NOTE: Be sure to
bookmark our course blog (which I’ll use
instead of Blackboard): ecucomp2.blogspot.com.
I’ll post all the reading response questions here, as well as paper
assignments, and other announcements.
Answer TWO of
the following questions in a short paragraph—at least a few sentences. Be
specific and avoid the simple response of “yes, he’s doing that because of
this.” There are a variety of responses for each question, and I’m more
interested to read why you think your
answer is right rather than what you
think it is. Each set of questions is worth 2 points (out of 100), and they add
up quickly; you can only get full points if you give a thoughtful, detailed
response of at least a few sentences.
Q1: Discuss
Watney’s narration style: what kind of storyteller is he? Even though he’s
technically recording a log, and not writing a book, how does his
style/personality affect what we learn and how the story is told? How is his
narration unique and/or valuable for this kind of story?
Q2: In Weir’s
article “How Science Made Me a Writer” (at the back of the book), he writes,
“as I wrote, I bungled my way into a revelation: Science creates plot! As I
worked out the intricacies of each problem and solution, little details I
wouldn’t have otherwise noticed became critical problems Mark had to solve”
(385). Where in the opening chapters does science create the plot of the book?
In other words, how does actual scientific (or mathematic) fact create drama
and conflict for Watney—and the reader?
Q3: Though this
book is very plausible and based on realistic science, how might we consider
this book as a metaphor (as we discussed in class)? How is the idea of a man
stranded in space, without a single human being to help him, a very
metaphorical use of science fiction?
What does it help us see or understand about ourselves—or our own
society?
Q4: Weir worried
that writing a story strictly from Watney’s point of view could potentially be
quite boring. For this reason, he clearly decided to add another storyline on
Earth, as NASA tries to engineer his rescue. However, what else does this
storyline add to the novel? Why do we need, on some level, to see Watney’s
story from the other side?
Comments
Post a Comment