Pacific stories: Science Fiction Stories and Context - Essay Example

Pacific stories: Science Fiction Stories and Context Science fiction refers to a genre dealing with imaginary content indicating the presence of supernatural abilities. Scientific fiction normally bases originality from probable futuristic, technological innovations (Luckhurst, p67). Scientific fiction remains a source of futuristic scientific innovations as contained literature implies the possibility of depicted ideas being actualized through science. While it may appear as fantasy, scientific fiction normally presents ideas that could be actualized through scientific innovations. The major difference between science fiction and fantasy remains the possibility of the contents presented in science fiction literature occurring (Card, p99). While the content of science fiction might be imaginary, the literature presents imaginary links explaining the possibility of the events occurring in the future. In Hoffman’s sandman, the storyline depicts an imaginary creation of the characters involved within the context of the story. The base formed by the protagonist regarding the occurrence of supernatural character follows a scientific fiction storyline. The humble beginnings indicate the creation of the imaginary character that disappears mysteriously following the demise of an ally. The protagonist, Nathaniel, appears to be carrying childhood hallucinations regarding a non-existence character supposed to have murdered Nathaniel’s father (Heaphy, p 165). While believing the imaginary character caused his father’s demise, Nathaniel sets on a mission, to avenge the demise of his father. Nathaniel appears to be the only person believing Coppelius to be the sandman taking away children’s eyes. Other individuals seem to hold different opinions regarding the sandman making the probability of existence of the sandman highly unlikely. The story could pass for scientific fiction owing. Within the storyline, Nathaniel meets a beautiful woman, who appears to understand Nathaniel’s undertakings completely. While other persons find Olympia dull, Nathaniel increasingly finds the woman interesting. Upon the demise of Olympia, Nathaniel realizes that the corpse lacks eyes, leading to the belief that Coppola is indeed Coppelius. Personification presented by the automaton presents an imaginary scientific invention that could be constructed using scientific technology. The automaton appears capable of possessing human characteristics through its interactions with humans. The automaton forms the basis for establishing this story to be science fiction. The characters thought to have created the automaton are scientists by profession, implying the creation as a scientific innovation. The realistic presentation of a possible future invention lies in providing an interaction of the automaton with humans. The automaton appears to possess abilities of perfectly performing functions performed by humans. Since humans can never become perfect in their undertakings, the story presents a situation where science could create a perfect being. The story presents the protagonist as having a prolonged problem ingrained into his life. Science fiction seeks to present possible current problems comprehensively solved using futuristic scientific innovations. The protagonist appears to have relationship problems with his fiancée. The recurrent problem appears to consume the happiness of the protagonist putting his under excessive pressure. Logical explanations appear senseless to the protagonist regarding the existence of the sandman. While the original sandman was German, the presumed one is Italian. Nothing seems able to change the perception of Nathaniel regarding the sandman. The protagonist finds happiness and comfort under the companionship of an automaton. This essentially indicates the possibility of automatons offering company to lonely people in the future. The creation of robots to perform some human responsibilities remains the foremost feature of this literature. Upon realizing that the beloved woman was an automaton, the protagonist remains filled with feeling of deceit, failing to accept the reality. The protagonist remains in doubt over the reality of his own fiancée. The Frankenstein continues to be classified by numerous persons as a popular science fiction story. The narrative presents an explanation of a monster created through a scientific experiment (Roberts, p284). The scientific experiment sought to create a human-like creature but something, within the experiment, became wrong. This led to the development of a monster that became extremely dangerous to human beings. The book begins with the protagonist being discovered by Captain Walton while in critical condition. Upon receiving tender care from the captain, the protagonist begins to narrate the events leading to his current predicament. The narration forms the body of the story with introduction and conclusion by the captain. After the narration, the protagonist dies and the captain discovers the monster mourning over the corpse of the protagonist. The protagonist vividly narrates his activities at seeking vengeance for his family members upon the monster. Before narrating the story, the protagonist makes the captain promise that he would continue seeking the monster. The captain and his crew members keenly listen to Victor Frankenstein’s narration concerning the suffering endured from a creation of his own work. The protagonist explains to the captain that following an extensive search for the monster he found himself under the prevailing situation. Following the suffering induced on the protagonist’s family members, victor vows to fight relentlessly till he avenges the demise of several family members and friends. Before dying, the protagonist humbly requests the captain to capture the monster. The captain, however, finds the monster mourning the demise of Victor. The monster explains the suffering it undergoes as a result of its actions. The remorseful state displayed by the monster leads to the captain letting the monster free, instead of capturing the monster as promised. These books contain numerous similarities within the context of their contents and presentation. The elements contained in both of these stories indicate isolation of the protagonists. The setting within both books points at involuntary isolation of protagonists from the rest of the population. While the Frankenstein presents physical isolation, the Sandman contains mental isolation of the protagonist. Isolation remains a common feature of gothic stories. Within the context of gothic stories, villains form the epitome of evil doings within the storyline (Smith, p79).Occurrence of evil event always associates with the targeted villain. These stories both appear to be based on gothic features with the protagonists seeking to find the villains and avenge on behalf of the wronged parties. Within the context of these narratives, the protagonists appear to be seeking vengeance for the demise of family members. While the killers remain unknown, the protagonists appear convinced of the villains’ capability to commit the presumed crimes. Filled with anger, and desires to avenge family members, the villains appear obsessed attaining vengeance for their families. The obsession imminently removes the reasoning power of the protagonists. The protagonists relentlessly pursue villains on vengeance missions, failing miserably to achieve their core purposes. The protagonist die while pursuing the villains, and seeking revenge for the demise of family and friends. Within the contexts of the narratives, the missions to avenge lead to the demise of several other individuals. The narratives present science as possessing the ability to make creations with capabilities equaling those of human beings. While, in the sandman, an extremely beautiful automaton was created, the Frankenstein features the creation of a human-like monster. Both creations appear to posses exceptional abilities surpassing humans. In the Sandman, the created female creature has perfect dancing skills and appears extremely beautiful. This element of perfection could be regarded as a superficial appearance of the scientific creation (Smith, p 145). The creation also possesses the ability to master specified activities perfectly, and better than the human creators. Within the Frankenstein, the creation becomes the master of the creator. This superficial element makes the scientific creation impossible to destroy, even by the creator. Works Cited Card, O. Scott. How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy. Cincinnati: FW publications, 2001. Heaphy, Maura. Science fiction authors:a research guide. New York: Libraries Unlimited, 2008. Luckhurst, Roger. Science Fiction: Cultural History of Literature. Cambridge: Polity press, 2005. Roberts, A. Charles. The history of science fiction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Smith, Andrew. Gothic literature. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007. Read More