Why AP?
Sifi novels are not usually considered to have any literary merit, but Cloud Atlas is a different story altogether. The author switches between tenses, presentation of the story, and time periods skillfully. Somehow, he manages to make what should have been a mess, a coherent story.
In the first story, its written in the first person past tense, as a journal entry. He uses lingo that is consistent with the time mid-1800s period.
In the second story, is also in the first person past tense in the form of letters. This takes place around the 1930s., also with consistent style
In the third story, the author uses 3rd person present tense, presented as a novel set in the 1970s.
The fourth story is the first person past tense, also presented as the novel, but in the 1990s.
The fifth story is an interview, set in the somewhat near future.
The final story is "spoken history" from the very far future.
The skill at which the author writes all of these stories, I think, is enough to make the AP worthy, nevermind interlocking them. Each of these stories has independent plotlines, so much so, they could be their own novels. In addition, something that really ties them together is the theme. All of these stories have an overarching theme of human nature.
Story 1, Adam Ewing was being poisoned the whole time by the doctor he thought to be curing him. Story 2, Sixsmith was completely taken advantage of by Ayrs by stealing his work, despite him being a "mentor". Story 3, Alberto Grimaldi (Big CEO man) hires Bill Smoke to kill Sixsmith (Scientist at Big CEO man's lab) who ends up killing Luisa (Journalist)'s, Partner. Story 4, Timothy Cavendish is tricked into staying at a nursing home against his will after running away from men who want money. Story 5, Sonmi-451 (robot-human cyborg thing? Like a robot replica of a human.) is being interviewed before her execution because she gained an unacceptable amount of knowledge. Story 6, everyone is massacred and a man named Zachary finds out the public is/was being lied to/enslaved.
Basically, human nature is corrupt. You kind of have to sit back and think about it a little bit (maybe not), but its a huge part of everything that happens in this novel. And that is why I think its AP worthy. Thanks for reading!
In the first story, its written in the first person past tense, as a journal entry. He uses lingo that is consistent with the time mid-1800s period.
In the second story, is also in the first person past tense in the form of letters. This takes place around the 1930s., also with consistent style
In the third story, the author uses 3rd person present tense, presented as a novel set in the 1970s.
The fourth story is the first person past tense, also presented as the novel, but in the 1990s.
The fifth story is an interview, set in the somewhat near future.
The final story is "spoken history" from the very far future.
The skill at which the author writes all of these stories, I think, is enough to make the AP worthy, nevermind interlocking them. Each of these stories has independent plotlines, so much so, they could be their own novels. In addition, something that really ties them together is the theme. All of these stories have an overarching theme of human nature.
Story 1, Adam Ewing was being poisoned the whole time by the doctor he thought to be curing him. Story 2, Sixsmith was completely taken advantage of by Ayrs by stealing his work, despite him being a "mentor". Story 3, Alberto Grimaldi (Big CEO man) hires Bill Smoke to kill Sixsmith (Scientist at Big CEO man's lab) who ends up killing Luisa (Journalist)'s, Partner. Story 4, Timothy Cavendish is tricked into staying at a nursing home against his will after running away from men who want money. Story 5, Sonmi-451 (robot-human cyborg thing? Like a robot replica of a human.) is being interviewed before her execution because she gained an unacceptable amount of knowledge. Story 6, everyone is massacred and a man named Zachary finds out the public is/was being lied to/enslaved.
Basically, human nature is corrupt. You kind of have to sit back and think about it a little bit (maybe not), but its a huge part of everything that happens in this novel. And that is why I think its AP worthy. Thanks for reading!
Macayla, you got the thematic idea of the novel, but I hope you spend a bit more time discussing it in a future post, as there is a lot about the novel you haven't really discussed or developed.
ReplyDelete