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| Otorhinolaryngology Clinic, by David Alan Prescott
Gender - Narrative gender – tale A tale is a short story, with limited action, time and space, and with a small number of characters. There is a supremacy of action regarding to description. Global Structure - My proposal to divide and sub-divide this tale in different parts is justified by the different subjects and changes of action or thoughts. Introduction The reason that made the author write about his experiences on this new planet. From “The Romans, acording to the great Beermuschmer...” until “...during the first lunar cycles of our stay in Barcelona.” Developement Life and costumes of the Barceloians. Author’s personal diary. a) Part I – From “Barcelona had received earth TV since...” until “...for the purposes of the official report.” b) Part II – From “Day 1 These people are so small...” until “...and I might have a publishable opera.” Conclusion He finds out that someone has been reading ihs diary. How he reacts to the situation. a) Part I – From “Day 15 Today I discovered that...” until “...what can I do to make the guy stop?” b) Part II - From “Day 24 I know.” until “I’m going to put na end to the matter.” Space Planet Barcelona, city of Ian-Tcha-Tidel. Medical Surgery. A shopping mall, “...those enormous structures (...) where people choose the articles and then go to someone to put tem in a bag.” Time Narrative Time: 2406, 2479, Universal Century 34 I, 2479 day 70 and following, 2509. Chronological Time: Universal Century 34 I, 2406, 2479, 2509. Narrator As for the presence, the narrator is participant, because he belongs to the action by taking part of it. As for the wisdom, he is omniscient, because he knows the characters personally. Characters Author: - ears, nose and throat doctor - ironic - one of his sentences makes us believe that he is black and racist: “And a white woman at that!” - passive conscious, he is aware of the situations but doesn’t interfere - impatient - inconstant, he often changes his mind and regrets very easily - chronicler of the study mission on planet Barcelona - cartoon lover Lalac Shindel: - psychologist - drunk, in accordance with the rules of his profession - speaks in a funny way... perhaps an effect of the alcohol? Naris Naris: - dermatologist - unable to solve her own problems - shows lesbian tendencies Vondar Chia: - pediatrician - loves children (the irony in the author’s comments made me wonder if she loves her profession or if it’s a matter of pedophilia) Xulfi : - secretary - slut Barceloians : - very strange - a third of the average height of na earthling - wearing clothes that are too big for them and funny hats - they suffer from ilnesses that don’t exist on earth anymore (a way to tell us that they truly are a lower civilization) - always chewing gum - they can’t read, except the university professors Language and Resources Language Types: - Scientific language “...partitutarial fracture of the lower tinguia...” - Current language “Logically I have some remorse about participating...” - Informal language “Nothing happened. What a dull life. You bet!” - Slang “...the slut...”, “...the bastard who’s reading this...”, “Don’t give me crap, don’t fuck me about...” Resources - Irony, used to criticise whatever the author feels that is worth to. “She asked me if I could help (...) I couldn’t help in a practical manner (...) and (...) my secretary definitely wasn’t into these things.” - Adverbs, describing the way things are and how people feel. Happily, logicaly, definitely, mainly, extremely, slightly, clearly, badly, discreetly,... - Adjectives, qualifying things or people, but mainly referring to the Barceloians. Lower, funny, strange, irregular, small, superior,... - Comparison, relating something to another. “...wearing a sweat-shirt which seemed more like a badly-made dress...” Inversion of Values Moral, ethical and human values have been altered. In this future, lots of things that were “forbidden” and condamned by people are now part of their everyday lives. A few examples: - orange juice has fatal effects - marriage is illegal - people live according to the law: their euthanization is forseen by the judge - a psychologist can’t work sober without taking part on a disciplinary hearing Maybe this is what the author of this tale thinks the future will be like, his prediction of it, a morally degrading vision, but who knows, it might come true. Communications Internet – It works as a data base and as a transmissor of them. It’s practically the same as it is today, with the basic functions of research and sending e-mail, only it’s more and more na integrating part of people’s lives. People will use it as the most important way of communication and as the biggest archive in the universe. Probably instead of a world wide web we will some day have a universe wide web... Television – TV is like a drug to the Barceloians. Mainly women watch TV, especially earth TV instead of the channel directed to those distant zones of the universe. They spend 20% of their time watching television, programs from a civilization that they knew nothing about, and which was about to destroy them. TV occupies a great amount of time in Barceloians’ lives. So much in fact that women even prefer watching it to getting married. My opinion Like the majority of the science fiction tales, this is a tale about the future. The author shows us his vision of what he thinks the world will be like in many years from now. In a pessimistic way i think. He tells us how perfectionist earthlings will become, trying to eliminate all the “lower people”, the less developped civilizations. This shows that earthlings will not be reasonable, because if they were truly an advanced civilization they would help the Barceloians evolve instead of destroying them. So, “a planet more, a planet less” doesn’t matter, because they will always be superior. It is possible that we might find life in other planets. But if we have a Commission who sends people to study life in other planets to annihilate them right arfter, Earth will be the only planet left in the universe. Probably that could make for a continuation of this story. But of course, “superior people” can’t “allow the continuation of a planet whose atmosphere drives people mad”... or maybe it just brings out the real character of people? The absence of feelings is also present, like in many of the tales we studied in class during the first semester: “...send a nuclear bomb to blow the planet to pieces and it was over, done. A planet more, a planet less.” I think this is na ironic way of calling all the earthlings selfish, perfectionist, heartless and most of all, intolerant. That’s where we’re heading in a far away future. This is really na ironic tale, because there is no point in sending a study team to a planet that will be destroyed soon. It also reflects the effects of a new and unknown environment on a person. It shows us how difficult it can be to get used to a strange place where everything is different, especially people. The first time I read this tale, I didn’t quite understand the feeling of someone reading the author’s records... until I read it all again to find out that it was me... Carla Diana Cardoso, for Study of Texts - English, Translation course at ISLA Copyright by Didi Cardoso. This file is the author's own work. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. You may not reproduce it in any way without written permission from the author. Os trabalhos contidos neste site são protegidos por direitos de autor reservado, e não podem ser utilizados para qualquer uso comercial, distribuição ou reprodução ou serem editados de alguma maneira sem autorização do autor. |
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