Month: April 2018

Categories
Blog Assignments

Timothy Morton: Dark Ecology (excerpt)

 

The excerpt from the book ‘Dark Ecology’ by Timothy Morton is a complex, philosophical, often confusing piece about ecological awareness. It is anything but your cookie-cutter environmental diatribe about the evils of capitalism causing global warming.  While capitalism doesn’t get away scot-free, he sees it as more of a symptom than the root cause.  He contends that if capitalism were the cause, “then Soviet and Chinese carbon emissions would have added nothing to global warming”.  The root cause is that humans consider nature a separate entity, as something that can be managed.  This “command and control” approach, as he puts it, can be traced back to the origins of agriculture.

THE ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE

Morton refers to us as Mesopotamians.  Although agriculture was discovered by different people in different places, this is a reference to the development of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent.  For most of human history, until about 12,000 years ago, humans were nomadic hunter-gatherers.   Learning to grow plants in soil, then harvest and replant them, allowed people to obtain and store large amounts of food, eliminating the need to gather.  Domesticating animals eliminated the need to hunt and this permitted them to stay in the same place.

Now that they no longer had to drag children around for years, until they grew old enough to keep up, they were able to have twice as many children.  Food became abundant and they could sustain a much larger population.  This led to villages, city-states, money, markets, trade routes and the invention of the steam engine to move things from place to place.  The estimated population grew from an estimated 5 million to the 7 billion we have today in only a fraction of the entirety of human existence.  Some historians blame agriculture for setting off the chain of events that led to famine, disease, wealth inequality, sexism, slavery, war and of course, the current predicament of climate change.

 

ENTER THE ANTHROPOCENE

The Sixth Mass Extinction Event: caused by the Anthropocene, caused by humans.  Not dolphins; Not jellyfish; Not coral.

It turns out that things like polluting the air, nuclear waste, industrial wastewater, the use of poisonous agricultural chemicals, the decimation of forests, bodies of water and other systems needed to sustain life in an unending quest to obtain global influence and wealth, are extremely bad for -all- of Earth’s inhabitants.  Morton uses the term ‘Anthropocene’ to describe the current geological time period where humans became a “geophysical force on a planetary scale” who had a substantial impact on Earth’s ecosystems.

Some scholars quibble that this term is too human-centric and hubristic and infers that humans have “godlike powers to shape the planet” or they argue that the term unfairly marks all humans when they believe it is Westerners or Americans who are responsible for climate change.  Morton points out that that “Humans and not dolphins invented steam engines and drilled for oil” and that actual hubris or arrogance is using other lifeforms as prosthetics for agricultural purposes.  He also argues that this cannot simply pawned off on a particular group of humans since it is humans in general who desire environmentally unfriendly things such as air-conditioning.  “Neanderthals would have loved Coca-Cola Zero”, he writes.

 

Morton argues that we will not be able to use science and geoengineering to get out of this, nor can we pollute the planet in a more responsible way.  He writes that the argument: “We have always been terraforming the planet, so let’s do it consciously from now on” is pointless and no more moral than what we’re doing now.  In order to avoid ceding the entire biosphere to big science and technocrats, which would cause an even further impact on the planet, humans are going to have to think of the concept of species differently.  Humankind will have to include the entire planet. We can not live in an “ostensibly privileged place set apart from all other beings”.

Becoming a geophysical force on a planetary scale means that no matter what you think about it, no matter whether you are aware of it or not, there you are, being that.

He maintains that people believe their actions are meaningless, since they cannot possibly pollute the entire planet all by themselves. They don’t mean to harm the Earth as they go about their daily lives.   They presume that a single key turn to start an engine is statistically meaningless, but when you scale up these actions to include “billions and billions of key turnings and coal shovelings, harm to the Earth is precisely what is happening”.  The necessary ecological thought a person needs to inhibit is that “every time I turned my car ignition key I was contributing to global warming and yet was performing actions that were statistically meaningless”.

NOIR

 

“Ecological awareness is that moment at which these narrators find out that they are the tragic criminal”.

Morton claims that we Mesopotamians are both the detective and the criminal.  He compares ecological awareness to noir, a genre of fiction where the protagonist or narrator is also the perpetrator.  Margaret Atwood’s novel also warns us about the dangers of humans believing they exist separate from nature.  In ‘Oryx and Crake’, the story was narrated through the thoughts of Snowman, the last person presumed to be alive in a world decimated by both climate change and a virus created by an out-of-control corporation.  He is also someone who was unwittingly complicit in both releasing the virus and participating in a society that allowed these destructive corporations to thrive.

