Evolution and Technological Advancement Might Just Lead Society to a Dystopian Future
by Ryan Grosman

        Although they were born in different countries at different times, and possessed dissimilar backgrounds and education, the British born author, John Wyndham, and the American born writer, Kurt Vonnegut, manifest a similar outlook on humanity's future world. Many of the ideas introduced by these two authors are alike in that they both criticize our current society and create a futuristic one. Although some of their views are similar in many respects, still others differ. The two science fiction novels that will be focussed upon in more detail are The Day of the Triffids, written by John Wyndham in 1951, and Slapstick (or Lonesome No More!), completed in 1976 by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

        Since these two novels were completed during different eras, it is certainly clear that both authors patterned their writing after different influential sources. Wyndham, himself said that of all the science fiction authors, he was most influenced by the British novelist, H.G. Wells, and his two acclaimed novels, The Time Machine and War of the Worlds (Watson and Schellinger 893). Vonnegut, on the other hand, was mostly influenced by his personal life and his family (especially his sister for whom he wrote his books). As well, he was inspired by such authors as Arthur C. Clarke and his famed novel, Childhood's End. Vonnegut called Clarke's novel one of science fiction's few masterpieces (Watson and Schellinger 833). However, these two talented authors had a common influential factor-World War II (WWII) and the Cold War aftermath. Each author was himself involved extensively in WWII. It is a well-known fact that this devastating war, along with the Cold War, gave authors, especially those of the science fiction genre, a blueprint to construct their own views of a futuristic society based on the faults of the present one. As well, authors will often "position the satire in the future while making it clear that it refers to the present- to show that what appears to be a satiric critique of some future condition is actually an attack of existing ills and faults" (Klaiƒ 153). Therefore, it is clear that these science fiction authors used literature as a vehicle to critique society's present state and to warn the reader about a possible dystopian future if humanity maintains its present course.

        It was evident that the authors' perception of their own system of government, along with a first-hand experience of the fascist dictatorship style of societal domination that was implemented so grievously by Hitler, influenced their writing immensely. "WWII interrupted John Wyndham's writing career, and his later works showed a change in basic subject matter..." (Clute and Nichols 1354). Based on their assessment of these recent systems of power, Wyndham and Vonnegut, in their novels, created their own futuristic governments in an attempt to warn the reader about the negative impact that these types of governments will have on society.

        In The Day of the Triffids, on one fateful evening in May, the majority of the people on Earth were blinded by green flashes of light in the sky, which was subsequently followed by a total loss of societal order. The pieces of society had to be picked up and reassembled by those few people who managed to escape the blindness. The way in which these pieces were to be reassembled was in the eye of the beholder. Wyndham, in his novel, depicted a variety of methods of controlling humanity.

        Generally, two main systems of government were developed in his novel. The first was a typical democracy that was led by a committee. This committee was headed by Michael Beadley, a highly logical and intelligent man who implemented a new set of laws. His basic philosophy was that the great tragedy was not the end of civilization and that humanity must patiently rebuild itself, using all the available resources and knowledge. Beadley preached: "The Earth is intact, unscarred, still fruitful. It can provide us with food and raw materials. We have repositories of knowledge that can teach us to do anything that has been done before...And we have the means, the health, and the strength to build again" (Wyndham 84). He also insisted that helping the blind survive would only pose a temporary solution and considered this task to be a waste of time and resources. This contention was in direct contrast to the beliefs of some individuals such as Wilfred Coker, a man who believed that no one had the right to decide the fate of the blind. He later created a mildly totalitarian system of control that forced the likes of Bill Masen, the main character, to look after the blind.

        The second major system of government was partially controlled by Mr. Torrence, a man who identified himself to Masen as the "chief executive officer of the Emergency Council of the Southeastern Region of Britain" (Wyndham 184). He was one of the supreme leaders of a system rich in tyranny and military control, which closely resembled Hitler's Nazi regime. Torrence's responsibility was to maintain a ratio of one sighted person to ten blind people and demanded, through fear and force, that the sighted look after the blind. As well, this regime had formed an armed, mobile squad of police, which would impose law and order and would reestablish Britain (where the novel took place) as the dominant power in Europe.

         Similarly, Slapstick also contained various systems of control. The first method introduced by Vonnegut was the traditional democratic system that operates in the United States today. Wilbur Swain, the novel's main character, along with his twin sister, Eliza, composed a "preconscious critique" of the constitution of the United States of America: "We argued that it was a good scheme for misery as any...and yet it described no practical machinery which would tend to make the people... strong" (Vonnegut 52-53). Wilbur later became the president of the U.S., which still occupied the White House in Washington, D.C. However, as a result of civil war and disease, which destroyed the country, Swain was the last U.S. president.

