Well, nerds, it is time to welcome another to your rank. To
induct a green, yet eager geekling. Yes, I am ready. Since I am not able to go
to the Clarion Writing Program this summer, as I had hoped, and since Neil Gaimen told me, in no
uncertain terms that I must go next year, then I will spend this time learning
the ways of the science fiction and fantasy writer.
I just finished The
Illustrated Man, Ray Bradbury’s brilliant collection of short stories which
predict and undo humanity. Take, for example, “Marionettes, Inc,” about an
underground company who make robotic clones for their clients, and which ends
with a horrible truth about marriage—no one is telling the truth.
Several of the stories I had seen before, either in written
form or as filmstrips in Mrs. Dunn’s seventh grade Language Arts class. Mrs.
Dunn had an affinity for dark short stories with twist endings, and somewhere
she had found a trove of filmstrips, as well, some of them based on Bradbury’s
stories. I vividly remember “Zero Hour,” in which a mother slowly realizes that
what she and all the other adults had assumed was a game is actually a plot by
aliens to invade the earth. The children, empowered by the terrestrials, will
also rid the planet of all adults—mainly, their parents. It was, I believe, my
introduction to creepy children in horror films.
Several of the stories are quite scary. “The Veldt,” for
example, also features parents who underestimate not only their children, but
also the power of technology. Set in a future world in which our homes are
completely automatic and do everything for us, two distant and complacent
parents begin to worry for the health of their children. They decide that the
source of the children’s odd behavior is the enormous interactive television in
their playroom. As of late, the set has been trained to an African veldt,
complete with menacing lions. It turns out, much to the parents’ chagrin, that
the television has more power than just a hold over their children.
Bradbury stories do not have happy endings. They do not,
with few exceptions, show the goodness in humanity. One of the exceptions is
“The Other Foot” about a community of African Americans who have been moved to
Mars, and they are waiting for the first white man to arrive. The community
becomes a crowd becomes a mob. They plan to put whitey on the back of the bus
and make him shoe shine boy. They even show up to the rocket landing with ropes
for a lynching. Unlike so many of the other stories, no one dies.
When I was a little seventh grader, it was the year I read
Roots and The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Both books, though they had horrible
and violent scenes, ended with the message that we, as a nation, can grow and
become more accepting and kinder to each other. They suggested that we will not
ultimately destroy each other, but will, instead, find love. Not so with The Illustrated Man, in which, even when
the tattooed man of the title seeks to find peace with his wife, he ultimately
destroys their marriage. I was able to appreciate the stories in The Illustrated Man better than I did
when I first encountered them at the age of twelve. And yet, there is still a
part of me that cries out that people are good! We are good! Most of the time
we will do the right thing! Perhaps.
If Bradbury can cause the cynic in me to rebel and believe
in the goodness of people, perhaps his writing can encourage at least the fear
of our evil capabilities in his readers. And if we fear, we are aware, and can
change. The ending, unlike a Bradbury story, is not inevitable.
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