Beyond that, have you guys found a character you gravitate to more than other characters? I personally can't help but feel horrified when little bits of info about the war are shared- it must be incredibly hard on Dwight to psychologically digest the fact that his family is most certainly dead. So I guess I've been sympathizing with Dwight the most. Also, how do Peter and Mary know Moira? I missed the relationship early on, and haven't picked it up. Are they just family friends?
That's all for this moment. Let me know how you are liking the story this far.
So I'm going to ignore your blog for the next couple days and play catch up afterwards. I just downloaded the book, so after I finish my current book, I'll start yours.
ReplyDeleteMy copy is 313 pages, I think, but I believe all our versions have 9 chapters.
ReplyDeleteMy version is 238 pages long, but also nine chapters.
ReplyDeleteThe character who I've really sympathized the most with is John Osborne. I have a pretty solid connection with him.
ReplyDeleteHa! Funny imagining you as the depressing scientist who loves to race (the first part seems believable, though).
ReplyDeleteBut all joking aside, I can't really seem to sympathize with any character. If anything, maybe a cross between Dwight and Peter. I'm not as depressingly realistic as Peter, nor as clearly in denial as Dwight. I've ran the situation over in my head a few times, and as crazy as it seems, I'd still be devising some method of survival. Now, that may be living in some kind of underwater bunker or fleeing to Antarctica to hold out for as long as possible, but I just couldn't accept this kind of catastrophe, or death. You could call it fleeing, on a solemn and optimistic note.
I find that i too gravitate towards Dwight, beyond the fact that he is simply an American. As Josh said, it's hard to even imagine what he's going through, having most certainly lost his family, and still suffering under the pressure of a military command. Furthermore, with the missions that are assigned to them, such as navigating through mine infested waters, and traveling to distant islands to investigate a radio signal, knowing your investigation may save or doom the human race must have severe psychological effects.
ReplyDeleteAnd to answer Josh, Moira is simply a family friend, I'm assuming Peter and Mary know her parents maybe a little better since they're closer in age, but it's a small town and most people seem to be amiable with one another.
Alright, thank you for the clarification Ben- I feel like I can sympathize with most of the characters, but I have to also feel worst for Dwight, as he has most definitely lost his entire family and is obviously in a serious state of shock. I also have to sympathize with Mary, because of the decision she'll have to make in regards to her daughter's life, once the radiation is present.
ReplyDeleteAnd I completely agree with Matt: I would still be trying to think of a method of survival as well. Especially if I had a little more information than the normal populace did, like Dwight does. I would at least be discussing survival as much as possible with superiors in the Navy, so if there is a region in the North that is habitable off-shore that a location on which to live can be quickly and efficiently constructed, so no more die than those who must die.
I think it's creept that Dwight's from Mystic. Odd to live in his hometown. It makes it feel more realistic.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Mary is that much older than Moira.
I find it strange that no one appears to be trying to find a solution. Shute tries to explain that no one believes that it will really happen to them, that people would prefer to live in their own house when they're goingo to die, and that there isn't too much difference in time of death between where they live now and Antartica. Do you think some of our desire to find a way out comes from the advances in technology in the past 50 years?
That is quite possible- it would be much more practical for industrial buildings in Australia to be converted into factories that produce all the supplies needed to fight off the oncoming radiation. Not necessarily saying that the people would survive, but it is certainly much more practical with modern technologies today than it would have been 50 years ago- plus the fact that most of this book would have been much shorter, since the state of the west coast of the US could have been seen via satellites, making the submarine voyage more or less meaningless. I also have to wonder if age has much to do with it: most of the people spoken of in the book are not exactly old, but not exactly young either. It might be the fact that they have completed most of their life goals that allows them to understand that the end is the end, and they had a good run while they had the chance. Someone in a younger frame of mind would psychologically feel more invincible than these older characters would, and a younger group of characters may have had more to live for, and more to fight against the end of the world for.
ReplyDeleteSo what did you guys all think of the end? To me, I found the ending fairly depressing in a lot of ways. I mean really, I was surpised, in some ways, at how bleak the ending was. There was no hope left for humanity. Of course, that is how it had to be (nuclear war doesnt spare anyone, really) but the thing at the end that really spoke to me was when Mary and Peter talk about what could have been done, and why Australia was being punished for doing nothing in the first place. I think that Peter's idea, of "perhaps doing something with newspapers" would have been interesting to carry onto the group for discussion. What do you think? How is the newspapaer and the media important in modern society? Can it be used for good and education?
ReplyDeleteI think apathy and the media were two of the most notable points Shute made in writing this book. He ends with the idea of "if only Australia had done something" concerning the war. I definitely believe that the media can be used for good, as opposed to being used as a tool of propaganda (speaking of which, I'll soon be reading Orwell's 1984, if any wants further discussion). Free media can be a wonderful thing, yet detestable at the same time. As for the ending, I found it both bleak and full of closure. It showcases so many of humanity's traits all at once: love, sacrifice, physical gratification, delusion, lust, apathy, indulgence...I could go on. Every character demonstrates at least one in the way they lived and/or died. But I always find it peaceful to see how couples like Peter and Mary come together in the end. It always touches a heartstring, recalling some of the goodness of man's nature, in his last moments.
ReplyDelete