         While Swain was in office as president, he implemented the idea of artificial extended families that carried on after the demise of the country and led to the novel's second system of control. Every citizen was allotted a new middle name that began with a noun and was followed by a number between one and twenty, such as "Daffodil-11" (the name Swain gave himself). Then, everyone who was a Daffodil-11 was Swain's sibling, while everyone who was a Daffodil of another number was his cousin. He played upon the idea of the loneliness of Americans (hence the alternate title, Lonesome No More!). "To Vonnegut, the underlying cause of loneliness is the American melting pot that destroys cultural and regional differences and that creates homogenized Americans that look alike, dress alike, and even think alike" (Schatt 113). After the country fell apart, these families joined together to form individual systems of order. Rivalries developed among the different families, subsequently leading to war.

         The third system consisted of large kingdoms and dukedoms. After a brief stop in Indianapolis, Swain moved to the island of Manhattan and became the "King of New York." Across the country, kingdoms and dukedoms were forming, causing havoc and mayhem as these groups began to battle one another with their trained armies. Some examples included the war between the "King of Michigan" and the "Duke of Oklahoma." These all-powerful totalitarian authorities somewhat resemble Torrence's administration in The Day of the Triffids.

         As Masen passed from one society to the next in The Day of the Triffids, Wyndham clearly outlined each system's strengths and weaknesses. Beadley's group understood the extent of the tragedy most clearly. However, Torrence's group ignored the pursuit of human survival because its ultimate objective was political and military power. Unfortunately, for society, this system was becoming the more dominant power. In Slapstick, Vonnegut also illustrated the idea that military-based governing systems will become the dominant force in the future. Therefore, it is clear that Wyndham and Vonnegut both wanted to warn their readers about the dystopian societies unleashed by the governments in their respective novels, which they feared would emerge in the future.

         In addition, in the two novels, Wyndham and Vonnegut both introduced the idea of a fatal disease that plagued humanity and was, more than likely, self-inflicted. Even though these novels were completed before the AIDS epidemic of the early 1980's, the diseases introduced in the novels have some parallels to AIDS and other such deadly viruses. Thus, the authors attempted to warn society about plagues and diseases which could have the power to destroy humankind.

         In his novel, Wyndham introduced an unknown fatal illness which, like the AIDS epidemic, spread relatively quickly. This disease had such an impact on society that it wiped out a large portion of Coker's group. Masen inferred that the disease was another side-effect of the green flashes in the sky that had caused the universal blindness, since it seemed that only the blind were affected. He sadly observed a young blind girl who had contracted the disease. "She turned her head as I came in. I saw that she had it too... Her face contorted; she clutched her arms around her and writhed. The spasm passed, and left her with sweat trickling down her forehead" (Wyndham 109-110). Masen believed that the green flashes were somehow self-induced, in which case, any other side-effect of the flashes, such as the disease, were self-inflicted as well.

         Similarly, in Slapstick, disease also had a harsh impact on humanity. However, in his novel, Vonnegut introduced not one, but two lethal diseases- "The Green Death" and the "Albanian Flu." Swain, like Masen, also believed that these sicknesses were somehow of human origin. The Albanian Flu, the more devastating of the two, contaminated and infected almost the entire nation, while The Green Death mainly spread throughout the Manhattan area. Swain, after he fled the White House, moved into the abandoned Empire State Building in Manhattan, which was also known as the "Island of Death." Nearly everyone who had previously resided on the island either died from the disease or retreated in fear of contracting the illness, leaving the entire island practically deserted. These diseases too, spread quickly. Swain recalled that "people began to die by the millions of the 'Albanian Flu' in most places, and here on Manhattan of 'The Green Death.' And that was the end of the nation. It became families, and nothing more" (Vonnegut 187).

         Today, society faces millions of diseases and illnesses, but humankind has the technology and the resources available to combat and even cure, almost every sickness that exists. For example, pneumonia (a once fatal disease) can now be controlled with antibiotics. However, what happens if there is no cure or humanity runs out of the required resources? What then? This is what transpired in both of these novels and the ramifications were quite devastating. Wyndham and Vonnegut cautioned the current society about the serious destruction that disease can cause if humanity continues its careless behaviour.

         Furthermore, Wyndham and Vonnegut attempt to warn the public about the consequences of the advancement of technology and man's tendency to destroy himself. In The Day of the Triffids, the future world created by Wyndham had not changed profoundly from the present day. There were very few indications of any startling new developments in technology that today's society would find strange or unusual. However, there were, in fact, two elements in the novel that might be regarded as new. The first was a satellite system which was to be used in time of war. It orbited the Earth and carried radiation powerful enough to cause serious destruction to Earth's inhabitants. It was a common belief that the green flashes in the sky were meteors. Masen, however, suggested that the flashes were self-initiated as a result of this technology. "But one thing I'm quite certain of- that somehow or other we brought this lot down on ourselves." [There are] "unknown numbers of satellite weapons circling round and round the Earth. Just a lot of dormant menaces, touring around, waiting for someone, or something, to set them off... Now suppose that one type happened to be constructed especially to emit radiations that our eyes would not stand- something that would burn out, or at least damage, the optic nerve" (Wyndham 172-173). Thus, it is evident that this technology contributed to the blindness, the disease and all the chaos that followed.

