Please post your comments about Fredric Brown's story "Puppet Show" (which we read in class on February 21) here. You might consider discussing the story's views on xenophobia and whether or not you think the humans in the story passed the "second test."
11 comments:
Read T said:
"Puppet Show" is a self-concscious story. What I mean by that is that it purposely goe after the SF stereotypes and uses them. For example, the stick-man Garvane is a humanoid alien, a cliche of the genre. He can also speak English perfectly and eve mentions the cliche of "Take me to your leader," though he doesn't make use of it himself. "Puppet Show" is different, however, because of the clever twist at the end in which the cliche is abandoned and the donkey turns out to be the real alien, though he still speaks English. The story also conveys an interesting message; the superiority complex of humans. Why must all our aliens be humanlike? Why are humans always portrayed as the master race or as the donkey says, "what is a master race?" It's interesting that one of the qualifications to joining the federation is that the race mut not be xenophobic, perhaps the author's way of emphasizing the importance of accepting all races, hu man and alien, as equal. I wasn't exactly convinced that humans aren't xenophobic as the stereotype of humanlike aliens shows, especially because the alien was consistently described as "the Horror."
(Posted for Read by T. Sale)
Read --
This is a very insightful response to the story, which addresses not only xenophobia, but also species-centric thinking. I like your observation that Garvane is a cliche alien. You have a good take on the theme of the story.
I thought the story did use a lot of stereotypes throughout. This takes away from the message of the story for me. While reading i am constantly distracted by the unreality of things said and done. For example the alien speaks perfect english. This confuses me quite a lot, and i have trouble understanding some context of the story because i am tryig to figure out how the alien knows english so well. Overall the story was ok, i just felt too bogged down with deep thinking.
In the story it starts off with Garvane wanting to do an interview with the human race to see if they are not xenophobic meaning they aren't afraid of people or other races. The Humans passed the first test they were very kind and generous to the humaniod, but they humans did not pass the second test by saying we are the master race and that there is no other. The alien representative knew we failed and answered our question with another question. I believe this story was to help us understand that people in the world would rather see themselves as the master race instead of achieving world peace.
puppet show is a story that focuses on our human nature and the problems we have. it leaves us a verry disturbing question. if we cant even get along with ourselvs the how can we expect to live in peace with whatever else is out there
I was absent for the discussion on this story...but hopefully I can still provide some insight on xenophobia.
From what I understand, xenophobia is fear of the strange or foreign. "Puppet Show" is a short story centered around the principle and idea of being xenophobic.
I liked that the author used a familiar setting right away. Arizona is a place we all know, or at least have heard of, and I am apprieciative of this particular author for using a familiar setting to ease us, as readers, into the story. I think that this makes us more open to xenophobia later in the story. I think that too much of the unknown can be dangerous, and "turn the reader off" to enjoying the story.
Hope this provides some insight!
well my thoughts are why was there a question at the end about humans being the "master race" we are basically the rulers of earth. and when finding out that the aliens were actually donkeys was really weird. Mr garvane also having his little quizes on the humans i dont think proved anything.
This story was pretty weird, The aliens kept changing. I cant belive that the donkeys were actually the alien spies. I was a rude awakening of how we as humans view ourselves. It made me think alot. The humans in the story couldn't even get along with themselves, so how do we expect to improve as the so called "master Race"
Ben S --
Like many SF stories, this one seemed definitely to be an eye-opener. You had some good comments regarding the story's impact.
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