Novel Analysis

• Compare and contrast your novel and one of the short stories you read. What are those societies like: their values and beliefs? In what particular ways are those societies similar to or different from society in The Matrix?

• Focus on a particular theme or character from the novel you read. Show how either reflects (or doesn't reflect) Le Guin's assertion about what science fiction ought to do. Have the writers been able to focus on any important trend or trends that you see occurring today?

• OR choose one of the following statements. Identify the speaker, explain what the statement means, first in terms of the movie, then compare to theme, scenes or character/s in your novel. Finally, articulate the significance for our lives.
  • "We never free a mind once it has reached a certain stage."
  • " ...residual self image.."
  • "We lacked the language to describe utopia."
  • "Never send a human to do an AI.s job."
  • "Welcome to the desert of the real."
  • "To deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human."
  • "The matrix cannot tell you who you are."
  • "Most people are not ready to be unplugged."

• Discuss a character, theme, feature, or anything else you find especially compelling. Follow your bliss, but remember, your essay should still be focused, organized, and well developed.

• If you are at a loss for possible topics, go down the rabbit hole:
  • utopia / dystopia
  • gender roles
  • politics
  • economics
  • emergent, visionary or dangerous technologies
  • myths
  • environment
  • religions
  • belief systems - plugging into / unplugging from?

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