It seems that violence is an inevitable subject. It occurred to me while playing video games and coming across a pre-pubescent kid screaming and yelling through his headset about killing the other team, cussing while occasionally making snide remarks about my gender and rampaging through the field in order to get a “kill-joy”. Though I do not promote violence I must admit that there is something about the appeal of violence that draws attention to it. Like videogames, science fiction promotes violence in which there is a power struggle to assert dominance in order to win the war and becomes somewhat of a primal instinct. In works like Joe Haldeman’s Forever Peace and narratives such as John Kessel's ”Invaders" and Octavia Butler’s “Speech Sounds”, violence functions as a primal instinct to assert dominance over another and that through pure pleasure of causing it that enables man’s innate need to fight and protect. Some might argue that it is through violence that allows adapt and allows for change; that it promotes the idea of revolution and the need to protect as motive to cause it. But it also establishes the need for a justice system and the idea of conquering for greedy and envious reasons. Science fiction demonstrates that violence is a natural part of human nature and is, therefore, attracted to the spectacle of violence.
Consider the first idea in which violence seems to be programmed into all living beings. There is a primal instinct to defend ourselves, our territory and essentially one’s sense of dignity. It becomes a means to assert dominance; much like the animal kingdom where dominate males challenges another for right to the clan or a mate. In Octavia Butler’s short story “Speech Sounds”, the narrator Valerie Rye d...
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... Violence can be provoked in any situation. In video games, I have probably racked up enough “kill-joys” and “over kills” that no one would suspect a person like me to be violent. So maybe it is a primal instinct but there is something about it that proves that violence may be a general theme that cannot be avoided, regardless of what we do.
Works Cited
Butler, Octavia. “Speech Sounds.” The Norton Book of Science Fiction. Ed. Ursula Le Guin & Brian Attebery. New York: Norton & Company inc, 1993. 513-524. Print.
Haldeman, Joe. Forever Peace. New York : Ace book , 1997. Print.
Kelly, John. ENGLISH 2071F: Speculative Fiction: Science Fiction Notes. London, ON: University of Western. July 2014. Lecture Notes.
Kessel, John. “Invaders.” The Norton Book of Science Fiction. Ed. Ursula Le Guin & Brian Attebery. New York: Norton & Company inc, 1993. 317-336. Print.
Wood, Karen and Charles. “The Vonnegut Effect: Science Fiction and Beyond.” The Vonnegut Statement. Vol. 5. 1937. 133-57. The GaleGroup. Web. 10 March. 2014.
Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” does a marvelous job of highlighting the violent nature of mankind. The underlying cause of this violent nature can be analyzed from three perspectives, the first being where the occurrence of violence takes place, the second man’s need to be led and the way their leader leads them, and lastly whether violence is truly an innate and inherent characteristic in man.
Do you believe violence is rooted into human nature?
violence show how evil a human can may be. According to Tiger Knowles in Nightriding with
Since the first day they met, everyone knew that Katie and Ted would stay together forever. He was always telling everyone how he loved her and that she was the perfect wife and mother. However, behind closed doors was another story. Ted was not a kind man in “his” house, he was verbally abusive and constantly accusing Katie of cheating on him. These fits of rage were promptly followed by flowers and apologies. Katie was abused by Ted, however, she did love him and he did promise never to hurt her again.
But incidents like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting are predictable; they are not a random act of brutality because such violence is a learned behavior. Americans glorify violence and this attitude is illustrated through the tolerance of violence portrayed through the media. And although distinguishing between violence as pure entertainment and violence as social criticism is important, good intentions can still lead to terrible outcomes. The effect of viewing violent films has been insufficiently considered, yet plays a significant role in encouraging aggressive behavior.
The Road to Science Fiction. Clarkston, GA: White Wolf Pub., 1998. 502-07. Print. The.
During a freedom march on May 29, 1964 in Canton, Mississippi a boy by the name of McKinley Hamilton was brutally beaten by police to the point of unconsciousness. One of the witnesses of this event, and the author of the autobiography which this paper is written in response to, was Anne (Essie Mae) Moody. This event was just one of a long line of violent experiences of Moody’s life; experiences that ranged from her own physical domestic abuse to emotional and psychological damage encountered daily in a racist, divided South. In her autobiography Moody not only discusses in detail the abuses in her life, but also her responses and actions to resist them. The reader can track her progression in these strategies throughout the various stages of her life; from innocent childhood, to adolescence at which time her views from a sheltered childhood began to unravel and finally in adulthood when she took it upon herself to fight back against racial prejudice.
Let's talk about absolutely ridiculous pronouncements people make that either ignore simple fact or border on insanity. How about this one: Violence is no way to settle anything! Evidence suggests that violence is a very effective way of settling things. How about a few examples? In 1776, violence settled whether the thirteen colonies would be independent or remain under King George's thumb. In 1865, violence settled whether there'd be a Confederacy and a Union or just a Union. Between 1941 and 1945, violence settled whether Japan would control the Far East and whether Germany would control Europe. Violence settled whether American Indians owned and controlled the land now call United States or whether it would be European settlers and their progeny. In fact, violence has settled the question of land use-rights virtually everywhere.
Rose, Lois and Stephen. "The Shattered Ring: Science Fiction and the Quest for meaning." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Carolyn Riley. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company, 1969. Vol. 3, 226-227.
The Best Science Fiction of the Twentieth Century. Ed. Orson Scott Card. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group, 2001. 212-217.
Violence is a way of demonstration of all the other feelings inside a human being. Feelings that are suppressed and can only be let out through the pain of another. There is always a reason for violence, a motive that can be scary, or perhaps even tender. It can be physical and it can be verbal. Violence can go from an everyday beating, to a once in a lifetime regret. It can be within a home, or a whole socie...
Freud believes that aggression is a primal instinct, and civilization thwarts this instinct, making man unhappy. Civilized society controls man's tendency toward aggression through rules and laws and the presence of authority. These mechanisms are put in place to guarantee safety and happiness for all individuals in a society. However, the necessity of suppressing the aggressive drive in m...
The question is, “Do violent video games influence children to act aggressively?” and “Can repetitive killing train a person to be violent himself?” Although the violence in these video games is fictional, research has proven the violence to lead to more aggressive behavior in children. Violent acts depicted in these games allow young children to believe that killing and fighting is acceptable and fun.
Violence. Just mentioning the word conjures up many images of assault, abuse, and even murder. Violence is a broad subject with many categories. Some types of violence are terrorist violence and domestic violence. Violence can arise from many different sources; these sources whether biological, cultural, and social all can evoke violent behavior. All cultures experience some sort of violence, and this paper considers violence as a cultural phenomenon across a range of various settings. Violence plays a part in both Islamic and Indian cultures according to the articles “Understanding Islam” and “Rising Dowry Deaths” by Kenneth Jost and Amanda Hitchcock, respectively. From an anthropological perspective, violence emphasizes concerns of meaning, representation and symbolism.