

Because it's a short story, we're able to get through it much quicker than Lord of the Rings and The Odyssey. The characters make reference to the public's assumed excitement about their journey when Harrison laments "I wish you'd saved the films, though. They'd have paid the cost of this junket; remember how the public mobbed the first moon pictures?" (p. 138). The American public consumed video and audio of the actual moon landing, but they had been consuming tales of adventure throughout its history: Lewis & Clarke's Expedition, Cook & Peary's North Pole excursion, and Admundsen's trip to the South Pole.

*Speaking of Las Vegas, at the Treasure Island, there's a show called Sirens of TI, and, on the surface of Mars, there are these siren-like creatures that lure unsuspecting hikers to them and then eat them. Jarvis called them dream beasts and he was shown a vision of Fancy Long--a New York dancer. Even in the future, there are female go-go dancers entertaining men. What can we say about the role of women here in conjunction with last class's discussion on female roles Clarke's "The Sentinel"?

The Desire to Transcend One's Time

Even though we can't assume the author's point of view is the only factor for interpretation, we shouldn't ignore connections to the author's life. Weinbaum, like many sci fi or creative writers generally, might have been writing to indulge in other worlds and situations because he had a longing for something incomplete in his life. AGAIN, THIS ISN'T THE INTERPRETATION OF ALL HIS WORKS. Weinbaum also wrote romance stories and a collection of stories about a scientist looking for a lover, who is ultimately lost. The theme of searching is apparent in his work and possibly drove his imagination and, therefore, his writing. A series of stories he wrote dealt with Dixon Wells, who was a student and later assistant to the great Haskel Van Manderpootz (they have a Sherlock Holmes and Watson-type relationship): "The Worlds of If" (1935), "The Ideal" (1935), and "The Point of View" (1936-posthumusly published). In the beginning of "The Point of View" Dixon Wells laments the trials and tribulations of finding the woman of his dreams:

There was the affair of the subjunctivisor, for instance, and also that of the idealizator; in the first of these episodes I had suffered the indignity of falling in love with a girl two weeks after she was apparently dead, and in the second, the equal or greater indignity of falling in love with a girl who didn't exist, never had existed, and never would exist--in other words, with an ideal. Perhaps I'm a little susceptible to feminine charms, or rather, perhaps I used to be, for since the disaster of the idealizator, I have grimly relegated such follies to the past, much to the disgust of various vision entertainers, singers, dancers, and the like. (para. 6)

We learn at the end of "The Point of View" that Dixon Wells eventually falls in love with another man's wife, an unattainable love. Interestingly, Jarvis calls Fancy Long "a vision entertainer" in "A Martian Odyssey" (p. 151).

Also, Weinbaum died of throat (or lung) cancer shortly after this story was published. Again, I caution you to read authors' works as a lead up to their final moment (not all authors who committed suicide wrote incessantly about their suicides), but the fact that the characters mention the possibility to cure cancer with the egg (p. 159) is important. That's not just Weinbaum's concern in 1934-1935; even today, this month especially, groups raise money and awareness on cancer in hopes that one day a cure will be found.

Historical-Cultural Interpretation

Here's a rundown of the characters on this 21st-Century Martian expedition:

• Jarvis
• Harrison
• Putz
• Leroy

This crew of Europeans and, presumably, Americans reflects the colonial aspirations Western nations had in the first half of the 20th Century. Of course, others had these aspirations. Additionally, connecting the adventure aspects of the story to European conquistadors, we can read how for quite some time Western culture assumed that riches could be found in far away lands. Whether it's Aztec/Inca gold or the fabled Fountain of Youth, the culturally held assumption (or fascination) is that discoveries in other lands could be of value. It's no surprise that we call scientific and technological breakthroughs "discoveries" even though they aren't found. Jarvis stealing the cure-all Martian "egg" alludes to colonial patterns of exploitation.

James Patrick Kelly's "Think Like a Dinosaur" (1995)

For this story, I assumed we might run out of time, so, instead of trying to put up lots about interpretation, I figured I'd ask questions and see where the conversation goes. I'll give a brief synopsis and then see what you think.

Below are some questions about the short story to help us consider ways of interpreting the text:

• What might Michael's job at Tuulen Station be analogous to today? In other words, what other technician-type job requires discarding superfluous, redundant material?
• What does "balancing the equation" mean in the context of this story? What process comes to mind when you think of the marble slab that converts humans and send them into space?
• This story is about ethical choice. Are the alien Hanen correct to conclude that "there is no identity in dead meat," so that it does not matter which version of Kamala Shastri continues to exist and which is killed? Has the narrator committed murder or has he no choice but to act according to the logic of "the cold equations" of the physical universe? Why doesn't he refuse?
  Goodwin's Law
• To "think like a dinosaur" conventionally means to think in ways that are no longer useful. Is this what the story seems to imply about the alien "dinos"? What else might "to think like a dinosaur" mean in this story? What does Michael mean when, after disposing of Kamala, he proudly concludes that he "could think like a dinosaur"?
• The "secret" stories that Kamala and Michael tell each other parallel the issues surrounding "balancing the equation" and respecting life. Does the story finally support or critique "thinking like a dinosaur"?

As the Anthology editors mention, Kelly is consider a humanist (as opposed to cyberpunk, which we'll get to some other time) sci fi writer. What does that word imply about a person?

Midterm Exam on Thursday (10/03)

You have your Midterm Exam on Thursday (10/03)! It will open at 8:00 am and should only take 45 minutes, but you have 90 minutes. You won't come to class to take it because it'll be on Moodle2.

Make sure you have reliable access to a computer with an Internet connection. If there are non-Moodle2 related issues, there won't be any extensions. For instance, "there's no wifi in my building," "my laptop crashed," "my dog chewed the Ethernet cable," "we were supposed to get online and take the midterm...," etc. You have plenty of time to find a place with reliable Internet access. However, choose wisely because once you start the Midterm Exam, you can't go back to it on another computer--you can't log back in. If you have issues, you can't expect me to be available to solve them immediately. I'll be at a conference on Thursday, so I won't be able to answer e-mail or monitor the moodle situation. I expect it will go according to plan just as Test 1 did.

The Midterm Exam is closed book, closed note, closed partner, closed Internet (except, of course, logging onto Moodle2). Obviously, I can't possibly watch every single one of you. However, if you spend time going through notes, the readings, the class Web site, or talking with another person, you'll most likely run out of time. For more information about Academic Integrity policy for UNCC Students, go to http://integrity.uncc.edu/.

Next Week

Because you'll have your Midterm Exam on Thursday, you'll have until midnight Friday (10/04) to post to this week's prompt to Moodle2.

We won't meet for class on Tuesday (10/08) because it's Fall Break. We'll meet again as a class on Thursday (10/10). Keep up with the syllabus and have read James Tiptree, Jr.'s "And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side" (1972) and Carol Emshwiller's "Abominable" (1980) both in the Anthology. Remember, the syllabus has all the readings and dates for the reading, so it's up to you to budget your time wisely and read the material for this course.

Speaking of budgeting your time, our longest reading (387 pages) is coming up in two weeks--Ursula K. LeGuin's The Dispossessed (1974). It might be a good idea to start reading the novel, so you'll have it finished by 10/15. The novel is the most difficult text we'll study this semester and it has very radical ideas of an imagined world that makes us ask tough questions about our own.

See you after Fall Break.

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