Wednesday, September 22, 2010

My paper

For my paper, I would like to focus on the interactions between aliens and humans in three of our short stories: "The Island," "Spar," and "Utriusque Cosmi." Specifically, I want to focus on the problems with interaction between the species. In all three cases, there seem to be gross levels of misunderstanding or confusion on the part of the human characters who try to apply human thoughts, feelings, and ideas to non-human life. I want to explore this human egocentrism both as a plot device and a flaw in humanity's collective thinking. I know this topic may be a bit broad, but I am going to stay focused on how it applies to these three stories. I will also be able to narrow my focus as my reading/writing/research continues if I need to. Any ideas are welcome!

1 comment:

Jordan said...

I like this a lot. I think an interesting take on it would be to explore what the characters wanted to accomplish by trying to understand or communicate with the aliens. Like you said, human ego has this constant need to be boosted, and I think that might have been what the characters were searching for. Some reassurance that the alien being wanted something to do with them instead of just... existing? If that makes sense.