.. care about how or why things happen. They now live to stay alive and to reproduce.
E. The settings of the story made a considerable difference in making the story almost believable. The setting in Guayaquil, Ecuador was in a poor bankrupt city whose last great happening was the Nature Cruise of the Century, and it didnt ever happen. The other setting would be on the island of Santa Rosalia.
This is where the stranded lone survivors in the world exist for the next one million years. An island sprung forth from the ocean by volcanoes erupting and cooling until it formed an island. Animals showed up on the island sometime. There were blue footed boobies, marine iguanas, fish filled ocean, mice and more.
This setting setup the race to evolve into the flippered, small-brained people they are today. F. The society of the book was the same as society is today. Except for the fact that paper money has lost all value in almost parts of the world. People are starving and entire countries were going bankrupt.
World War III was going to happen at any time. IV. Theme and Other Abstract Ideas A. 1-People should always think twice before committing to anything.
2-Life should not selfishly be used for the gain of oneself, but for the gain of all. B. 1-This theme is portrayed many times throughout the book. When Andrew Macintosh and Zenji Hiroguchi went running out of a hotel surrounded by people that could be dangerous to them they should have though twice. 2-When Mary did her experiments on the island, she did them not for herself but for the sake of humanity. She did it so that the kanka bono girls would be able to have children and keep the human race alive and well.
The captain however was selfish and did everything for the sake of himself. He also did nothing for the sake of humanity. C. There were some moral and ethical problems seen throughout the story. Deceit was one of them.
Zenji Hiroguchi was deceitful when he told his employer where he was going. He told them he was going on some vacation, when in fact he was going with Andrew Macintosh to Ecuador for a cruise. D. The authors purpose in writing this book was to show what can happen when people use their great big brains.
It shows how people can act without thinking twice. It proved deadly for Andrew Macintosh and Zenji Hiroguchi. It tells people that they need to think through their actions before they actually do things. The author is trying to tell people to not only listen to their brains but also to listen to their hearts. You also have to be willing to take chances and do things that might not seem right. Like when Mary did her little experiments to get the kanka bono girls pregnant and to keep humanity alive and well.
The combination of the two is where everyone wants to be. Think twice before committing but be willing to take a chance or two as well. E. 1-Zenji Hiroguchi invented the mandarax and became famous, so Andrew Macintosh pursued him to try and get Zenji to work for him.
2-The blue footed boobies were unable to learn from experiences so they were easy food for the stranded people on the island 3-James Wait fed six little kanka bono girls at a bar, giving Mary Hepburn the impression that he was kind and caring. F. The author uses allusion throughout the story. Using quotes from many places. Some of them are from famous people, the bible, or other works. V.
Memorable Lines, Scenes A. More and more people back then,..,had found ensuring the survival of the human race a total bore. If there really was a Noahs ark, and there may have been I might entitle my story A Second Noahs Ark. This was a very innocent planet, except for those great big brains In a matter of seconds, a typical brain of a million years ago had turned the best citizen. into a ravening terrorist.
B. The two with stars by their names would be dead before the sun went down. This convention of starring certain names will continue throughout my story, incidentally, alerting readers to the fact that some characters will shortly face the ultimate Darwinian test of strength and wiliness. I was there, too, but perfectly invisible.
VI. Style A. Kurt Vonneguts style is different from any other authors I have read. He takes the form of a dead character who became a ghost with the power of entering someones mind and knowing all of their thoughts. He also seems to jump back and forth from past, to present, to future rather often.
Doing this can be confusing to the reader at first, but then they will become accustom to the style and the story will grow easier to read. Vonnegut also used many of other peoples quotes to get a point across during the story which came from a mini computer. Each character was developed separately and it was very clear who each character was and what traits they possessed. B. The organization of the author was great.
He seemed to develop each character separately to make it very easy to understand who was who and what was going on. He starred the names of people who were going to die soon. He organized it very well. The point of view was very important as well.
The first person consistency with the omniscient knowledge of everybodys ideas only contributed to the overall quality of the story. Detail in the story seemed to be well done. With the detail of the animals on Sant Rosalia, the terrain of different places, and other details about the buildings and the ship. VII. Interpretive Questions A. 1- Why was Selena blind? 2-Why did the Captain want to try to tinker with the stream on the island? 3-Why did Mary impregnate the kanka bono girls? 4-Why dont the blue footed boobies ever learn to be afraid of humans? 5-Why does the currency of the powerful nations stay valuable? B.
1-Selena symbolized the blindness of the way people live. Blind to the world they live in. Blind to each other. Blind to themselves. Not realizing they have an impact on everything around them.
2-The captain wanted to feel like he was in control of the island and the women. He wanted to feel important and needed. 3-Mary felt she was mother nature and was experimenting with the species to try to save them. She knew that mankind relied on her to keep the human species alive and well. 4-They are like the stubborn, unwilling to change. For this reason they are easily found and captured by the more adept people who are willing to make changes.
5-It stays valuable because the weaker nations look at them like they are Gods. It is like a kid looking at superman and knowing that he will never be hurt or die, no matter what happens to ordinary people. VIII. Personal Relevance of the work to You A. As I started toward the blue tunnel into the afterlife, I turned only to see a bright red ball smash into the tiny island.
The flash afterward was too bright to look at, but when the light faded I knew what had happened. The meteorites the captain had been thinking of all these years came to claim his life. I wondered where Mary was when it hit, but then I saw two figures in the tunnel behind me. It was the captain and Mary. Mary was wondering what had happened that had ended her life so suddenly.
The captain was mumbling something but all I could make out was ..told em so.. meteorites!. They were heading my way, confused who would be standing in the tunnel with them, when they were the only humans alive at the time. I introduced myself as Leon Trout and told them of my story. I only had one question to ask them, Have you seen my left ear anywhere?, I think I left it in the bathroom on the sundeck. B.
The main character and I have some similarities. I will mention five of them. -He has a craving for knowledge. I too want to know more about why things happen. -He blames his mistakes on his big brain. I will sometimes try to pass blame to other people or things to get the attention off me.
-He wanted to see the cruise passengers through their situation. I always like to make sure something ends well if I see the start or am involved with from the start. -He didnt want to go into the blue tunnel into the afterlife. I dont either.
-He forgot about some minor details that he left out till the end. There are some details I have left out of my life that will have to be told about in the end C. This work is relevant to our time because the society in which the story took place is much like ours. The situation where people changed their minds as to what the value of paper was is one that it seems that it could happen today.
D. It reminded me of when I was stranded on an island and ate blue footed boobies to survive. Not really though. It reminded me of times when my so called big brain got me to do things that probably shouldnt have been done. Well leave it at that. E.
It gave me the idea that maybe the situations Im in arent as bad as they could be. I could be a blue footed boobie and be eaten by stupid people. G. I have had a time when I was going to do that was really cool, and then because of unforseen circumstances, it was canceled. J.
I think that what I will remember most is that you cannot trust your brain all the time. You can be influenced easily into making decisions that could affect the rest of your life. This book will forever make me know that our brains can and probably will turn on us and that we will have to follow our heart into making the right decision.