Although it’s not obvious why anyone would choose him to guide the next generation of Earth’s inhabitants, he was the perfect choice for Margaret Atwood to represent humankind and it’s complacency.  Snowman (Jimmy), was once concerned about the way animals were treated.  He saw them as creatures much like himself and was “confused about who should be able to eat what”.  He also questioned why society valued students of science, but not those who studied humanities.  Jimmy would eventually go along with everyone else and forget about these concerns, frequently eating genetically modified chicken and taking a more prestigious job writing propaganda for one of the scientific corporations running society.  This appears to be a commentary on our current situation by Atwood.

I disagree with some of the Morton’s ideas.  He uses the phrase “the myth of human progress”, insinuating that everything humans have ever done is pointless and should have just went on living like animals.  Humans are self-aware and curious, not simply a bunch of self-destructive animals.  I’m not sure that natural curiosity could ever be contained.  We’re the only species capable of asking questions about our origins and the universe and through science, fill in the missing pieces and find the answers.  We don’t -have- to use science and technology to destroy everything.

I also question why he chose to write something he obviously considers important in a style that is inaccessible to most readers.  The book is full of obscure pop culture references and abstract philosophy concepts which makes me wonder whether he is interested in solving problems or simply pointing them out.  He may want to expand on what an environmentally responsible future looks like.

Questions

  1. Did Crake overlook anything when designing the Crakers or with his plan in general?
  2. Crake stated that he did not believe in God or Nature with a capital ‘N’.  What did he mean?
  3. What warnings do you see from Atwood pertaining to our current climate crisis?

 

Works cited:

Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. 2003.

Diamond, Jared.  The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race. 2 May 1987,

http://www.sigervanbrabant.be/docs/Diamond.PDF

Morton, Timothy. Dark Ecology: for a Logic of Future Coexistence. Columbia University Press, 2018.

National Geographic. The Development of Agriculture

https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/development-of-agriculture/

Categories
In-class writing Notes

4/19 in-class writing

What do these words mean?

Why does Snowman collect them?

What is their significance in the context of the novel?

 

Group 1: pp. 84-85 “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow…” OR “sere” and “incarnadine”

Group 2: “cork-nut”

Group 3: p. 148 “mephitic, metronome, mastitis, metatarsal, maudlin”

Group 4: “bogus” and “awesome”

Categories
Glossary

posthumanism

“Post humanism” is a term that means “beyond humanism” or “after humanism” and it has almost seven different meanings according to one of the great philosophers of the twenty first century named Francesca Ferrando. In one of his definitions, he said that Post humanism is any theory that is critical of traditional humanism and the traditional ideas about humanity and the condition of humans which he associated with “antihumanism”. He also mentioned it as a branchof theory of culture that is very critical of the assumptions made right from the foundation of humanism and its legacies. This he said questions and examines the historical notions of “human” and “the nature of human” which often confronts the typical notions of human subjectivity and its embodiments and thus strives to move beyond old-fashioned concepts of “human nature” to develop ones which constantly adapt to contemporary knowledge in science and technology (Francesca, 2013). However, he didn’t stop at defining post humanism but went further to point to us that it is a philosophical direction which draws on cultural post humanism in which such philosophical strands examine the ethical implications of expanding the circle of moral concerns and thereby extending subjectivities beyond the scope of the species of humans. Furthermore, he points out that post humanism is an ideology and movement which seeks to develop and make the technologies available which eliminates aging and greatly enhance the intellectual, physical and psychological capacities of humans in order to achieve a post human future.

