Genesis

1. Genesis Bernard Beckett

2. Select a topic to revise • Theme question: What does it mean to be human? • Character: Adam Forde • Character: Anaximander • Question Choice Click on the apple to go back to this page at any time.

3. Theme Question: What does it mean to be human? What makes you human? This is something Bernard Beckett explores in Genesis. One way he does this by presenting us with Adam Forde. Adam is the what we would call the ideal humanist, which was something our friend E.M Forster knew a bit about. However, unlike The Machine Stops, which shows the demise of humanity in a way that reflects Kuno’s (and by extension, Forster’s) humanism, Beckett causes us to question the superiority of the human race by depicting humanity’s downfall as the genesis of a civilization based on artificial intelligence. In this tragic end, we question our assumptions about the essence of humanity. Next

4. Evidence Quiz Read the following statements, and rank each quote in order from most useful in supporting this statement (1) to least useful : • “Beckett encourages us to feel sympathy for Adam Forde as he has all the characteristics of a rational, intelligent and feeling person – in short, he is the ‘ideal’ human being” • “Beckett causes us to question the idea that humanity holds a special position in society, by revealing the weakness of Adam’s argument” • “Beckett foreshadows the readers’ sense of shock at finding out Anaximander’s Orang form by reminding us of the human drive to find commonalities with others. Such an instinct is characteristic of a race who sees itself as dominant.” • E. M Forster saw humanity as beautiful but tragically flawed, and Philip K. Dick saw humanity as basically good but threatened by machinations of an all powerful State. Beckett’s vision is of a humanity marred by a inflated sense of worth, and plagued by fear of losing its position in the evolutionary chain of command. • To bury the individual beneath the weight of the state, is to bury too the individuals fears… Always, the individual’s fears with wriggle free. • I cannot ignore the fact that life only makes sense to me when I see a smile, or feel another hand in mine. • This is our instinct: to see the other as an extension of ourselves. • He spoke, in Anax’s account, with hatred. Not so much a hymn to existence as a fierce denial of all he could not understand. • ‘Life is the making of order out of disorder. It is the ability to draw in energy from the outside world, to create form. To grow. To reproduce. You wouldn’t understand.’ • ‘It is your weakness as a person to see yourself as the centre’ • ‘I am thought, where you are only noise!’ • He said he was led by his heart. He told them he had to do the thing that felt right. He told them the greater good could only be found by looking inside. • . The soul offers you comfort, and in return asks only for your ignorance.’ Next

5. Do you know what it means to be human? Most of you humans would say that you can tell the difference between MrRoboto here and a flesh and blood human. And Adam Forde makes a compelling argument in your favour. But when you were imagining Anaximander sitting her exams, with all her anxieties, hopes and dreams, none of you imagined her as a piece of machinery. And when her mentor Pericles disconnected her, what reader couldn’t help but feel sad about her fate. Does such a narrative device suggest something intrinsic in human nature – the “instinct to see the other as an extension of ourselves” or does it suggest that the qualities we think of as distinctly human really little more than our own bias? Next

6. Exam Question Choice Door Number 1 Analyse how a writer purposefully created first impressions of a character or individual in the written text(s) to deceive or surprise the reader. Door Number 2 Analyse how a conflict was used to explore a theme in the written text(s).

7. Option 1 • Select one of the following characters: • Anaximander • Adam Analyse how a writer purposefully created first impressions of a character or individual in the written text(s) to deceive or surprise the reader.

8. Option 2 • How does Beckett use the conflict between Adam and Art to explore the theme of what makes us human. • To answer, unpack the following statements: • By allowing the reader to idealise Adam as the perfect form of humanity, only to see his flaws as Art’s logic unsettles him. • By ending the conflict with Adam’s and humanity’s demise, thereby causing us to question our own place in the evolutionary chain of being. Analyse how a conflict was used to explore a theme in the written text(s).

9. Adam Adam Forde is named for the first man, the father of the human race. Our first impressions of the character come before we even read his story, through the framing narrative of Anaximander, a student about to sit an oral exam on “the life and times of Adam Forde, 2058-2077”. Anaximander’s narrative provides the lens through which the reader gains our first impressions of Adam as intelligent, but argumentative, arrogant and rebellious. You should review the first hologram of Adam and Joseph to get a clear understanding of Adam Forde as Anaximander’s narrative opens. (Note, Joseph is also an important father figure in the Bible, given that he is earthly father of Jesus Christ) Next

10. Adam Forde Quote Bank • Which quotes are best at representing: • Adam’s strengths? • Adam’s weaknesses? • What Adam can tell us about the nature of humanity? • How Adam plays a symbolic role in this novel?(Be careful to check the context of these quotes!) • Perhaps there needs to be, for society to function successfully, a level of empathy which cannot be corrupted. • Are you saying a society wracked by plague is preferable to one wracked by indifference? • He said he was led by his heart. He told them he had to do the thing that felt right. He told them the greater good could only be found by looking inside. • The only thing binding individuals together is ideas. Ideas mutate, and spread; they change their hosts as much as their hosts change them. • ‘Through my interactions with others, I learn who I am.’ • It is in conflict that our values are exposed. • I am the means by which the universe has come to know itself. I am the thing no machine can ever make. I am meaning.’ • It suits our purpose to make Adam the noble fool. This is always the problem with building heroes. To keep them pure, we must build them stupid. The world is built on compromise and uncertainty, and such a place is too complex for heroes to flourish.

11. Anaximander Our first impression is of Anaximander anxiously awaiting her exam, keen to make her tutor proud. In the intervals between stretches of the exam, we are provided with a few details that help us empathise with her: She is a loner whose solitary nature sets her apart from her friends who enjoy almost constant companionship thanks to technological advancements on what 21st Century humans would call ‘social networking’; she is drawn to Adam Forde and passionate about her education; she is fond of her tutor Pericles who helped give her the opportunity to study at the Academy. Naturally, we assume that Anax is like us, and Beckett reinforces this belief by avoiding any physical description of her. Next

12. The Shock Ending Spoiler Alert! Anaximander is an A.I, in the form of an Orangutan. The best twist ending involving simians since Planet of the Apes! But seriously, why? And why kill her off so violently? These are my thoughts: Just as we begin to believe in Adam Forde and the nature of the soul, just as we see him destroyed by his trust in an A.I, we begin to also see the nature of Art change as he embraces the original sin. It is this sin that Pericles commits to preserve the Orang’s civilization. It is this evil that convinces us that the Orangs are destined to fall just as humans did. Finally, however, it is our capacity for empathy towards Anax, towards Art, towards Adam, weighed equally with our capacity to commit great evil which I believe makes us human.

13. Glossary Analyse – examine a particular aspect of the text in detail using evidence, in order to reach a conclusion. Purposefully – done with a reason, to do with exploring the way the author tries to have an effect on the reader. Character or individual – a character is a person in a fictional text. An individual is a person in a non fiction text. Choose one or the other. Conflict – when two opposing people/ views/ characteristics come up against each other. Conflict is the source of drama, and may be external or internal (usually both). Theme – an idea that can be applied beyond the text you are study, to life in general.