For Tuesday: Bertino, Beautyland, "Stellar Nebular: Birth"

 

For Tuesday: Bertino, Beautyland, “Stellar Nebula: Birth” (pp.3-87)

NOTE: You don’t have to read this entire section for Tuesday’s class, but read as much of it as you can. The questions below don’t require you to have read every last page, though the more you read, the easier they are to answer.

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Adina is born around the same time to Voyager 1 spacecraft launches into space, carrying its ‘golden record’ with information about the human race. The book suggests that Adina is also a space probe of sorts, though on a very different journey. In what ways is she a scientific satellite, taking in and giving out information? What can ‘we’ learn from her?

Q2: How is Adina a lot like Clark Kent in Superman: American Alien? Though both a human and an alien, when is it hard for her to be a human? What situations and ideas make her feel most ‘alien’? Is this specific to her—or relatable to all human beings?

Q3: After reading a book, Adina tells the ‘superiors’ that “there are endless ways a human can achieve connection if they broaden their perception.” When the superiors ask “HOW MANY FATHERS CAN A HUMAN HAVE,” she replies, “Infinite” (40). What do you think she means by this, and why might this be similar to Clark’s experience in Superman: American Alien as well?

Q4: Is it possible that Adina isn’t an alien from another planet sent here to record the Earth? What are some of the clues that this isn’t exactly true and/or only a possible truth? OR, is it possible that we like to consider ourselves “aliens” at one time or another in our childhoods?