The first three sentences really set the mood for this book: a state of limbo between dualities. This dreamy quality flows through the book but never quite so clearly as it does in the beginning.
"You're not here. Try to remember this. Try not to remember where you really are."
Reading the book from this perspective leaves you as an outside observer to what is happening but draws you away from your own reality pushing you into a place that is not "here" in the book or "here" in the real world. It shifts you into a place that is not the near or far future but instead an undefined middle ground. A place where things proceed in familiar ways but with an alien feel.
Looking at the far future, saurs (pot smoking lizard aliens) present the feeling of slow wisdom, quietly learning and allowing the impetuous youth to create their own new mistakes to learn from. Perhaps the saurs are a representation of a middle age species watching over the ambitious, young human species and learning from their differences. Krakens, from the few glimpses we are given from the perspectives of human and saur, indicate the are the ancient species that can frolic and travel as they wish. They can do so because they have already made their youthful mistakes, gone through their slow acquisition of knowledge and can finally use what they have learned to enjoy themselves and their prosperity.
The duality is in the not so distant future where we are given a view of humanity having more difficulty because of their technology and complicated ways pushing them around in ways that the seemingly low tech existence in the far future avoids entirely. The society of humans in the near future is a complex web of distrust and deception that uses technology for everything. This near future uses virtual reality and artificial intelligences to deal with information and even the dust in certain areas is technologically advanced to deter electronic listening in to conversations. This reliance on technology influences the actions of everyone in these sections of the story. The sections that take place in the far future, by contrast, still have some technology but they use it only when absolutely necessary so it has almost no effect on their daily lives. The humans in the far future don't even use calculators to help them with the math required for their great project of re-using a star ship (that was created by humans) so that they may be able to travel independently of the krakens. These things may change as the book progresses and I look forward to finding out.
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7 comments:
I didn't even think of putting myself as an outsider in the stories that are presented. Which could have made it easier to get a feel of the chacters.
I actually found myself wondering why the saurs want to know about the humans' technology, if they are ancient and can do what they want, wouldn't it seem plausible that they really are more advanced?
Specially since it seems to be implied that the humans are not really that technologically advanced to begin with. Just an observation.
Great interpretation. Now, does anyone else feel like krakens=Navigators(Dune)? Or is that sort of unavoidable?
Yes it does seem like the navigators
yes, the krakens are very very guild-steersman-ish (but really only in the David Lynch movie adaptation of Dune). And I'm glad that someone else so directly picked up on the dual natures of this novel!!
Responding to what muon particle said about the saurs interest in human technology, the interest may be in how the technology is different. You can look back at history for examples such as ancient Japanese armor in comparison to the armor used by English knights. Both forms of armor serve the same purpose. The Japanese form is designed for flexibility and intimidation, whereas the English form is designed to absorb or shrug off massive blows. Both armors protect the wearer, but they do so in different ways. Similarly the saurs may have tech that does the same thing as human technology, but they might still want to see how the human form of technology differs from their own. By seeing the differences in how something is achieved improvements might be possible through combining the two or, one may be clearly better than the other.
The contrast between low-tech far future and high tech near future has so many philosophical implications, kind of makes you wonder if these computers are really necessary for the survival of civilization or if we just make them that way.
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