Blog Set 4

The appeal of stories about things like asteroids or other planets hitting the Earth is that the possibility is very real and if it were to happen there would probably be no way to really stop it. The universe is a vast unknown territory for humans. We are to the universe what a grain of salt is to our solar system. There is so much left to explore in space and we honestly will probably never be able to even explore half of it. The thought of the unknown, of not having control over something, is a thought that terrifies humans. Humans constantly want to be in control of everything, especially their own lives, and stories like "The Star" by H.G Wells  make us realize we don't always have control. That aspect of stories similar to "The Star" is what make them so appealing to us.


Wrath, greed, sloth, lust, pride, gluttony, and envy. These things are known as the seven deadly sins and a lot of them showed up in "Speech Sounds" by Octavia Butler. Right in the beginning of the story we are introduced to wrath. The men on the bus getting into a violent altercation simply because one of them accidentally touched the other. Just a few moments later and the whole bus is plagued by wrath and rage. Much like the world now. We constantly hear about horrendous acts of violence on the news everyday. Just like in the story, even those who are meant to protect us. like the police, seem to be doing the opposite and are just mindlessly killing people.
Another deadly sin is greed, which in a dystopian society would most likely be necessary. Basic things like fuel, food, or transportation became sparse and because of that people became greedy. These items became as desired as money or precious jewels. They needed to take all they could get and horde it like gold. Just like the story, greed is very prevalent in the world we live in now. Everything is based on getting as much of something as you can, especially money. The desire to obtain enormous amounts money and luxurious items is part of what runs our society.
The fun time Obsidian and Rye had in the back seat was filled with plenty of lust. The immense desire those two had for sex despite the fact that they were absolute strangers was a perfect example of lust. But this act of spontaneous intercourse was acceptable because of the situation they were in. Because of the way the world had changed. In recent years, casual sex has become a lot more acceptable in society. Once upon a time having any kind of sexual relation with someone you were not in a committed relationship with was extremely frowned upon but now we have dating websites and apps like Tinder that allow people to hook up with anyone and lust as much as they want.
Sloth was when the old man that lived by Rye had the women do all the work for him. Even with those women there he still wanted to get Rye to do his work too because he was too lazy. Our world, thanks to a lot of new technology, allows us to be absolute couch potatoes. Why go outside and make friends when you can create an everlasting relationship with Netflix. Online jobs, online school, online payments, you can do almost anything online from the comfort of your home. Not that it's a bad thing to be able to stay home but it can end up promoting laziness. There are also jobs like pimping and drug dealing that allow the person to have workers do the job for them but they are the ones that get paid the most amount of money.
When Obsidian an Rye realize that the other person has what the other one is lacking they are both so envious of each other they could kill. Rye said she had never felt like killing someone so badly until she felt that insane amount jealousy. Envy in our present time is the same as in the story. When people are envious enough of something someone has they can go to extreme lengths to get it or destroy it so the other person can't have it either. ( If you have not seen the film Seven I suggest you skip this next section because it contains spoilers to the ending. The movie is about a serial killer who's murders are all based on the seven deadly sins)
***SPOILERS*** For example, in the movie Seven the serial killer is so envious of the detectives happy traditional life that he beheads the detectives wife and sends her head in a box to the detective. That way neither of them get a happy life.***END***
As humans we always want what we don't have.
I couldn't find anything relating to pride or gluttony so if any of you find anything please comment below! It'd be really cool if the story could have a connection to all seven.

My interpretation of "Passengers" and "Out of All Them Bright Stars" (Blog set #2)

Whether there is life besides humans in this universe has always been a question many people have thought about. If there is, then how exactly would they interact with humans? I found the differences in the human-alien interaction in these two stories, "Passengers" by Robert Silverberg and "Out of All Them Bright Stars" by Nancy Kress, to be very interesting. In the story "Passengers" Silverberg portrays the aliens like parasites, they live through the humans and use them as hosts. The way they take over the humans makes me think of Dissociative Identity Disorder. The title "Passengers" is referring to the aliens like a passenger passenger in a car. Having a passenger means having an extra person inside your car besides yourself, the driver should be the one in control but a passenger could easily take over. Possibly like two people or personalities trying to be in one mind. More examples are the way the humans couldn't remember anything that had happened and how they acted when they were being ridden was apparently opposite of their usual personalities. The fear they had to try to actually love someone knowing that they could change at any second. Also, the strange way that people who had been ridden weren't supposed to discuss like it was shameful. It made me think of how people treat mental illnesses in our current time. On the other hand Kress portrays the aliens as friendly and polite in "Out of All Them Bright Stars". The alien, John, is very kind towards Sally and clearly means no harm. Even though the alien is nothing but kind he still gets treated rudely by the owner of the diner simply because he looks different. Even now, racism like that still exists. People are constantly judged and mistreated for having a different skin color or looking different. This story made me think about how many Americans feel about the large amounts of immigrants that have come to America. Out of all the countries why do most immigrants decide to come to the U.S? This question is similar to the one Sally asked herself about why the aliens chose to go to Earth instead of any of the other planets. Most immigrants come to the U.S with the simple intention of starting a new and better life and gaining new experiences, like what these aliens seemed to be doing. Just like John, immigrants can be treated very rudely. I can say this from personal experience. My family immigrated to the U.S from Cuba in the 90's and the treatment John experienced is very similar to treatment that me and my family have experienced. Personally that's how I thought these stories reflected humanity back on itself.

UPDATE
After the discussions we had last class I learned a lot of different perspectives and interpretations about these two stories which was really cool. However, my own personal interpretation stays the same and nothing about the way I understood these stories has changed.

Blog Set #1 Introduction

Hello, my name is Mairelys (my-reh-lees)! Don't worry about trying to pronounce that tongue twister of a name because for your convenience I have given myself the nickname Marie. I've always been fascinated by science-fiction, fantasy, and the supernatural. What really interests me about these things is that there's always a possibility that they could be real. There are still a lot of mysteries to this world and I love that these genres let your imagination run wild. I love horror, particularly demons, ghosts, and murder. They absolutely terrify me but I love the adrenaline rush I get. However, bring up clowns and I'll have to excuse myself from the classroom. I hope to learn about what makes these genres what they are and some history on how they came about. I also hope to discover cool new movies, books, and TV shows through this class. I mainly just want to broaden my knowledge about science-fiction and other similar genres. I'm very excited to be taking this class for this semester!