Worldwide View Presented in Billenium and The Prison

Jan Berge Y12 Literature ! of 3 1 ! Worldwide View Presented in Billenium and The Prison" " " Questions such as whether humans are intrinsically good or not, whether we are too shallow or not or whether we all are marionettes in an endless play, are some which perpetually have been argued upon by writers, philosophers and lowly commoners alike. The two short stories “Billenium” and “The Prison” go to great depths in sparking debates on questions such as these through seemingly simplistic, yet simultaneously thriving interpretations of human nature through the acts of the characters in the two stories. Not only do the two authors, J.G. Ballard and Bernard Malamud, respectively, open windows to human nature through these short stories, but they at the same time convey a powerful warning of the potential societies of the future and current societal ills. They achieve this through the use of a plethora of effects, and, perhaps most importantly, as mentioned above, the very themes and plots of their stories. " " Both inevitably show us the dark sides of humanity, in particular through oppression and sins, and might to some extent even give us the sense that we are approaching, or, perhaps even worse, already are at, the eve of destruction. In “Billenium”, the reader is transported into an almost surreal dystopian setting, in which people are living in broom cupboards, are trapped in jams “for over forty-eight hours”, and have to adhere to the strict rules set forth by institutions such as the “Housing Department”. This invariably illuminates the theme of the powerlessness and dehumanization humans are experiencing, acting as a poignant reminder of the need to continually evaluate our inherent, most of the time at least, attitudes towards authority. “The Prison”, also, albeit to a much lesser extent, displays human evil at a stage where it is possible to be prevented. " " In that Tommy tries to prevent the little girl from falling into the same trap as he did, being part of the “gang” and ending up with all she could think of being “going to sleep in the afternoon”, he displays human nature at its very best — our ability to stand up for others in spite of our inability to stand up for ourselves; in other words, Tommy wants the girl to realize her “American Dream” although he was not able to. He besides, as mentioned, hardly wants her to fall into the same trap of becoming her own very prisoner, as he is. Nevertheless, the girl ambivalently disregards Tommy’s continued attempts, signalizing that humans indeed intrinsically are not good, amplifying the pessimistic view of humanity, which towards the end of the short story somewhat has diminished the optimistic view of it presented through Tommy’s actions. Both of the stories besides, as mentioned, revolve around interesting characters, both in terms of their background, but also in terms of their approach to the current state of affairs in which they live." " Ward, Rossiter, Helen and Judith and all the other characters presented in “Billenium” have one thing in common; they are all eagerly awaiting, with their “luggage piled all over the floor”, for an opportunity to get as far away as possible from their current setting. The worldwide view these characters thus present may thus be interpreted as optimistic in the sense that they have not succumbed to the machine the authorities are through loosing their sanity and being mere “zombies”. They are still able to have a “good laugh” over the state of affairs in which they are in, and are by doing so giving the reader a glimpse of hope for what an otherwise unconditionally stark future may hold. In other words, although the world has fallen into a state where oppression, dehumanization and collectivization reigns, displaying a very undesirable future, because of who knows what, humans will still remain intrinsically good — at least those who are not part of the “machine”. The same can to an equal extent be applied to “The Prison”. " Jan Berge Y12 Literature " " ! of 3 2 ! Tommy, as mentioned, elaborately attempts at preventing the little girl from continuing to steal from their shop, but fails at doing so, leaving us the impression that humanity as a whole is not as good as we would believe it is — the little girl would otherwise not have “thrust out..her red tongue” at him, as her wrongdoings were discovered by her mother. Besides, the vicious behavior of Tommy’s wife both towards him and subsequently towards the girl, helps little in supporting the thesis of this story conveying a positive view of humanity. But the discussion on whether it indeed does do so or not, nevertheless has its root in this question; can Tommy’s kindness substitute for the ignorance of the girl? Ample evidence supporting the raised question will inevitably include the given that Tommy himself saw his life drifting into one bearing striking resemblance to that of the little girl’s. Besides, think of his obvious lack of obligation to do anything for her, let alone prevent her from being caught, and, ultimately, the very fact that he “let her(girl) take it(the candy)”, defending her from her mother, goes to support the view that the good ultimately is more powerful than the evil, as humans, such as Tommy, rise above themselves. Numerous effects are furthermore used in presenting the worldwide view in these two short stories. " " The most salient effect used in both short stories is the efficient and extraordinarily powerful use of motifs in order to symbolize different aspects the stories try to convey in terms of the worldwide view. In “Billenium”, the wardrobe for example represents freedom and the following decaying of it, while the cubicle represents the highly flawed system, the lack of privacy and oppression and the people represent a stark future. In having these different motifs as representatives of the different subjects, Ballard manages to give a seemingly unprecedented level of depth to an otherwise seemingly simple short story, telling us so much about humans, and thus society. The same can in turn be said for “The Prison”, in which the girl is a sort of reflection of Tommy as a child, while the candies represent the continued wrongdoings of the girl. Here, as well, motifs contribute to giving seemingly simplistic stories new levels of depth. Foreshadowing is besides used frequently in both stories, amplifying the feeling of the eve of destruction coming closer and closer, as the win of evil over good seemingly is approaching. Imagery, and then especially imagery of the past, furthermore contributes to the two short stories acting as windows into human nature, namely through this aforementioned imagery portraying a better past than present. Ultimately, keeping the two short stories in context with their time, historically speaking, is also important in understanding the message they convey on the worldwide view. " " Both of the stories were namely written during the fifties and sixties, two decades during which individuals and the society as a whole were aspiring to reach utopian standards following years of economic adversity and despair. Taking this into consideration, the argument that these two short stories prove the intrinsic goodness present in humans in spite of the deleterious conditions they are in is further strengthened and displays that the worldwide view in these two short stories is, although masked, a positive one. I feel confident in reaching this conclusion as humans and the nature of humans comes far ahead of any kind of system or societal ill, as the latter, if not immediately, sooner or later, will come to depend directly on the attitudes of the humans experiencing them. Furthermore, another moment which is particularly interesting for me is the way in which the authors try convey evil and good, with evil being conveyed in much more grander scales and good being portrayed through modest and seemingly insignificant occurrences. In the end, this goes to strengthen the overall effects of the stories on the reader. " " The renowned Irish writer C.S. Lewis once said that “hardship often prepares an ordinary person for an extraordinary destiny”. This quote is indeed applicable to both of the Jan Berge Y12 Literature ! of 3 3 ! aforementioned short stories, as in both, the hardship and despair society inflicts upon the individuals seems to have the upper hand until, somewhat suddenly, the very best elements in human nature, such as compassion, humility and caring almost subconsciously take the control from the former. The worldwide view, as mentioned, depends solely on the individuals which will continue to shape the world for decades to follow, not on systems. This will, if not at first, eventually be the case, meaning that we are only depending on ourselves to make the right moves. Whether we do it or not, as the authors imply, may have very pleasing, but at the same time equally as deleterious effects on every realm of our lives. " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "