All short essay responses should completely answer the question or set(s) of questions. Please use examples from lecture and the textbooks (short story anthology and Parable of Talents) to answer the prompts. You do not need a works cited page, but do use in-text citations – ex: (Butler 1998).
After you are completed, please upload your final exam as a .doc, .docx, or .pdf format on Blackboard by Friday, June 5th, 2020.
1. Discuss the imaginative representations of the alien in at least three (3) of these stories, including some consideration of the ways in which these representations function (for example, in terms of how they help to define “humanity” or how they act as metaphors of “otherness”). What do these stories tell us about society? (examples: A Martian Odyssey; Out of All Them Bright Stars; Bloodchild; The Liberation from Earth)
2. Much of science fiction focuses on issues related to future lifestyles and how natural or supernatural phenomena radically change our social relationships. Discuss this tendency using at least 2 or 3 of the stories that you have read, and address either how these future lives influence alternative gender and sexual identities OR how these future lives affect the emotional and political complexities of interpersonal relationships. (examples: Parable of the Talents; Speech Sounds; There Will Come Soft Rains; We Can Remember it For You Wholesale; The Cage of Sand; Bloodchild;, Aye, and Gomorrah…)
3. Considering the comfort and security that Acorn provides in Parable of the Talents and considering that his long-lost sister has found him and saved him from a life of bondage, why do you think Marcus rejects Earthseed and risks his life to strike out on his own? Why does he have so much trouble accepting and understanding Lauren Olamina’s goals? Why does he not believe the Christian America organization is capable of the cruelty inflicted on Lauren and Acorn?
4. Reviewers have stated that Parable of the Talents is about “slavery and survival, alienation and transcendence, violence and spirituality.” The author has said that Talents is intended to be a novel of solutions: “When I say solutions, I don’t mean the perfect solution, because there isn’t one. But the kind of solutions that people reach for when they are desperate, when they are frightened, when they are looking around.” What solutions do you see the author exploring through the characters in this book? What do you think this teaches us about people? Do you think there is a singular solution to the world’s problems and what are those problems? Use specific information from lecture material to better illuminate your response.
5. Consider the following quote from Talents: “The destiny of Earthseed is to take root among the stars… That’s the ultimate Earthseed aim, and the ultimate human change short of death. It’s a destiny we’d better pure if we hope to be anything other than smooth-skinned dinosaurs – here today, gone tomorrow, our bones mixed with the bones and ashes of our cities.” Do you believe that humans should try to achieve space travel? Do you think we should try to build homes on other planets? What do you think would change for the world if we do? Use concepts from Parable of the Talents and any one or two of the following short stories (A Martian Odyssey; Seed Stock; The Cage of Sand; Aye, and Gomorrah…).