Recently, I have restarted the book Robopocalypse, by Daniel H. Wilson. I hadn't read it in a while, and decided I should refresh my memory. I have had many "thought-provoking notes/ideas" throughout my reading, but I feel that I can write strongest one critical question from early on in the book. The critical question was, "How can these robots be stopped?"
While reading this book, I originally thought these robots, these evil machines that took over all mankind (or most of it, at least), were invincible. And they practically are. But, using common sense and my experience with Sci-Fi books/movies, I realized there has to be a flaw in the system; there's always a flaw in the system. Then, quickly after my epiphany, the flaws were revealed. Yeah, multiple flaws! Spc. Paul Blanton states "That weak spot under the chin is classified, for Christ's sake." (62). If there's a weakness to anything, it can be defeated. This brought hope upon me as a reader and upon the characters in this book. Then, later on in the book, another flaw is revealed. A flaw that raises the chances of human survival greatly. This is what Marcus Johnson discovers: "They [the robots] keep it [the city] clean so they can operate here. But we can make it hard on them. Hard. Mess up the streets so they can'y get around. Blow some stuff up." (119). Marcus noticed that the robots were killing everybody in sight, but they weren't damaging the city one bit. This only meant one thing; the robots were planning on taking over the entire planet, but saw no need in destroying the land they were going to live on. Marcus decided he wasn't going down without a fight, and he wanted to make life for these robots a living hell. And boy did he succeed. In addition to his success, he was also the heart of human resistance throughout the world. I found this astonishing. So, in the end, hope was found.
Hope was found, in fact, through these flaws in the system, which I expected would happen. I honestly thought there was no possible way of avoiding these killer machines, but I just didn't think hard enough. With a little thinking and some common sense, you can find an answer to almost any question. At least that's what I feel. Have you ever felt so sure about something that you felt no need to investigate it further? That's how I felt about the robots being undefeatable, and I was proven wrong multiple times. Next time, think twice.
This is a great post! I like how you introduced the book and your critical thinking question, and when you wrote, "there's always a flaw in the system." Not only is that very true, you elaborated on it and it was a strong thesis that clearly was a big part of the book.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this blog post. You really added your own voice to it, and that made it unique. I also liked how you showed that your first thoughts on the book were wrong. You added a lot of really good detail from your book that showed the points that you wanted to make very clearly. Overall I thought it was a very good response, and you really did a good job in answering you critical thinking question.
ReplyDeletei like how you included what you got out of the story."With a little thinking and some common sense, you can find an answer to almost every question," it's cool to see how the books lesson is also a lesson you learn in your life. Great response with lots of details.
ReplyDelete