         The second new element was the lethal triffids.1 Although it could not be proven, Masen strongly believed that these creatures were of human creation- that they were not a product of nature or something beyond the realm of Earth. "My own belief...is that they [triffids] were the outcome of a series of ingenious biological meddlings- and very likely accidental, at that" (Wyndham 21). These creatures, human invention or not, were heavily exploited for their valuable oil. Fields upon fields of triffids were created and cultivated around the world, strictly for the purpose of the "all-mighty buck" (Wyndham 31). Once again, humanity was contributing to its own demise because when the universal blindness struck, so to did the triffids. Once the humans lost their eye-sight, their superiority over the triffids was lost as well (Wyndham 33). The opportunistic triffids escaped from captivity and revolted against the human race, ironically killing their supposed creators.

         However, Masen saw more people perish by human hand than by triffid sting. Many blind people were murdered as a result of a societal breakdown. The blind were often trampled to death by large mobs of other blind people. In other cases, the blind could not deal with their new, and what seemed to be permanent, handicap and decided to take their own lives. Wyndham used a catastrophe as an "opportunity to explore characters under extreme stress" (Gunn 516). Masen came across a drunken man who felt that the blindness had already rendered him dead. "Wha's good of living blind's a bat?" (Wyndham 19).

         In Slapstick, however, more indications of a futuristic society existed than in The Day of the Triffids. In this world, the Chinese were far more technologically advanced than any other nation. They mastered techniques that no other country would ever imagine possible. Some examples of this technology included the following: teleportation from Earth to Mars; miniaturization of people in order to occupy less space and to consume fewer resources, because of an expanding population; treatment of cancer with the "music of ancient gongs" (Vonnegut 124); and toying with the intensity of gravity. A Chinese man who visited Swain implied that Chinese technology was too sophisticated for Americans to operate or comprehend. The overall effects that this technology had on Earth were devastating. "Usually lurking behind the destruction is Vonnegut's favourite target- unbridled technology that is divorced from any concern for Humanistic values" (Schatt 116). For instance, the ability to alter gravity resulted in the destruction of New York's infrastructure, leaving buildings, roads and bridges in shambles.

         As well, man's consumption of natural resources and his polluting habits, due primarily to technology, have caused permanent damage to the environment. "If our descendents don't study our times closely, they will find that they have again exhausted the planet's fossil fuels, that they have again died by the millions of influenza and The Green Death, that the sky has again been turned yellow by the propellants for underarm deodorants..." (Vonnegut 225-226). Here, Swain described the current state of the planet and warned future civilizations not to repeat the same mistakes. Also, another major problem was the scarcity of food and fuel. Because of mass human consumption, an expanding population and the evolution of technology, these resources had become depleted. This scarcity was also evident in The Day of the Triffids.

         In Wyndham's novel, the creation of the satellite weapons and the cultivation of the triffids showed that technology would ultimately destroy its creators- humans. As well, in Slapstick, the development of technology and the expanding population caused the destruction of cities and the environment and the depletion of valuable natural resources. Both novels illustrated the fact that technology will lead humanity to its own demise. Thus, Wyndham and Vonnegut try to warn humankind about the effects that technologically will have on society- that it will contribute to its own destruction.

         All in all, although it is unfortunate, it is inevitable that if all-powerful governments gain dominance, catastrophic diseases flourish and spread and civilization continues to become more technologically developed without examining the possible repercussions, a dystopian future will emerge. It is clear that Wyndham and Vonnegut used their respective novels as a means to critique society and to warn the human race that if these conditions are left unchecked and allowed to develop, the resulting world will be vile in nature. They also clearly warn that humanity's instinctive tendency to destroy itself, down the road, will ultimately lead it to its own demise.

         As Lewis Thomas, an eloquent writer on science and the natural world, stated: "Even when technology succeeds in manufacturing a machine as big as Texas to do everything we recognize as human, it will be, at best, a single individual. This amounts to nothing, practically speaking" (Staicar 31). I believe it is humankind, as a whole, that has the gift of knowledge, the power to mould and create and therefore has some control over nature. However, we must not abuse this privilege lest we be overtaken by catastrophic consequences that we most certainly will deserve because they will ultimately be of our own making.



End Notes
1. Triffid: A large plant-like creature with a three-pronged root, tentacles equipped with a stinger and which moves about by pulling itself along the ground. It is believed to be of human creation.



Works Cited

Clute, John and Peter Nichols, eds. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Great Britain: Orbit, 1993.

Gunn, James, ed. The New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. New York: Viking, 1988.

Klaiƒ, Dragan. The Plot of the Future: Utopia and Dystopia in Modern Drama. Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1991.

Schatt, Stanley. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1976.

Staicar, Tom, ed. Critical Encounters II: Writers and Themes in Science Fiction. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1982.

Vonnegut, Kurt. Slapstick. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., 1976.

Watson, Noelle and Paul E. Schellinger, eds. Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers. 3rd ed. Chicago: St. James Press, 1991.

Wyndham, John. The Day of the Triffids. New York: Ballantine Books, 1951.




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