A very good example of the way he defined post humanism is found in the book “Oryx and “Your friend is intellectually honourable,” Jimmy’s mother would say. “He doesn’t lie to himself.” Then she’d gaze at Jimmy with that blue-eyed, wounded-by-him look he knew so well. If only he could be like that – intellectually honourable. Another baffling item on the cryptic report card his mother toted around in some mental pocket, the report card on which he was always just barely passing. Jimmy would do better at intellectual honourableness if only he would try harder. Plus, if he had any fucking clues about what the fuck it meant. “I don’t need supper,” he’d tell her yet again. “I’ll just grab a snack.” If she wanted. Her effort was geared towards developing the intellectual capacity of her son as can be seen in the way she addressed his friend in her expressing of wish in this word that is intellectual honourableness. This is related to one of the definitions of Francesca Ferrando. Jimmy’s strived to ensure that her son became acquainted to developing his intellectual, physical and psychological capacities like that of his friend. Another example is the one in the book “Frankenstein”. After two years I had discovered many things and I built a scientific machine that was better than anything in the university. My machine would help me answer the most important question of all. How does life begin? Is it possible to put life into dead things? To answer these questions about life I had to learn first about death. I had to watch bodies from the moment when they died and the warm life left them. In the hospital and in the university, I watched the dying and the dead. Day after day, month after month, I followed death. Crake” as can be seen in the way Jimmy’s mother addressed her son, It was a dark and terrible time. Then one day, the answer came to me. Suddenly I was sure that I knew the secret of life.

REFERENCES

  1. Ferrando, Francesca. “Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism, Metahumanism, and New Materialisms: Differences and Relations” (PDF). ISSN 1932-1066. Retrieved 2014-03-14.

 

  1. Jump up^ J. Childers/G. Hentzi eds., The Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literary and Cultural Criticism (1995) p. 140-1

 

  1. Wolfe, C. ‘What is Post humanism?’ University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis, Minnesota. 2009

 

  1. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley published online https://www.goodreads.com/ebooks/download/35031085-frankenstein

 

  1. Atwood, Margaret Eleanor. “Oryx and Crake.” Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data, 1939. 1st ed
Categories
Blog Assignments

Toxic Disclosure

TOXIC DISCLOSURE IN THE UNITED STATES

The same way buyers or consumers would like to have good information about what they buy and eat is the same way the government goes around manufacturing companies to ensure that the necessary procedures have been followed to see that the risk of exposure is reduced to a sufficient level not to cause harm to the consumer. In most cases it is the toxic substance produced and released during production is what is monitored to prevent pollution. In other cases, it is required of the manufacturer to give a detailed description of the product he or she is offering and what was done to ensure the success of the product before release to prevent health hazards.  Every country has an empowered board that Oversees this. Like in the United States, the

Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) requires companies to disclose amount of toxic substance released each year. Of course this is required as it helps prevent depletion of the ozone. This is a major step to ensure the reduction of waste and reduce the already kicked of global warming situation of the world. So far in the world today the Petroleum companies have been Known to be one of the highest contributors to global warming due to their excess release of toxic gases. Most of this companies that release a significant amount of toxic waste are unaware of the danger and harm they are causing to the biodiversity of the ecosystem. In such cases, a specific amount of waste should be allowed above which there should be a fine.

With recent advancement aimed to reduce this toxic wastes, there are has been a successful impact on the world’s global Health. Emissions of gases such as carbon dioxide, Sulfur dioxide are very dangerous to the atmosphere. This could result in falling of acid rain. Not only this but there have been several cases of Chemical spills in the United States which have resulted in the death of many.  One instance was that which happened in Bhopal India as a result of chemical spill from a chemical plant that ended up claiming the lives of many. For the purpose to prevent this, TRI was developed for the public scrutiny of some companies that pollute the water we cook with, drink etc. This program creates a good disincentive to pollute. An emergency planning act was established which stated the need to report the amount of toxic chemicals released to the environment every year which the which have been publicly available by the TRI program. The solution to this was announced by EPA (environmental protection agency) which permits companies to use shorter, less detailed forms to report little quantities of stubborn or non-transient bio accumulative toxins that are harmful at low levels along with the release of chemicals stipulated by the TRI up to 2000 pounds.

Instead of going back or slowly withdrawing from public disclosure, it would be better to continue with the success of the TRI program. This exposure approach applies to not only to the conservative economist who very well believe that the toxic information that has been disclosed can help promote consumer or citizens as a whole, empowerment and as well encourage firms to reduce harmful activities. Adhering to these instructions by the TRI and EPA comes from the ill-desire to be viewed as a negative company by targeted consumers or citizens (in other words, to avoid a negative public view), including reducing the trust of the people on the company. TRI is cost effective. They impose a minor cost on industries so that they adhere to the program. They do not determine how the companies minimize cost but as long as they do not release excess toxic chemicals, they are good. TRI promotes democratic decisions by helping citizens to be more aware on their stand with regulated entities. EPI on the other hand spends less budget implementing their programs. Both arms have the same aims and are very effective in carrying out their work. This country is ours, we should try to do our best to make the country better for us. For one it is not better when too much toxic chemicals are released to the environment.

