"I guess I was sad that love could feel so real and the next minute be gone, and all because of something Abnesti was doing."
In George Saunders' "Escape from Spiderhead," It seems that the only organic emotion Jeff feels over the course of this story is sadness.
Jeff and the other test subjects are endlessly injected with emotions and sensations that they do not actually feel, and yet experience intensely. When the chemical is removed from their bloodstream, they are left at "baseline," or in simpler terms; humanity.
Humanity allows us to feel and react and experience our lives in an individual way. By taking away their ability to feel and experience situations for themselves, the experimenters are stripping their test subjects of their humanity.
Although humanity has many flaws, (and Jeff knows that as well as anyone,) it is something worth preserving. While humans can commit murder, they can also save lives. They can fall in love, and experience joy. A human couldn't pump anything like Darkenfloxx into another human.
While the experimenters' overall goal is to perfect humanity, they are eliminating it in the process.
I agree with your remarks that "the only organic emotion Jeff feels over the course of the story is sadness" and that the "experimenters are stripping their test subjects of their humanity". Well written.
ReplyDeleteI am really intrigued by your analysis that humanity is their baseline. This stood out to me because the people who are doing the testing only view these subjects as people lacking humanity because of their criminal acts. Although your analysis shows that all people are capable of humanity and that manipulation is destroying it which is the opposite of what the leaders of spiderhead would like the population to believe. Great perspective
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