Comparing Stories of a Similar Theme: Twenty-Six Monkeys, Also the Abyss and The Star - Essay Example

? English The science fiction short story 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss is written by Kij Johnson. It is about a woman called Aimee who is the owner of a tribe of monkeys since three years. These mammals can perform several tricks including pulling off a vanishing act. They climb into a perfectly ordinary bathtub and when it is lowered, they disappear! No one, including Aimee knows how or where they go, but they do return back to the tour bus where they live, occasionally with a few foreign objects in hand. Yet another story from the same genre is: The Stars by Sir Arthur C. Clarke. He narrates the important discovery of a Jesuit astrophysicist, which shakes his faith in God. During his travels in space, he and his fellow scientists discover a planet where life was destroyed and they come across certain artifacts. He makes calculations and realizes that the Bethlehem Star was responsible for the death of all those people. This leads to him having a mind conflict about God’s decision and question his belief. The very first sentence of Johnson’s story tells us about Aimee’s monkeys who can disappear into thin air. Nobody knows how they do so and Aimee, in all her curiosity, tries different ways to answer the conundrum but fails every time. She is desperate; she wants a reason for everything happening around her. She does not believe in magic or anything of that sort. In The Star, the scientist has found out that a planet and its inhabited had been ruined because of the Bethlehem Star. He wonders why God chose that particular star to provide the Christians on Earth with hope. He is highly uncomfortable with the idea that any other star could have served the purpose and the civilization on the planet would have been saved. They would have been alive. The find shakes his firm faith in God and he cannot help but rethink things. In the beginning of the story, Aimee seems to be living life robotically, carrying out the daily mundane tasks with no enjoyment or complaints. She has her monkeys and a boyfriend Geoff but the word ‘love’ is never mentioned between the two. Certain sad happenings in her life have led her to believe that happiness cannot remain forever; things will always end up turning bad. Things around her do not make sense, and yet she cannot give up on hope. She wants to find out how the monkeys disappear and reappear. She asks and carries out plans trying to search for an answer until, at Zeb’s death, she realizes that not everything needs to have a reason or an explanation. Some things just happen and she needs to stop digging up everything around it to make sense of things. Once she has accepted this, she is a changed woman. She agrees to sell the monkeys to a man and has a better outlook on life. The Jesuit scientist, on the other hand, seems to be having a completely opposite effect. He has had full faith in God until he discovers about the Star and he cannot help but question his religion in his mind. At first, he tries to convince himself that the disaster must have happened due to some reason deemed appropriate by God, but once he has made certain calculations, he cannot help but feel shattered, trying to consider what was wrong and what right. Whether his God is well deserving praise or not and he does not know what to think. Aimeen does not live at one place for a long time. She has no house—just a tour bus where she lives with her monkeys and boyfriend. They travel around the country setting up shows. She does not care that she has no place she could look forward too. Her job is also, of course, made easier when she resides in a tour bus. Later, when her personality undergoes some changes, and sells the monkeys, she also ends up buying a permanent residence, which just shows that she is ready to settle in and leave the nomadic life behind. The monk is basically travelling in space. It is a funny and different thing – a Jesuit scientist interested in trying to find out the facts to what the Church has always been content with describing how God wanted things to be. The scientist looks into the endless space and cannot help but think of what might have happened to people who lost their lives due to the Star and he now has doubts about God’s plans. In 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss story, the usage of the third person gives a more aloof quality to the characters, or mainly, to Aimee. One does not read her exact emotions or thoughts. It seems as if she does not care about what is happening around her except she wants to find out the monkeys’ secret for vanishing so easily. Her story is short and to the point. There is no one being emotional over anything. She mentions being divorced, unemployed and losing a sister, and accepts it with no fuss. It helps showing off her personality, telling the readers how much in her own bubble Aimee is. Clark’s fiction is written in first person. It allows us to read and feel through all that the monk is feeling. His thoughts on the prejudiced fellow workers, how much he loves his Creator and how disturbed he is when he learns of the destruction on another planet on God’s commands. Throughout the story we can see the faint cracks in his belief, which the discovery has resulted in. Johnson has written the story in a very simple manner. There are no big words or playing of the words. The story is direct but that does not mean that one does not like reading it. At the same time, she is making certain points too. When the last of the monkeys climbs into the tub, he makes a loud noise to prepare the audience that something spectacular was going to happen, and then they disappear. It is ironic that every entertainer knows his or her own tricks, but, in this case, it’s not just the audience who has no idea about how the monkeys manage to vanish, but their owner too. Aimee tries to search for an answer but in vain. She worries about Zeb’s health but once he dies, she seems to go back to actually living life. She even sells the monkeys and gets her own place. It shows one how she is not drifting around anymore. She has come in terms of life’s ups and downs and decided to embrace them rather than just being numb and not letting her heart get attached to anyone. In The Star, the language is much more formal. There are several similes being used to describe the happenings which make the text a much more colorful and understanding read. It is, of course, depressing for the narrator the story he tells. Being such a great believer, he thought God would always overrule every finding in space until his group came across the blasted planet leading to him have confused thoughts. Aimee’s story is told almost in a matter of fact tone. It is pretty straight forward and short and yet the author easily lets us know certain elements which led to Aimee turning as she was in the beginning of the story. She shows her character’s curiosity and her coming to terms to the meaning of life in the end. Clarke has thrown about several scientific and religious words around. One is led to believe that the Jesuit is a mature, God fearing believer who loves Science. The tone is very formal and yet his thoughts are told to us in a very nice manner. Johnson’s story seems to have the basic theme of any normal person suffering through the problems of life like someone’s death and abandonment. How they react to it and how much time it takes to recuperate and turn back to living their life. Also, about how it is not necessary that there be a reason for everything happening around us. Some things just happen and it would be better to accept it and not question them. In The Star, the author plays on the age old war between Science and religion. The monk is different though, he is a believer as well as a scientist. This shows how everyone can accept each other even though some of his colleagues are prejudiced against him. It also tells us how little time it takes for one’s life to change completely. How a day comes when one questions a matter one has spent one’s past life based on. Both of the stories were a lovely read, choosing just one of them basically lies in the reader’s personal preference. I liked 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss better though because, for one, it was more based on real life. One can easily understand it and yet not be bored. It is a short story but still manages to provide with a great lesson. It portrays what lots of people seem to be suffering through all over the world: the depression, the numbness. It proves the theory of time healing the wounds correct. Aimee gradually starts turning back to herself. Also, it just gives a bit of hope that, maybe, magic does exist. That everything cannot be predicted or explained, which makes life infinitely more interesting. Works Cited Clarke, Arthur C. The Star. United Kingdom: Infinity Science Fiction, 1955. Johnson, Kij. 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss. Asimov's, 2008. Read More