Vylar Kaftan Civilization
Civilization by Vylar Kaftan is about how choosing different paths often lead to the same ending. This short story has a series of sections, which the reader will go to after choosing how their civilization will be. The author gives the illusion of choice; however, choices will not matter, as in the end a new civilization will start regardless of choices. The passage explained describes how society ends up after the assassination of their leader and their civilization lost the war.
The society in this story can be either dystopian or utopian. These two are direct opposites. John Munkner from the University of Georgetown reported that utopian societies are usually ideal and their individuals are leading ideal lives. Dystopia, however, is …show more content…
“an imaginary place where people are unhappy and usually afraid because they are not treated fairly” as explained in one of the definitions of the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
Kaftan starts this passage by mentioning the destroyed civilization.
No matter the civilization, whether it is utopian or dystopian, the decisions made by the people lead to destruction. Interestingly, the author implies the absence of fast foods, sports and a combination of the two things above. In the first section of this short story, the author mentions that fast foods and sports are the only things needed. The next paragraph mentions a mushroom cloud, – perhaps an atomic bomb – deaths because of plague, – which is toxic and makes skin explode – and radiation – that could possibly fry 98% of the population’s brains. All the scenarios presented above are results of war between civilizations. Next, she describes what could happen to the people living there. This includes being vaporized by rain, the piling up of dead bodies and the simile of comparing them to ants, survivors that walk among them. Here she notes that those left alive steal food from the corpses but not their money, because “who needs money anymore?”. After exposing the reasons of the apocalypse and what happens to those living there, Kaftan moves on to what the remaining society will face next. Here she proposes a nuclear winter, a biological disaster or depression. Then she states that those who survived can start over, ending this
passage.
As mentioned before, Kaftan presents the illusion of choice. An example of this is shown in Section 11: War, Again, where the author states “It always comes down to war.”. The relevance of this passage along the whole story is to emphasize the author’s playing with the reader’s choosing. This part of the story also mentions the possibility of the reconstruction of the society and future of those remaining.
This passage is symbolic because as mentioned many times before it has the gift of choice masked as an illusion. Equally important, Kaftan’s choice of dividing the sections and making the reader style their civilization in whatever way they want, and the choice of an apocalyptical version of their societies cannot be avoided, as all the choices lead to the death of the society’s leaders due to war and apocalypse for the remaining population.
The society in this story can be either dystopian or utopian. These two are direct opposites. John Munkner from the University of Georgetown reported that utopian societies are usually ideal and their individuals are leading ideal lives. Dystopia, however, is …show more content…
“an imaginary place where people are unhappy and usually afraid because they are not treated fairly” as explained in one of the definitions of the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
Kaftan starts this passage by mentioning the destroyed civilization.
No matter the civilization, whether it is utopian or dystopian, the decisions made by the people lead to destruction. Interestingly, the author implies the absence of fast foods, sports and a combination of the two things above. In the first section of this short story, the author mentions that fast foods and sports are the only things needed. The next paragraph mentions a mushroom cloud, – perhaps an atomic bomb – deaths because of plague, – which is toxic and makes skin explode – and radiation – that could possibly fry 98% of the population’s brains. All the scenarios presented above are results of war between civilizations. Next, she describes what could happen to the people living there. This includes being vaporized by rain, the piling up of dead bodies and the simile of comparing them to ants, survivors that walk among them. Here she notes that those left alive steal food from the corpses but not their money, because “who needs money anymore?”. After exposing the reasons of the apocalypse and what happens to those living there, Kaftan moves on to what the remaining society will face next. Here she proposes a nuclear winter, a biological disaster or depression. Then she states that those who survived can start over, ending this
passage.
As mentioned before, Kaftan presents the illusion of choice. An example of this is shown in Section 11: War, Again, where the author states “It always comes down to war.”. The relevance of this passage along the whole story is to emphasize the author’s playing with the reader’s choosing. This part of the story also mentions the possibility of the reconstruction of the society and future of those remaining.
This passage is symbolic because as mentioned many times before it has the gift of choice masked as an illusion. Equally important, Kaftan’s choice of dividing the sections and making the reader style their civilization in whatever way they want, and the choice of an apocalyptical version of their societies cannot be avoided, as all the choices lead to the death of the society’s leaders due to war and apocalypse for the remaining population.