 

Questions

  • What’s your take on the recent activity of toxic disclosure?
  • What do you feel as citizens can be done to help the TRI program to see it’s full implementation?
  • Do you think the recent advancement has helped the world and it’s environment?
Categories
Glossary

Prometheus

“Prometheus” is a term popularly attributed to tricks. In the Greek’s mythology, we found out that Prometheus was one that was referred to as a “titan” whose reputation wasn’t far from cleverness and trickery as was seen in how he gave the human race the gift of fire and the skill of metalwork. The action of him being a trickster led to his punishment by Zeus who ensured every day that an eagle ate his liver and was changed to a rock leaving him with no help. He was also a great fore thinker and championed the cause of victory by Zeus to gain mastery of the heavens which according to history lasted for a decade. A very common ambiguity of Prometheus is his “double sidedness” as was narrated by Coleridge in his essay titled, “The Composition and Revision of Coleridge’s Essay on Aeschylus’ Prometheus”. Coleridge explained that Prometheus switched sides and supported the victorious Olympians when his advice of using trickery failed. An example of Prometheus being a trick is seen in his double sidedness in the way he refused to die when being punished by Zeus. Here Prometheus was chained to a rock (or pillar) and Zeus sent an eagle to eat the Titan’s liver. Even worse, the liver re-grew every night and the eagle returned each day to perpetually torment Prometheus.

Further example of the trickery or double-sidedness of Prometheus is also seen in the conversion I have picked from the book Oryx and Crake. “Crake wasn’t Crake yet, at that time: his name was Glenn. Why did it have two ns instead of the usual spelling? “My dad liked music,” was Crake’s explanation, once Jimmy got around to asking him about it, which had taken a while. “Henamed me after a dead pianist, some boy genius with two ns.” “So did he make you take music lessons?” “No,” said Crake. “He never made me do much of anything.” “Then what was the point?“Of what?” “Of your name. The two ns.” “Jimmy, Jimmy,” said Crake. “Not everything has a point.” Snowman has trouble thinking of Crake as Glenn, so thoroughly has Crake’s later persona  blotted out his earlier one. The Crake side of him must have been there from the beginning, thinks Snowman: there was never any real Glenn, Glenn was only a disguise. So in Snowman’s reruns of the story, Crake is never Glenn, and never Glenn-alias Crake or Crake/Glenn, or Glenn, later Crake. He is always just Crake, pure and simple. Anyway Crake saves time, thinks Snowman. Why hyphenate, why parenthesize, unless absolutely necessary? (pg 41)

REFERENCES

  • Cartwright, Mark. “Prometheus.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History
    Encyclopedia, 20 Apr 2013. Web. 18 Apr 2018.
  • Bibliography Carabatea, M, Greek Mythology (Pergamos, Peania, 2007)
  • Bibliography Carpenter, T.H, Art and Myth in Ancient Greece (Thames & Hudson, London,
    2012)
  • Atwood, Margaret Eleanor. “Oryx and Crake.” Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication
    Data, 1939. 1st ed
Categories
In-class writing Notes

