“If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor” - Eleanor Roosevelt. This famous quote relates to both the short stories, “The Pedestrian” and “The Fun They Had” as well as the movie “Interstellar”, in very different ways. Within the short stories, the characters’ lives are very predictable. Everyone relies heavily on technology and they do the same things every day, making their lives rather mundane and boring. However, only the main characters in the stories seem to be upset by this, and even they are slowly learning to accept this lifestyle. It does seem as though their lives lack “flavor” since they are so predictable. On the other hand, in the movie the opposite of this takes place since what occurs is something very unpredictable and it adds a lot of interest to the main character’s life. The protagonist, Cooper, is asked to go on a mission into space. This is a very unpredictable thing and one could say that it definitely ends up adding “flavor” to his life, especially since before he leaves for the mission he talks about how he does not enjoy his work as a farmer; he finds it rather boring and has to do the same things every day. Going up into space does not seem to be exactly the kind of excitement that he is looking for, but in the end his mission pays off and I believe that it makes him feel as though his life is more worth living. Therefore, I believe that the short stories and the movie connect to this quote in completely different ways and they show both sides of its theme. The short stories examine an extreme of predictability someone can have in life whereas the movie examines an extreme of unpredictability, although I feel that in reality it is important to have a mix of both in one’s life in order to be truly happy.
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The short story “The Large Ant” by Howard Fast supports the idea that humanity is innately violent, however, I believe that we are capable of changing that. Within the story, the fact that humans are violent was proven when all eight of the people who saw the large ants killed them right away. Their first thought was to kill the creature in order to protect themselves. The main character speaks to Dr. Lieberman about it who says, “That is why, so long ago, we at least recognized the injunction, ‘Thou shalt not kill’ even if we never gave more than lip service to it” (Fast 8). He is talking about how people believe that they are not violent even though they often are. A man named Fitzgerald is also involved in this conversation and he says, “What then-panic, hysteria, changes that this is the result of the atom bomb? We can’t change. We are what we are” (Fast 8). He’s talking about what would happen if they told the whole world about these creatures (the large ants), and why he thinks they should not. He feels that it won’t change anything because people can not change their violent instincts. In addition to these points from the story, an example of human violence in the real world is war. Wars have been happening for a very long time and continue to happen today. They stand as proof that many people think that violence is the best way to solve their issues. Many people get hurt or die in this process. Not every single person is violent, but enough people are to make it seem as though humans are as a whole. However, I believe that we have the capability to change this. We can do this by thinking about and reflecting on our actions and by teaching others how to not be violent from a young age, in order to take those tendencies away. Overall, the short story helps people to see that humans are innately violent, but there are definitely ways that we can change that. A common theme that is present in both “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury and “The Fun They Had” by Isaac Asimov is to never take anything for granted no matter how mundane it may seem. Both of these stories are set in the future and people are living under very different circumstances compared to the present. The example represented in the first story is walking. In this future everyone is glued to their TV screens and they rarely go outside, so when the main character Leonard goes out for a walk simply for the reason of getting some air, it seems unusual and suspicious. Therefore, he is taken away by a police car. Leonard also describes how since in this setting everyone is always inside he feels like he is alone in the world. The story states, “he was alone in this world of A.D. 2053, or as good as alone” (Bradbury 1). This story really allows one to think about the direction that the world seems to be going in and it serves as a reminder to never take anything for granted, including something as small as going for a walk. The second story illustrates the same theme. The characters talk about school and how they do not enjoy it. Each student has an individual mechanical teacher who stays with them in their home and teaches all of their lessons. Presently, kids often talk about how they don’t like school and how they wish that they did not have to go, but the setting of this story demonstrates how no one should take school for granted, and how different it could potentially be. Since the kids in the story are living in the future, they find a book about schools many years ago and they are in awe of the things they are missing out on, especially the social aspect it used to possess. When the main character Margie is thinking about the old schools she imagines how, “All the kids from the whole neighborhood came, laughing and shouting in the schoolyard, sitting together in the schoolroom, going home together at the end of the day” (Asimov 2). It is clear that both of these stories serve as reminders of how important it is not to take anything for granted and to appreciate the smaller things in life, because no one knows what the future might hold and those smaller privileges could easily be taken away.
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December 2022
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