Dr Heidegger’s Experiment

Dr Heidegger’s Experiment: Short story by Nathaniel HawthorneIn this story from Nathaniel Hawthorne, an ageing scientist invites four elderly friends to participate in an experiment ostensibly designed to test the efficacy of the waters of the fabled fountain of youth. The inclusion of several supernatural elements clouds whether the effect of the water was real, imagined or faked by substituting alcohol. However, as each friend had a major character flaw in their youth, it is likely that the experiment had a different thesis, which is supported by their behavior after drinking. Themes: ageing, failing to learn from past mistakes, obsession with youthfulness and appearance, the supernatural.

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The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas

The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas: Short story by Ursula Le GuinThis philosophical narrative by Ursula Le Guin describes life in the seemingly utopian city of Omelas. We learn that almost everyone in the city lives in complete happiness. There is no organized system of rule, few laws, sexual freedom, no crime, no violence, and nobody living in want. Sadly, there is a blight on this “paradise”. For happiness to prevail, a single child must live in absolute misery, locked up alone in an underground cell. Themes: morality and moral compromise (the price of happiness), victimization, complicity (collective knowledge = shared responsibility), guilt, courage (the ones who “walk away”).

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The Minority Report

The Minority Report: Short story by Philip DickPhilip Dick’s The Minority Report is a dystopian adventure story set in a society that takes policing a step even further than the infamous “Thought Police” in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Its premise is that the authorities have found a way to identify a crime and imprison the would-be perpetrator before he or she even thinks of committing it. Their methods in doing this are disturbing to say the least. Themes: (general) free will vs. fate, injustice, trust vs. paranoia, self-fulfilling prophesy, extrajudicial murder; (for the “precogs”) violation of human rights, enslavement, degradation.

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A Sound of Thunder

A Sound of Thunder: Short story by Ray BradburyWhat is the most dangerous thing about time travel? According to this story by Ray Bradbury, it is doing some small thing that may change the future. Five men travel back in time to hunt a T-Rex. One of them panics when he sees the monster and steps off a specially prepared path. Because of this, they return to a very different world. The last thing the clumsy hunter hears is a sound of thunder. Themes include arrogance, cowardice, the dangers of technology, connections between past and present, democracy vs. dictatorship, the ethics of game hunting.

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