In his acceptance speech for the 1950nobel literary prize William Faulkner seemed to suggest that the society was doomed by fear of annihilation arising from the conflicts within the society due to the loss of humanity soul. These losses soul and spirit stemming from society’s constant pursuit for profits that leads to inventions capable of completely annihilating mankind. He however noted that humanity had a survivor chance if there were persistent efforts to constantly remind mankind of the spirit and soul through literary creativity .Similarly twenty three years later in 1982 when he won a similar prize Gabriel Marquez made a speech that touched on the doomed society. In his speech however Gabriel Marquez did not share the humanity survivor pessimistic view that William Faulkner had. In his speech Gabriel Marquez saw a defeated society not only by it wanton and destructive ways .But one that had invented technologies capable of completely eradicating humanity and the world. He also noted that the society had perused power by accumulating materials while completely raping the environment. Those who had accumulated more materials wealth held the power and were in the position to make major decisions that affected the millions who are poor. He whoever also noted that through literature man is capable of inventing a society that has freewill and everyone is treated equally. Their speeches seem to suggest that through literature the society can still survive when mankind is able to regain his spirit and soul.
-
0
Preparing Orders
-
0
Active Writers
-
0%
Positive Feedback
-
0
Support Agents
In his fictional novel the Neuromancer William Gibson had a very different view of the future society. In his book the society is depicted as having advanced technology especially computer technology to a level where it replaces all the human functions. The author not only paints a picture of a society that is completely controlled by technology but has begun being replaced by it. Gibson depicts a society that has all its aspect of humanity being virtually controlled by the technology. Computers in his fictional tale have actually been so integrated in the lives of the future mankind that some of the computers are virtual human beings. In other words William Gibson perceived a society that had been replaced by advanced computers and a world run by corporations in which only the rich had access to the survival mechanism. The future that is painted in the novel Necromancer is one where the society has completely lost it soul. It therefore probably the reason that the author seems to compare humans with machines. The story also depicts a society that is controlled by a few corporations and the society indentifies through these corporations. In other words not only has humanity lost the soul and spirit but in this future society individuality is also lost. The society is therefore depicted as products owned by the powerful corporations.
Gibson seems to paint a society that have lost all the values that define humans such as compassion, freewill, faith, individuality ,diversity among others .it is through acts of faith and compassion that humanity soul and spirit are exposed .Through individualism and freewill a diverse society is created . But the future society that is depicted by Gibson man is an equivalent of a machine devoid of the his own free spirit and is controlled by machines owned by the rich corporation. The kind of a society he depicted is the soulless and spiritless human societies that the two Nobel Prize winners describe as the ones humanity was turning into. Thy both depicted a society capable of destroying itself by the pursuit of power and material wealth and in the process losing its soul and spirit. William Faulkner felt that literature creativity could serve as a remedy for this loss of human spirit and soul. Through stories society would dare to dream again and in the process retain it main ingredients. On the other hand Gabriel Marquez did not have the same total faith in human society retention of the spirit and soul. But one can argue that through creativity the society can take a glimpse at the future and perhaps redeem it self. Gibson gave humanity a chance to glimpse at the future the society through his novel. We can certainly see some of his predictions today as a reality, the only consolation being that the modern society has no totality lost its soul and spirit as depicted in his fictional work. However the same fear that these authors had of the society annihilating itself and the world in pursuit of power and material wealth aided by technological advances, are still ripe among many individuals in the modern world.