Preview

Simaks Look at Life in Desertion

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
836 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Simaks Look at Life in Desertion
Jason Warren
ENGL-371-010
Paper #1

Within the short story "Desertion" written by Clifford D. Simak the human race faces the ultimate challenge of the choice of free will vs. life determination. When the story opens we learn of a mission to liberate and populate the jovian planet Jupiter. The head of this study, and protagonist of the story, is a man named Kent Fowler. Fowler has two by two sent four men to Jupiter already and as the story begins is planning to send a fifth. The only problem is not a single one of these five men return. Now living on a jovian planet such as Jupiter is impossible for human beings within their current God given state so before sending each of these five men first they mush go through a process of lopering and become in essence a Loper for they are no longer human after making such a drastic change to their bodies chemical makeup. Now after the fifth man does not return you get a real feeling that Fowler is beginning to loose the respect of the biologist that are working with him and Miss Stanley the women in charge of the lopering machine. So in a last act of desperation to hopefully see his way finally to the end of this experiment Fowler decides to take his dog Towser and loper onto the planet Jupiter for within his own mind he knows that given the current situation if these men aren't dead and just not coming back he will most definitely return.
Arriving upon the planet Jupiter the story takes a dramatic turn in major favor of the protagonist Fowler and his canine best friend Towser. These two newly converted lopers find much to their surprise a completely copasetic environment for their new forms. When traveling to Jupiter Fowler had prepared himself for a worst possible scenario of environment he would be landing upon, massive lightning bolts, and ammonia rain storms. Stepping foot upon the surface the two travelers were welcomed into a euphoric environment seemingly only fit for their current life forms that

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Military Culture Essay

    • 1972 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Yes I do believe that the military will be excepting of a culture changes. The culture of the military is forever going to be changing. It may not be as great as desegregation, woman’s rights, or as great as the LGBT movement. The world is changing and if you do not change with it you fall behind. I think the military is more open to change now than it was back in war ll. I do believe the military we able to handle the culture changes that it counters in the present and future. Because of what we've learned with in our own country. This will benefit us when learning other cultures around the world. We have never fight a war in our own country. So we should be open to new cultures if we are going to be in other countries. So times I think that the United States thinks it’s the only country in the world and that other people do not matter. Life outside the states if very different and uncommon to us. If we do not know their culture then how are we to understand who they are, what they believe in and why are they are fighting. This will help the goal of the military if the soldiers are well educated in the culture that they are fighting against. In many of the videos we watched in class a number of times the soldiers were talking to the local people. This is where I think educating the soldiers really…

    • 1972 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A study in to the way war affects the soldiers fighting in them in terms of mental and physical health with reference to Pat Barkers “Regeneration”, Remarque’s “All Quiet on the Western Front” and Penguins anthology “Poems of the Great War 1914-1918.…

    • 2527 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    54th Regiment Essay

    • 1040 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The topic of this paper is the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Colored Infantry commanded by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw during the Civil War.…

    • 1040 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Man’s Search for Meaning is written by Victor Frankl, an Auschwitz Holocaust survivor. The book is divided into two sections that consist of an autobiography and a logo-therapy section. During the autobiography section Mr. Frankl takes the reader through his time at the Auschwitz camp and gives his perspective of what happened as a camp prisoner and a psychiatrist. Viktor Frankl discusses concepts of suffering, humanity, spirituality, choices, social factors, and meaning to life. Frankl thoroughly examines these concepts through the eyes of someone who lived through one of the worst concentration work camps and then explains how these concepts merge with his own theory of counseling, logo-therapy. Logo-therapy is based on a foundation of Existentialism,…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "Let the months and years come, they can take nothing from me, they can take nothing anymore. I am so alone and so without hope that I can confront them without fear" War is a political hotbed. Regardless of the warring nations’ reasons or the outcome, in the wake of the battle, the soldier, or country’s hero, actually becomes the victim. Youth is sacrificed, lives are lost, and the survivors are forever altered.…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I think that if he was more educated and more prepared he could have made it to the camp and could have seen his boys. If I was in this man’s situation I would have trained for this because it is a very life threatening thing. I would not take the whole thing so lightly like the man did in the story. If I was the dog, I wouldn’t go with the man because I know he would fail miserably in the cold without the proper things to help him in the…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Military Culture

