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| A haunting vision of the future. Source: Here |
“I feel free and strong. If I were not a reader of books I could not feel this way. Whatever may happen to me, thank God that I can read, that I have truly touched the minds of other men.”
Reading is one of those things for me that genuinely brings good into my life. Ever since I was a kid I loved getting myself lost in others' imaginations, whether that was just to have a good time or to debate the author's message. It's the closest thing to actually talking to the author themselves. So what happens when you encounter a book about reading and its meaning?
Enter Mockingbird. Written by Walter Tevis and published in 1980, the world detailed is a grim one. Set in the far future, humanity has achieved contentedness at a great price, perpetually dosed on narcotics and electronic bliss. Those who cannot persist immolate themselves to escape, the sopors making this process painless. There is no art, no literature, no love, no families, no children and no history, with not even a record of the years that have passed. Humanity is kept complacent by pithy slogans ("Don't ask, relax", "Quick sex is best") and an emphasis on privacy and inwardness, with the robot class that looks after them also falling apart. The robot in charge of it all, Spofforth, grows disillusioned with this task and wants to die, but is programmed to live.
A book this reminded me of is Fahrenheit 451, with both placing special emphasis on books and the significance of reading, with harsh penalties for those who refuse to tow the line. In Mockingbird society is slowly withering, humanity having handed over their lives to their creations without any resistance. Where in Fahrenheit 451 the authorities burn books to stop further reading, there is no need for that in Mockingbird since the love of reading itself has been lost.
There is hope for the future of humankind - our protagonist, university professor Paul has painstakingly taught himself to read from researching old silent movies and with his companion Mary Lou follows a journey of self-discovery. The narrative cycles from Spofforth to Paul to Mary Lou, the reader getting ample opportunity inside their heads as we explore this decaying world. Paul himself follows the most dynamic journey; teaching Mary to read, ending up in prison, escaping and even falling in with a Christian enclave not too shortly after. There's so much packed into 247 pages but it never feels like a chore - on the contrary I was surprised at the ease with which Tevis weaved his narrative.
Tevis really infuses this novel with a literary quality you don't see in much sci-fi - so so many memorable quotes peppered throughout:
Enter Mockingbird. Written by Walter Tevis and published in 1980, the world detailed is a grim one. Set in the far future, humanity has achieved contentedness at a great price, perpetually dosed on narcotics and electronic bliss. Those who cannot persist immolate themselves to escape, the sopors making this process painless. There is no art, no literature, no love, no families, no children and no history, with not even a record of the years that have passed. Humanity is kept complacent by pithy slogans ("Don't ask, relax", "Quick sex is best") and an emphasis on privacy and inwardness, with the robot class that looks after them also falling apart. The robot in charge of it all, Spofforth, grows disillusioned with this task and wants to die, but is programmed to live.
A book this reminded me of is Fahrenheit 451, with both placing special emphasis on books and the significance of reading, with harsh penalties for those who refuse to tow the line. In Mockingbird society is slowly withering, humanity having handed over their lives to their creations without any resistance. Where in Fahrenheit 451 the authorities burn books to stop further reading, there is no need for that in Mockingbird since the love of reading itself has been lost.
“New York is nearly a grave. The Empire State Building is its gravestone.”
There is hope for the future of humankind - our protagonist, university professor Paul has painstakingly taught himself to read from researching old silent movies and with his companion Mary Lou follows a journey of self-discovery. The narrative cycles from Spofforth to Paul to Mary Lou, the reader getting ample opportunity inside their heads as we explore this decaying world. Paul himself follows the most dynamic journey; teaching Mary to read, ending up in prison, escaping and even falling in with a Christian enclave not too shortly after. There's so much packed into 247 pages but it never feels like a chore - on the contrary I was surprised at the ease with which Tevis weaved his narrative.
Tevis really infuses this novel with a literary quality you don't see in much sci-fi - so so many memorable quotes peppered throughout:
"It all began, I suppose, with learning to build fires—to warm the cave and keep the predators out. And it ended with time-release Valium."
- This forms the central crux of the book's Big Idea: that humankind's pursuit of a more comfortable existence did indeed lead to contentedness, perhaps at the cost of what helps make us human.
“The Age of Technology has rusted.”
- What really makes Mockingbird stand out from other dystopias isn't its excess or gloom a la 1984 - it's the ease with which it came to be. One long sleepwalk and humans began to wither away.
“When literacy died, so had history.”
- Tevis packs a hell of a punch, that can't be denied.
"Only the mockingbird sings at the edge of the woods."
- Mockingbirds are known for mimicking other birds' calls. The unsubtle implication being that this life is only a hollow copy of what once was.
I could honestly talk about so much more with this book. It's left an indelible impression on me, and no doubt I'll return to it again. Please read this book - you won't regret it. Feels only fitting to cap this review off with a pertinent bit of T.S. Eliot:
"My life is light, waiting for the death wind,
Like a feather on the back of my hand."
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