4/17 notes

  • More accessible and modern
  • Picks up on the theme of creator and creation that we’ve seen in other texts
    • In other texts, creators were trying to prove a point, but it this text it’s to eradicate a problem
  • What do you notice about the structure of the narrative?
    • Separated into different segments – each one has a theme; jumps around a bit; hard to follow
    • Not chronological
    • Organized according to Snowman’s train of associations; almost stream of consciousness
    • Thinking aloud rather than structuring a narrative
    • Story told in a broken way – makes sense if you’re him, difficult to follow for us – disorienting
    • Setting: there’s nothing else to do but remember
    • Reminiscent of Catch-22: jumps around
    • Trying to show chaos: reflects the chaos of the post-apocalyptic world
  • Old world and new world coexisting – things are repurposed; new meanings in new context
  • What is the significance of Snowman’s name?
    • Snow is a sign of death – everything dies in the winter; but of course we expect spring to come – and snowmen to melt
    • So maybe it’s reflective of humanity’s demise
    • Snowmen could not exist in the post-apocalyptic world because of climate change
    • Abominable is a secret joke – but snow is as imaginary to the Crakers as the abominable snowman
    • Abominable has a negative connotation – reflects his true nature (or feelings about himself) – powerful stance to be able to say it – he’s telling them that he’s bad, but not telling them
  • What’s going on with the “feathers”?
    • He’s different from the Crakers
    • He’s also messing with them; he knows something more – they take everything seriously; the power of knowing
    • Almost like a god or god-send; he has the answers; he creates the answers
    • It’s almost like they’re making up a religion – they make things up to explain the world; the explanations are simplistic; rationalizing why he’s here and so on; but never questioning the source; reconciling the “facts” he gives them with what they know of the world; generating cosmology and trying to keep it consistent
    • Human nature to try to explain the world, to make sense, to make a narrative
  • Could lack of consistency reflect the unreliability of the narrator? We don’t have any evidence that he’s not lying to us as well as the Crakers
    • Fragmentary narrative
  • Are the Crakers human?
    • Maybe not? Something new? Theme of making up a religion – restarting again – parody of creation – new
    • Have characteristics of “human nature”
    • Might be? Next version of humans?
    • does it matter if they’re human?
      • We perceive humanity based off ourselves; they could be intellectual dinosaurs and it wouldn’t change the novel
    • Clearly capable of learning
  • Is Frankenstein’s creature human?
    • No, he’s a monster
    • He had the mental capacity of a human, ability to learn and grow – he had an identity, intangible humanity
    • He’s made of human body parts, so he’s anatomically human
  • Are the pigoons more or less human than Crakers?
  • Were the Crakers looked down upon?
  • Similarity to I Am Legend – last man narrative
  • Chapter headings
    • Seem to be random
    • “Flotsam”
      • she might perceive himself as human flotsam – debris left of humanity’s shipwreck
      • literally debris that the Crakers go through
    • importance of words
      • holding onto words; once the words are gone, the meaning will be gone too – tend to relate to art, music, myth sense of destiny, hope, sex – or he just likes the way they sound
Categories
Blog Assignments

Ihab Hassan, “Prometheus as Performer: Toward a Post humanist Culture?”

Prometheus as Performer: Toward a Posthumanist Culture? The Georgia Review

The article presented five different scenes with each wearing various masks in what is called a fiction or myth. Each scene has different actors describing their individual perspective as regards Prometheus and the posthumanism in the context of the universe. They considered man from the perspective of his sub consciousness and the relationship between man and the universe. They strove to ascertain the limit of man with respect to the continuity or the discontinuity of the universe at large. The article is full of several questions some of which were answered within the various scenes that characterized the story while others remained unanswered probably due to the fiction being portrayed about man. Since the article is about Prometheus and posthumanism, it is necessary for us to understand the meaning of these terms as portrayed by the article.

“Prometheus” is said to be a Titan according to myths by the Greek, who was reputed for being a trickster who in the process gave human race the gift of fire and metal work skill which resulted into being punished by Zeus by assigning an eagle to eat his liver and chained him to a rock (Cartwright, 2013; Hansen, 2005. p. 310). Furthermore, he was referred to as someone who is highly intellectual and had a foresight thus championed the battle between the Titans and the Olympian gods led by Zeus to gain dominance of the heavens and switched sides during the battle owing to his double-sidedness (Cartwright, 2013)

Back to the article, it was said that his double nature was theological, political and epistemological (page 832). Post humanism however in simple terms refers to the existence of things beyond or after human. The five different scenes have something in common as regards the way they viewed the human mind or sub consciousness with the universe bearing in mind the myths therein. We see a statement as “marriage between earth and sky” on page 835 as the foreshowing of Prometheus being an expression of one of his attributes mentioned earlier within the second paragraph. This article also challenged the Titan beyond his achievements in the past thus pushing the universe beyond what it appears to be in the present. It suggested that Prometheus should harness the limitless tricks and intellectual abilities by channelling it to benefit mankind beyond time because posthumanism is hinged on this. We see a statement to back this up:

“As for you, Mythotext I must tell you this. Prometheus may be a vague metaphor of a mind struggling with the One and the Many. Yet, I prefer to view his struggle in narrower perspective. His mind is where Imagination and Science, Myth and Technology, Language and Number sometimes meet. Or put it both prophetically and archetypically: Prometheus presages the marriage of Earth and Sky. Only then, perhaps, will post humanism see the dubious light of a new day” (page 835).

