2017-09-19
【Aiden in English】 Ray Bradbury, an iconic American author, has written many stories. Each book and story has a different plot, setting, and set of characters. But unlike other authors, Bradbury uses broad, general themes that stretch over the course of many stories. The Illustrative Man, a book comprised of multiple shorter stories, shares similar themes commonly with another short story, “There Will Come Soft Rains”. These stories all share one common topic for all themes: a negative, pessimistic vision for the future. In a desolate place, ravaged by nuclear weapons, a house struggles to maintain its condition, awaiting an over who will never return. “There Will Come Soft Rains” is about a futuristic world of death. This short story takes place before an imminent nuclear war and the blind panic of people running for survival, and it shares this pessimistic view with another story “The Highway”. Both show a pessimistic vision of the future’s weapons, describing their effects on humanity. The lack of humans in “There Will Come Soft Rains” somewhat hints at the dominance technology implements, further hinted at throughout the story by machines completing normal human tasks. Similarly, the preeminence of technology presents itself in “The Highway” as well, demonstrated by the driver who speaks about “the end of the world” (Bradbury). In both, weapons reached a point of ending the Earth, which Bradbury commonly expresses in these stories.
“Kaleidoscope” brings about another negative vision of the future. A short story from The Illustrated Man, “Kaleidoscope” matches up very well with “There Will Come Soft Rains”. A group of stranded astronauts in space, “Kaleidoscope” beautifully depicts the moments before their deaths. Their conservations formulate a plot that dives deep into what drives humans to live and what holds them back. “Kaleidoscope” shares a similar pessimistic vision to “There Will Come Soft Rains”. Giving a sense of sheer hopelessness, the astronauts represent humanity on a new scale. “Space, thousands of miles of space, and these voices vibrating at the center of it.” (31) Ironically, it is the technology that allowed humans to achieve space travel, and yet in its most crucial moments, it lets down humanity. This form of dependency and hopelessness is exhibited in both stories, just like the technology struggling to maintain the house’s condition in “There Will Come Soft Rains”. Surpassing the limit of human survival, the technology showed its close yet distant ties with humanity. And while “Kaleidoscope” technology’s failure contrasts with the house’s superior technology, both demonstrate an inseparable bond that binds humans to technology for survival. Finally, Bradbury attacks this weakness of humans, stripping away the help of technology in both stories and shines the harsh truth that humans are nothing without their creations.
【红霞译文】
雷·布莱伯利是一位影响美国文化的作家，毕生写过大量著作，每部作品在表现手法、背景结构以及人物性格上都保持独特风格。与别的作家不同，布莱伯利将广博的主题思想贯穿于许多创作之中，其短篇故事集《图案人》与小说《细雨将至》共同拥有这样一个特点：对未来消极悲观。
在惨遭核武器摧残之后的荒郊野外，有栋厄舍岌岌可危，差点连影子都看不到了，《细雨将至》向读者娓娓道来这个终将灭亡的世界。故事发生在核战爆发之前，茫然无措的人们为了生存四处奔波，与《高速公路》表现的悲观情绪毫无二致。两部小说对未来武器悲观失望，阐明核战对人间世情的影响。《细雨将至》或多或少暗指人类消亡与现代科技有关，进而引申自动化机器打破常规完成人类使命。精湛的智能科技同样再现《高速公路》一书，难怪熟谙车技的司机称之为“世界末日”（布莱伯利）。两部小说中，武器水平均已达到终结地球的地步，这正是布莱伯利惯于谈论的话题。 《万花筒》是另一部对未来充满悲情的作品。继《图案人》之后，与《细雨将至》题材相仿的短篇小说《万花筒》出炉，它巧妙地描述了一群滞留太空的宇航员临终前喜怒哀乐，故事从他们之间的对话着手，深入探讨促进人类进步的动力和阻挠人类发展的障碍，身处绝境的宇航员把人道主义提升到一个崭新的高度。“太空，方圆数千里的太空，这些发自肺腑的心声回荡在宇宙之中。”（第31页）值得回味的是，科技既能帮助人类太空旅行，也会在紧要关头让人类丧失信心。两部小说先后展示人类对科技的依赖和绝望，如同《细雨将至》中科技已无力挽救摇摇欲坠的住宅，一旦超越地球承受极限，科技与人类虽近犹远。尽管《万花筒》有别于《细雨将至》演绎的科技失败，但彼此之间有一种不可分割的纽带将人类与科技联系起来，以此求得生存。最后，布莱伯利抨击这些人性弱点，两个故事如若排除科技相助，残酷现实便摆到面前：离开科技创新，人类一事无成。 Today in History(历史上的今天): 2012: Bio Poem(四年级自传体诗歌) 
Crosslinks(相关博文): 6th Grade Context Analysis─Eulogy to Freak(初一语境分析─悼念弗里克) 6th Grade Text-dep Analysis─Stone Age Discovery(初一语境分析─石器时代创新) 5th Grade Text-dependent Analysis—Lab Rats(五年级语境分析—《超能高校生》) 9th Grade(高中一年级) |
