Eleven people were killed and the radicals were given a huge propaganda boost by referring to the event as ‘Peterloo’, in a grim analogy with the Duke of Wellington's famous victory over Napoleon at Waterloo four years earlier. This shows that the government did think Britain was on the verge of a revolution if they had to have authorities to disperse the crowd by force. This also shows the unrest Britain had as a whole, to the way Britain was governed. In response to the Duke of Wellington’s return to government, reform leaders made plans to bring the country to a halt by having their supporters withdraw funds from the banks, using the slogan: ‘To stop the Duke, go for Gold’. The crisis was averted.
Once an LSD consumer, Ken Kesey, defines the importance of freedom throughout his world renowned Post-Modern novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. One element of Postmodernism in the novel, is the effect of society against the individual. Society and government power systems become the machine and our postmodern anti-hero rages against that machine (Bendingfield). In the story, Chief, the narrator, in the book is a damaged ex-soldier who sees the machine enemy all around him. The reader takes it as metaphor, but Chief who is a paranoid schizophrenic, sees it as reality.
Technology’s Growth The rapid advancement of technology in our society is dangerous and Neil Postman’s book “Technopoly” will explain this when you read it. Neil Postman wrote this book to warn society about the surrender of culture to technology. He starts the book with the legend of king Thamus entertaining the god Theuth who was the inventor of many things. Thamus says that “new technologies change what we mean by ‘knowing’ and ‘truth.’” He then goes to break down society into three different cultures: tool-using, technocracies, and technopolies. He then goes into further detail describing the differences in each one.
While technology can be beneficial and useful it can also cause negative consequences. In science fiction plots, the growing technological advances often times result in negative effects on humankind. In The Sound of Thunder, we see the use of the time machine and how it ended up changing the course of history forever (Bradbury, 288-300). In Nethergrave, the boy Jeremy felt more comfortable in his online chat room world where he chose to create a different persona for himself that differed from reality. In the end he chose the live in a whole new virtual world, which resulted in Jeremy ending his life on planet earth (Skurzynki, 314-324).
In Ray Bradbury's short story "There will come Soft Rains" technology negatively influences society. Ray Bradbury demonstrates the technology can and will lead to war, pain, and laziness. To begin, mankind’s misuse of technology leads to their end. Humans were so thoughtless and selfish that they fought until "a radioactive glow could be seen for miles" (Bradbury 90). Mankind was consumed with technology they ended up not thinking of the damage they could cause with a nuclear war.
The Burning Truth Fire! It is hard to believe firemen start fires rather than putting them out. Yet that is what happens in Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451. Dehumanization takes place as the advancements in technology make people less emotional and less capable of independent thought. This is exactly what the totalitarian government, in Bradbury’s Novel, wants for their mindless society.
With Roy descending from the pinnacle of Tyrell Corporations after killing Tyrell, and Roy’s deliberate misquote of William Blake’s America: A Prophecy in Chewy’s Laboratory scene -”Fiery the angels rose” to :Fiery the angels fell; deep thunder rolled around their shoulders”- is reminiscent of John Milton’s Paradise Lose in which Roy resembles the fallen angel, Satan. The low camera shot of Roy as he saves Deckard establishes his humanity as it reaffirms that he is more humane and moral than Tyrell. With the economic rationalism and mass consumerism encouraged people to spend and earn money. With the intoxication of money, obsession, greed and a detachment
The death of Algernon took a huge toll on Charlie’s understanding of what could and might happen to him. When he realizes that the surgical procedure is flawed, he throws himself into his own personal research to discover the flaw due to two reasons. First, his intelligence has gotten to its peak, making him much smarter than Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur; he understands their own research to a greater depth than they understand themselves. The doctors feel Charlie has overworked himself immensely with the research, yet he cannot wait for them to figure out what will happen to him. “I know I should rest, but I’m driven on by something inside that won’t let me stop.
In this story, I think Bradbury is commenting on how technology has been misused. The technology that has allowed these time travellers to take a trip with Time Safari shows materialism. For their own happiness, these rich people who have nothing else to do, adjust the course of human evolution and nearly destroy human life, when a hunter, Eckles’ runs off the path he was told he must not leave by the leader, he causes a chain reaction that changes history in devastating ways. Therefore, the theme that Bradbury is trying to express has to do with the Butterfly Effect, which is that a small slight action can have a big impact on future events for an entire generation. In conclusion I think Bradbury’s writing illustrates the theme of a small act resulting in big consequences.
Innocence and purity are tarnished when pride is introduced into oneʼs mind. Benjamin Disraeli supports this by stating “pride ruined the angels.” When people have pride they will go to extreme measures to remove the flaws that surround them; this leads to them losing the morality and naivete that once established their being. The novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, exemplifies the disintegration of integrity through her protagonist: Victor Frankenstein. At first, Victor was a pure and intelligent human who once held a great passion for science and wanted to pursue his dreams of creating life; however, once that goal was achieved, Victor isolated himself from his creation due to all its imperfections and the overwhelming feelings from failing himself thus diminishing his pride.