The idea behind this article is to examine the mind of a common man as that of Prometheus. Several questions were raised in the different scenes by the characters within the story all tending towards what will become of universe. All along the article, Prometheus was depicted as the one responsible for the existence of the way earth and the activities within the earth are performed and that man is exactly the aspect of his performance which will keep changing.  A statement to back the aforementioned states thus:

“Prometheus is our performer. He performs Space and Time; he performs Desire. He Suffers. We ourselves that performance; we perform and performed every moment. We are the pain or play of the Human, which will not remain human. We are both Earth and Sky, Water and Fire. We are the changing form of Desire. Everything changes, and nothing, not even Death, can tire” (page 850)

Although, the article did not deny that there were several versions to the history of the Prometheus, it gave attention to the most familiar of all the stories. For example in this statement we see this clearly stated which reads thus, “Prometheus, son of Lapetus, Titan turncoat and trickster. There are many versions of his stories, but the main outlines are familiar” (page 832). The feature that is also a very serious concern in Prometheus is that of fire which was linked to the imagination. The narrators lets us know in this article that for us to be satisfied beyond now, we must desire to experience better what we do now. In other words, for the ingenuity of posthumanism culture, we must explore beyond time and space what we see presently and that this can only be a product of our imagination or thought which will form what speaks for the universe as a whole since it constitutes “a one and a many” as mentioned on page 832. The key therefore to understanding posthumanism was hidden in the idea of changing attributes of human which can be exemplified in this quote thus, “We need to first understand that the human form-including human desire and all its external representations-may be changing radically, and thus must be re-visioned. We need to understand that five hundred years of humanism may be coming to an end, as humanism transforms itself into something that we must helplessly call posthumanism” (page 843).

The article explores the contributions of many scholars who are passionate about the human life on the earth as a whole and complete entity meaningful enough to thrive. This includes the works of philosophers, poets, scientists and mystics (page 833).

 

QUESTIONS

What is the usefulness of the attributes of Prometheus to mankind?

What are the similarities between Prometheus and Posthumanists?

Can there be a comprehension of the universe? How and in what ways?

REFERENCES

Cartwright, Mark. “Prometheus.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia, 20 Apr 2013. Web. 06 May 2018

Hassan, Ihab. “Prometheus as Performer: Toward a Posthumanist Culture?” The Georgia Review, vol. 31, no. 4, 1977, pp. 830–850. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41397536.

William Hansen, Classical Mythology: A Guide to the Mythical World of the Greeks and Romans (Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 32, 48–50, 69–73, 93, 96, 102–104, 140; as trickster figure, p. 310.

Categories
Glossary

Abject

The term abject, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is defined as several meanings: “sunk to or existing in a low state or condition; very bad or severe; cast down in spirit; expressing or offered in a humble and often ingratiating spirit”. It may also be a human reaction of horror, despair, or disgust. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, “abject” is used as a term to describe a severe repulsion.

There are two phrases in Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde where the term “abject” is used:

“But the words were hardly uttered, before the smile was struck out of his face and succeeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair, as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below” (Stevenson, 1886).

While Stevenson doesn’t say what exactly Utterson saw at the window, we assume that Dr. Jekyll is beginning to form into Mr. Hyde, and therefore the two men are horrified and disgusted, up to the point where they are frozen.

“But his love of me is wonderful; I go further: I, who sicken and freeze at the mere thought of him, when I recall the abjection and passion of this attachment, and when I know how he fears my power to cut him off by suicide, I find it in my heart to pity him” (Stevenson, 1886).

In this phrase, the term “abjection” is used to show that Dr. Jekyll is purely disgusted by Mr. Hyde’s powerful attachment to himself. While this repulsion and horror is present, Dr. Jekyll still pities his second ego.

Citations:

“Abject.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abject.

Publishing, Balberry. “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Grades 9–1) York Notes.” Chapter Seven: Incident at the Window The Language of Horror Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Grades 9–1), York Notes, www.yorknotes.com/gcse/english-literature/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde-2017/study/plot-and-action/00080400_chapter-seven-incident-at-the-window.

