In my five hundred years I have seen humanity fall to the absolute lowest, but I have also been a witness to some of the greatest works of ingenuity in our race’s history. For a time it almost seemed like we would adapt to nature’s single greatest catastrophe to date, the end of days, but of course the elimination of our genesis could harbor only one eventuality. Every answer that humanity procured for the question as to the meaning of life had gotten revoked: science, religion, and even the pursuit of happiness had become nearly irrelevant; this was inevitably the end of humanity’s existence, to which I was seemingly now the sole beholder. It has been nearly 2 years since the only company I still had could stand it no longer, but I cannot blame him, for I am likely soon to follow.
The last child born on Earth came into existence on December 4, 2046. It wasn’t limited to human beings though; every species of animal spontaneously lost the ability to reproduce, and thus died out. Most people became accustomed to a vegetarian diet quite immediately, but the wealthy few had the luxury of purchasing cloned animal’s meat. I never had the fortitude to taste it, but I have heard that it leaves a residual, lasting taste of decomposition in your mouth; such is the way of the world now I suppose. I was twenty three when it happened, just accepted into medical school, and my son and I were wading our way through a haze of insignificance and dejection. I was still stricken by the grief accompanied with losing a wife to cancer; so personally, the realization of humanity’s situation came gradually and in small increments. The rest of the world seemed to stand still, as if in disbelief, but this was merely the calm before the storm. Earth’s genocidal catastrophe, our mass spontaneous sterilization, was not the fire-laden, violent apocalypse that so many had predicted; not yet anyway.
My entire life I have been a man of science, heeding not the revelations of our predecessors and by the end most people had come to agree with me. My son never got over needing religion, while I could never get over the abstractness of the idea, and as a result we grew apart. Maybe I should have at least entertained the idea, been less harsh in our dialogue, or even pretended to believe for him; then maybe I wouldn’t be alone now. In the beginning the various theologies unified within themselves, the world was quiet, each religion’s followers asking for guidance or forgiveness. Many became restless soon after they found it evident that their god(s) had forsaken their pleas, this unrest lead to panic, and this panic lead to chaos; ultimately this chaos lead to the destruction of most, if not all of the traditional theologies. Without the fear of gods judging mortals for their actions in this life, the anarchy bled out into the rest of the society’s mechanisms of control, causing governments to fall faster than new dictatorships and oligarchies could replace them. As faith in religion rapidly declined, people and governments turned to science for their salvation, and this is how the technology race for the answer to humanity’s affliction began.
In the years following the event, I completed my doctorate to become one of the more predominant figures in the attempt to undo whatever change had happened, I rigorously studied genetics and biology. Tasked with finding the cure to the world’s sterility, my team and I tirelessly worked to obtain salvation, which lead me to an alternate, temporary fix for humanities continued
existence on Earth. If we couldn’t find a way to produce more of our species, then we must at least be able to find a way to enhance an individual’s longevity. Ironically we found a way through my old nemesis, Cancer, which as you may know is one of the few biological units that are capable of permanently withstanding the effects of time. The greatest symbol of our degeneration became the first semblance of hope that we had since the event had happened. By harnessing the telomerase enzyme from cancer and implementing it into our DNA, the cure to aging had been found, but this was just the first of many technological advances that were aimed at eliminating the human condition. The People’s Republic flourished, over the course of two centuries we became the pinnacle of human livelihood, and for those two centuries it made us forget about our impending extinction. I too would have been happy, if not for the insistence from my son that living forever was an abomination of the natural world, and to this day I stare at myself in the mirror wishing I had been more perceptive of his needs; I have lived so many years, accomplished so much, and yet I have nothing and no one.
This new found immortality was not as practical as we had theorized, as people were not emotionally equipped to deal with the prospect of eternity, and as a result many people took the easy way out. Those left were devoid of emotion, humanity’s population was precarious at best, and the lack of people in the workforce lead us to abstain from our freedom of choice. For centuries, we were as clockwork, life became mechanical. Towards the end there were so few of us left, we lost the will to continue our research, slowly becoming autonomous. Everyone had a breaking point, found it, and eventually it was just the two of us. Time went on ripping through our sanity and I guess he finally lost it, my son, and on the day I found his lifeless body; it hit me, the reason we go on, I just wish it had come sooner. I had spent my entire life on what I thought was important, while what really mattered had been falling away throughout the centuries, and thus is the final epiphany of mankind. Thus concludes my written permission for the extinction of our once great race.
-John Doe, last survivor of Earth.
This was a wonderful, wonderful story. Apocalyptic books and movies are often cliche, but I felt that this was very original. The well-thought-out conceit, clearly stated theme, and lack of grammatical errors made this both an entertaining and pleasant read. One of the things I believe was done tastefully in this story was the use of diction and syntax in a way that added authenticity to story. the scientific diction, like "genesis," "harnessing the telomerase enzyme," and "devoid of emotion," helped to portray the narrator as an intelligent man. This made him appear trustworthy to the reader and made the story more believable as a result. The use of complex-compound sentences also contributed to the scientific, technical feel of the story. Lastly, I found the contrast of the unemotional way in which the narrator wrote and his emotional discussion of loosing his son to be very pleasing.
