Last week, we talked about emotions and how they drive each scene. On Monday, we talked about points of no return.
So, let’s take a look at theme, the thread that binds emotions and points of no return together. It’s time to take another look at how George Saunders employed themes in his sci-fi masterpiece, Escape from Spiderhead.
In 2015, I took George Saunders’ book, Tenth of December, to Cannon Beach as my summer beach read. For me, the most compelling tale in that collection of short stories was “Escape from Spiderhead.”
Escape from Spiderhead was first published in the December 12, 2010 edition of the New Yorker. It is a science fiction story set in a prison. It is built around several themes. The central theme is crime and punishment, and Saunders grabs hold of this theme and runs with it.
He asks us to consider where punishment ends, and inhumanity begins.
Saunders gives us the character of Ray Abnesti, a scientist developing pharmaceuticals and using convicted felons as guinea pigs as part of the justice system. The wider world has forgotten about those whose crimes deserve punishment, whose fate goes unknown and unlamented.
Saunders poses questions that challenge us to re-examine our own virtue. Do we have the right to treat a person inhumanely just because they have committed a crime?
He takes a deep dive into the theme of redemption in this tale. He didn’t take the expected path with his plot arc and didn’t opt for revenge by giving Abnesti the drug, which was the obvious choice.
Instead, he takes us on a journey through Jeff’s personal redemption, which is why this story impacted me.
Of course, the scenario is exaggerated, as it is set in a future world. It exposes the callous view modern society has regarding criminals and what punishment they might deserve.
That raises the theme of morality vs. immorality. Who is the real criminal here, Jeff, Abnesti, or a society that would even consider operating such a prison?
Then there is the theme of compassion. Abnesti explores love vs. lust for his own amusement. The different drugs Jeff is given prove that both are illusionary and fleeting. Yet Saunders implies that the truth of love is compassion. Jeff’s final action shows us that he is a man of compassion.
What does it mean to be human? This theme is a foundational trope of Science Fiction. Saunders shows us that to be human is to be aware and compassionate.
The character of Dr. Abnesti demonstrates that one may be genetically and technically of the human species, yet not human in spirit. He is not aware of others as people; without that awareness, he has no compassion and no humanity.
A common theme in science fiction is the use of drugs to alter people’s behavior and control them emotionally. That theme is explored in detail here, ostensibly as a means to do away with prisons and reform prisoners. But really, these experiments are for Abnesti, a psychopath, to exercise his passion for the perverse and inhumane and for him to have power over the helpless.
Jeff is aware of the crimes he and his fellow prisoners have committed. Still, he sees Heather struggling with her dose of Darkenfloxx and states his belief that every person is worthy of love.
Spiderhead (the movie) premiered in Sydney on June 11, 2022, and was released on Netflix on June 17, 2022. The film received mixed reviews from critics, and to be honest, I wasn’t impressed.
I will say now – the story and the movie are two different things. The film bears some resemblance to the story it is based on, but – it goes in a different direction and is not that story.
- All writers should be aware of this important fact: you give up control of your story when you sell the movie rights.
In the short story, Escape from Spiderhead, Saunders’ voice, style, and worldbuilding are impeccable. It is a stark journey into the depths to which some humans are capable of sinking in the pursuit of knowledge for the sake of knowledge.
This short story was as powerful as any novel I’ve ever read, proving that a good story stays with the reader long after the final words have been read, no matter the length. His questions resonate, asking us to think about our true motives.
Where do we draw the line between crime and punishment? When is a legal act really a form of criminal behavior? What does it mean to be human?
For me, that is what good science fiction does—it raises questions and requires us to think.
To learn more about this story, go to Escape from Spiderhead Summary – Litbug.
The majority of this post first appeared here on Life in the Realm of Fantasy on June 29, 2022, https://conniejjasperson.com/2022/06/29/how-the-written-universe-works-exploring-theme-part-3-escape-from-spiderhead-by-george-saunders/.
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