In class, we discussed briefly some ways the Calcutta Chromosome relates back to the other articles previously read in the class. (I believe some of the relations were comparing it to The Lost World.) Personally, I really like to explore why specific works are chose for a class, and I thought this was an interesting way to show why we are reading the articles/novels that we are. Not to mention, it carries our themes throughout the class. Discuss one or two themes, scenes, or characters that relate to other works we've read for class.
For me, Antar strongly relates to La Farge's essay "Scientists Are Lonely Men". The story begins with one person alone in a room with a computer. Antar lives alone in the only occupied apartment on a vacant floor in a dilapidated apartment complex. He clearly shows signs of being introverted and comfortable with solitude. Upon the possibility of someone sharing his space (even just on the same floor), Antar begins to get very agitated with the prospect of having a neighbor and hopes she doesn't like the area. Not to mention, as it is beginning to show, he has a slightly obsessive nature involving the Murugan guy and his badge. La Farge wrote about the passion for the scientific work and how it can become an obsessive idea.
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It was me who had brought up that The Calcutta Chromosome is similar to The Lost World. My reasoning for this was that both novels have a theme of science being more powerful than humans. For example, in the Lost World, the scientists are left to fend for themselves in this remote, dangerous plateau. In the Calcutta Chromosome, they are studying malaria from a scientific point of view. However, the person who is studying it (I keep confusing names) acually has malaria. I don't know if this makes sense or not, I had made a somewhat coherent explanation in class, but for some reason it doesn't sound very coherent to me here. Basically, in both novels science actually ends up controlling the fate of the characters in the novel.
ReplyDeleteA central theme found in the class seems to be exactly like what Varun said, only in a sense that science doesn’t only control the fates of the few characters of the novel but that it affects all people. This is clear because in the Lost World, it seemed that the scientific journey only affected the small group of the scientists in that scientific gathering; however almost all people who could read back in England were keeping up with Malone’s letters as they arrived and were published, and upon the exploring group’s arrival, it seemed as if all of England’s streets were filled with joy from their scientific discovery. Not to mention, an entire race of the “natives” who lived on the Maple White Land had survived through the war against the ape men thanks to the exploring group’s help. Also with the recent reading; Excerpt from “Machines as the Measure of Men” by Michael Adas suggested that the people came to realize that civilization can be measured by the amount of scientific achievements. Though this had made many Europeans to believe that Africans were the lower of the species in the human race, it also allowed some people to take in the idea that the Africans were indeed human beings who need not be enslaved by the whites. This idea would have made an impact in the European slavery abolishment movements. Also, at the beginning of the semester, in the first class, Dr. Tiff directed the class discussion to say that science is advancement in civilization that affects us all.
ReplyDeleteI like Varun's comment. I think that the Calcutta Chromosome does relate a lot back to the Lost World. First of all there is this constant theme of internationalism in The Calcutta Chromosome. Although Antar is from Egypt, he lives in New York City and is constantly being surrounded by foreigners (the workers at Penn Station, LifeWatch, Ava reading out words of all different languages, etc.) Although The Lost World is highly centered around European advancements it still shows the intricate workings of different people during different time periods (the Apemen, the Indians, the explorers, and us the readers). Although these two different relationships may seem very different, they are in fact very much the same. They both show the connection that the characters within the books have with their outside world.
ReplyDeleteThis is a small little observation I have noticed between the two books!