ReplyDeleteThere is little I would change about this story, but if I had to make one alteration, I would break up some of the large paragraphs into more, smaller paragraphs. The use of long, complex-compound sentences in combination with the lengthy paragraphs made the story a bit difficult to follow at times. Breaking up these paragraphs into smaller ones would help to make the story easier to read as well as better indicate changes in the narrator's focus on particular ideas and events.
Though the use of conceit is reminiscent of many of Kevin Wilson's stories, the story that came to mind while I was reading this was "Embodied". Firstly, the narrator in both of these stories had lived for many years beyond that of "normal" humans. Secondly, the narrators seemed to have developed an insensitivity towards their children as a consequence of living such a long time. In "Embodied," the narrator is able to murder her child with no remorse because she believes that killing her child will restore some kind of balance. Though the narrator in this story is not quite as violent, he strongly rejects his son's beliefs and ruins their relationship as a result of this insensitivity.
I apologize for not capitalizing "the" in the fourth sentence and spelling "losing" incorrectly at the end of the first paragraph :)
DeleteFirst of all the title, “Apocalyptic Irony” excitedly drew me in right away. This title perfectly parallels with the theme of the story. The rest of the story even exceeded my expectations. I love how this story is so sci-fi yet relatable in many ways. The main character having a traumatic experience with his wife dying of cancer and the issues that are formed between a father and son can all be very relatable experiences to the average reader. This is significant because even though this is a story built around conceit; it still has realistic problems like cancer and family dysfunction. In addition, the formality of the writing connected with me on a higher level. The diction in this story is extremely intelligent using phrases like “residual, lasting taste of decomposition” and “genocidal catastrophe.” I found that this word choice presents a perspicacity that shows a higher level of thinking, therefore bringing in a logical stand point in addition to the emotion in the story. I also found it very smart to incorporate science and religion. Science vs. Religion is known to be two opposites studied on for centuries and because the main character is a scientist claiming to be “a man of science” and his son devoting the rest of his life to religion, it shows the complexity that is with in this story. Therefore the readers can significantly see the science vs. religion ideology through the views of the father and of the son creating even more family dysfunction. So, I love that this was integrated into the story for it adds even more depth to the story. However, if I had to give any criticism at all I would say that the paragraphs could have been divided into shorter ones. For example, another paragraph could have been started at the sentence in paragraph four that begins with “The People’s Republic flourished” resulting in a good hook to a new paragraph. This could have created a more understandable atmosphere for the readers since this story is already at a high intelligent level in the first place. Other than that this story was completely and vividly interesting and captivating to read.
ReplyDeleteThis story reminds me of a couple of stories within the short story “Ordinary Monsters” in the book Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives due to the “what if” factor that is present in all of these stories. Firstly, “Wild Wild Pigs” has the “what if” factor by expressing the idea if animals, in the story specifically pigs, revolted against human kind and began cooking and eating humans versus reality. In the story “Ordinary Monsters” the author explores the idea if the world became over ran with flesh eating zombies. This parallels with the “what if” factor in this story exploring the idea if all living things became sterile and if humans found a way to lengthen people’s lives. Therefore all of these stories explore an idea that can be considered imaginative and far-fetched.
To begin with, this story is very readable. The title was very interesting and is what drew me in, so that was a good start. Typically when I hear of an apocalyptic story, it has to do with zombies, viruses, etc. However, I thought that this was an original idea and an interesting one at that. So the idea itself is the first thing I liked about this story, because it actually seems believable over a lot of the other “end times” sort of stories.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I liked about this story was the structure of it. I really liked that you put it in the form of a letter. It kept me reading and hoping that I would find out if this were some sort of suicide note or something else. I think that this was a more interesting way of going about writing the story rather than a straightforward first person story or something a little more generic like that.
Another thing I liked in the story was the idea of using cancer to reverse the aging process. Again, to me it seems this is a very original idea and it is one I have not heard yet. I think this was a very interesting idea and it’s something I would’ve never thought of. Finally, another thing I liked about the story was the juxtaposition of the narrator’s take on religion along with his son’s. I feel that this is entirely believable in a story like this and it seems that the two people in the story probably weren’t the only ones struggling with religion in a world like that. I think that you had some really good ideas in this story and it all seems very well thought out.
There is not a whole lot that I did not like about this story, but if I had to choose something, I would say that maybe the story could use something in between the paragraphs to show some break in the story. In between paragraphs the tone and direction of the story shift a bit sometimes and if there were some symbol or something showing that, it would be a little easier to keep up with. There isn’t really much about this story I don’t like so honestly I’m kind of reaching there.
I wasn’t really thinking about any particular story we read in class, but instead the movie “I Am Legend” came to mind while I was reading this story. Both narrators were stuck in an apocalyptic world and were nearly the last of their kind. On top of that, they were both scientists dedicated to fixing whatever the problem was in their respective worlds. Finally, it seems both give their lives trying to find what the cure is for what ails the human race in each story.