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Being a member of the US military is considered one of the most, if not the most, patriotic titles a person can have in connection with this country. Serving in the military allows one to develop a sense of integrity and direction that reflects the American spirit. You, dear reader, may have family and/or friends who actively serve or have served as US military personnel. Maybe you are or have been an active member yourself. If so, your service is admired.…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    This paper will explore how individuals in the novel, A long way gone: Memoirs of a boy soldier interact at various systems levels. It will also identify how social conflict, oppression, war and poverty affect these relationships. The reader will discuss how the relationships offer members with a sense of identity, strength, resilience and support. The essay will explore how their families, groups, and communities help to address issues of oppression in their lives. The reader will review the NASW Standards for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice. The Reader will determine how Self Awareness, Cross Cultural Knowledge and Service Delivery guide their social work practice in working with the population throughout the novel. The paper will provide information on how the NASW Code of Ethical Standards will assist the client systems described in the assigned book.…

    • 1289 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many science fiction stories are read for enjoyment or exploring the speculative ‘what if’ scenario. Science fiction stories use speculation to show ourselves what will it be like in certain scenarios. Stories are written such as “Desertion” & “Second Variety” by Clifford Simak, “Slow Life” by Michael Swanwick and "Swarm" by Bruce Sterling to warn others of scientific evolution using the core science fiction concepts. These four cautionary short stories illustrate the future horror of scientific evolution for mankind.…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hi Amber, great to "see" you in another class! Thank you and your family for the years of service. The military life has its own culture, but as you have mentioned the frequent moves allow you to experience numerous geographical locations and their cultures. My grandparents immigrated through Ellis Island from Scotland and I have been fortunate to visit where they lived several times.…

    • 64 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I second the fact that lately it has been very crazy. I agree with you about it being very easy to work with people around the world. Although I think that language could get in the way. I really look forward to going over seas to be able to get the experience. This is one thing that I really can’t wait to experience in the military.…

    • 315 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    My army career was right on track. I had been in the 3 years at this point, coming up on 4, and already had completed air assault school, been awarded my expert infantry badge, and had one 15 month deployment under my belt. I was assigned to the scout platoon sniper section and was waiting for a sniper school packet to get final approval from the company commander. I had been studying for the sergeant promotion board for months. I knew that study guide like the back of my hand, I knew whatever question I was asked by the Command Sergeant Major I would have an answer for. I went to the promotion board that morning and blew it out of the water. My dress uniform was perfect. No one was able to find a single deficiency. The Soldiers Creed and the…

    • 1362 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Soldiers Thoughts

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Zachary Scott-Singley wrote an essay called “A Soldiers Thoughts”. His essay was based on his inner thoughts and questions, how he should and shouldn’t feel about war. Is war right or wrong? Are these people truly the enemy? What would you do to stay alive? I feel war leaves these questions open to discussion and defiantly can change based on the person and the involvement; but the work of war can change a person’s values and morals.…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Military Suicide

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Active duty military men and women are committing suicide more today than they have in years past ( (Mallin, 2012). Total deaths from suicide is exceeding U.S. combat deaths in the Afghanistan War. In 2012 the deaths from suicide totaled 154 for the first 6 months of the year which is an increase of 18% from the previous year during this same time period (Burns, 2012). “In 2009, we lost almost as many active military to suicide as to combat” (Mallin, 2012, p. 2). There were 334 military suicides by November of 2009 compared to 297 killed in action in Afghanistan and 144 killed in Iraq. Unfortunately these statistics do not include men and women who have been discharged from the…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    As an opening I will be giving a short summary on the different responsibilities a soldier has and what I will be covering in this essay. The Army itself is a large responsibility that every soldier has. As I’m often told it’s the little stuff that really matter because all the little things amount to bigger things. Each and every soldier is responsible for their appearance, being on time, physical fitness and a good deal of other thing that form their responsibilities. It’s all these little things that help make up a good soldier. A single soldier can make a big impact on other soldiers around him. This impact can be for better or for worse depending on how the soldier presents himself. No one wants to see a bunch of raged bums in the army. Being in the right uniform, at the right place, at the right time shows a basic level of self discipline and motivation. As other soldiers take notice of someone doing these things it can help motivate them to further improve on themselves. However there is an opposite side to this. If a soldier is always late, in dirty or messed up uniform, or not at the right place it can influence others in a negative way. It can cause others to not to care as much about their responsibilities and loss of motivation. It is the soldiers’ responsibility to follow the guidelines set down by the Army regulations, NCOs, and officers appointed over them. During the course of this essay I will be going on a in depth explanation of the guidelines covering appearance, importance of rank structure, punctuality, and discipline.…

    • 10151 Words
    • 41 Pages
    Better Essays