Stevenson, Robert L. “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson.” The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson : chapter10, ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/stevenson/robert_louis/s848dj/chapter10.html.

 

Categories
Glossary

Doppelgänger

“Doppelgänger” is a German word that literally means “double-goer” or “double-walker”. In society, a doppelgänger is usually a person that resembles another person in an uncanny way, because they may have never met or be related to each other. In literature, it is known as a character that has a double or a twin. It can also be defined as “an apparition of oneself or someone whom we are acquainted with and even someone whom we have never met before” (White, 2013). Sometimes doppelgängers can be two alter egos, or two characters that are complete opposites regarding good and evil. They appear often in fairy tales, myths, and gothic literature, such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Superheroes are known to be dual characters, which are considered to be doppelgängers as well. (White, 2013)

A good example of how doppelgängers are used in literature is the alternate characters in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde:

“I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both” (Stevenson, 1886). Good and evil live in parallel parts in the protagonist here. Dr. Jekyll is talking now about his struggle between his two personalities. His consciousness is split into two—the honest, polite side that succeeds; and the immoral side that indulges on animal instincts. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are essentially the same person, but are two alter egos that are classified as doppelgängers.

Citations:

Buzwell, Greg. “’Man Is Not Truly One, but Truly Two’: Duality in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” The British Library, The British Library, 13 February 2014, https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/duality-in-robert-louis-stevensons-strange-case-of-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde

Stevenson, Robert L. “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson.” The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson : chapter10, ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/stevenson/robert_louis/s848dj/chapter10.html.

White, Craig. “Doppelgänger.” Terms & Themes, 9 November 2013, http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/terms/D/dpplgngr.htm

Categories
Glossary

Victorian (literary period)

The Victorian period took place from 1837-1901 and occurred during the reign of Queen Victoria in England, hence the name “Victorian” (Rahn 2011). During this time, the Industrial Revolution was happening and the breakdown of the church began (Rahn 2011). The enormous change in society also materialized in the literature. For example, one of the most famous Victorians was Charles Darwin, who published his groundbreaking theory of evolution known as Darwinism during the Victorian period. Additionally, the shift from poetry (the most common source of literature) to novels also happened by the end of the period (Rahn 2011). Novels written in Victorian times reflected the changes of society and included themes of morality and realism. The Victorian literary period was the bridge between romanticism and the future writing of the 20th century. Today, novels still hold a significant place in literature which validates the impact Victorian literature had on the modern world (Rahn 2011).

Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel of Jekyll and Hyde was written during the Victorian era and embodies the essence of Victorian times. Stevenson made the setting for Mr. Hyde’s house in SoHo, London. Soho was once a respected neighborhood but became a dark and hazardous place known for crime and prostitution during the Victorian era (Layson and Law 2014). Due to the Industrial Revolution happening, a lower-class neighborhood such as Soho in the Victorian era can be pictured as ashy, dim place darkened with chimney smoke and neglected architecture. Which is symbolic of Hyde’s existence. In his work, Stevenson conceptualizes both the lavish and comfortable life of upper class Victorian society through Dr. Jekyll and than the dismal, concealed side of society that Victorians tried to hide through Mr. Hyde.

The conflict of good and bad that was present in Jekyll and Hyde was not unfamiliar to Victorian literature. It was clear that the drastic change happening in society was also happening in art. The industrial revolution did a lot to progress societal changes but also left mass destruction in its path. This was happening to Victorian people as well. Victorians tried their best to conceal the darker side of society that was developing as a result of the evolution of society through maintaining good manners and respect. Victorian literature worked to denounce the perception of Victorian society and expose what truly appeals to the people who lived it in.

Works Cited

  1. Diniejko, Andrzej. Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and the Intellectual Ferment of the Mid- and Late Victorian Periods, www.victorianweb.org/science/darwin/diniejko.html.
  2. Layson, Hana, and Jules Law. “Digital Collections for the Classroom.” Victorians and the Hidden Self: Cultural Contexts for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Picture of Dorian Gray: Digital Collections for the Classroom, dcc.newberry.org/collections/victorians-and-the-hidden-self.
  3. Rahn, Josh. “Victorian Literature.” The Literature Network: Online Classic Literature, Poems, and Quotes. Essays & Summaries, www.online-literature.com/periods/victorian.php.
  4. The Industrial Revolution, primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/victorians/industrialrevolution.html.