Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Trina Roundy
Human fear has been an underlying motivation for all actions since the dawn of time.
Wars, partnerships, empires built and fallen all due to basic human fear of the unknown, losing
what they have, and not getting what they want. The fear of the unknown has been both helping
and hampering humanity’s capabilities, and it is shown throughout history and literature.
Science fiction is arguably one of the most popular genres of literature and movies. The
acts of pushing known science to the limits of the imagination is enticing. The ideas of
fantastical new discoveries and fantasy elements are easy for people to suspend their disbelief
and for a moment, wonder that anything of the like could happen.
Science fiction (in the inclusive sense) combines satire with the kind of visionary (or pro
phetic) imagination exemplified by Dante's Divine Comedy, Milton's Paradise Lost, Olaf
Stapledon's Star Maker, and the best of Arthur C. Clarke's fic tion. The frequent claim that we
now live in a science fiction world testifies to the genre's prophetic and visionary success”
(Ketterer) This suggests that we thumb our nose at what we fear, but we still take it very
Of course, there are many very good reasons for humanity to fear the unknown and each
other. The birth of the atomic bomb changed the way not only Americans, but the entire globe
The History of American Fear states, “The atomic monsters of the 1950s — Godzilla was
the first and most widely imitated example — are obviously a reaction to the war, and the new
anxieties it brought up. There were no real giant radioactive monsters, but there were giant
anxieties during the Cold War. So, the fallout shelter kind of replaced Dracula’s crypt.” (PBS)
Again, this is strong evidence that fear was a huge motivating factor in society and the way the
And then, there lies one of the major factors in human fears of all kinds. The media and
the stark, horrific headlines we read every day, all day. Psychology Today plainly states, “Fear-
based news stories prey on the anxieties we all have and then hold us hostage.” (If it Bleeds)
Good news and comfort does not sell and the human psyche is not built to withstand the
Orson Scott Card’s Speaker of the Dead exemplifies humanities fears of the unknown,
their own mortality and the prison of belief systems that some find themselves in from time to
time. From nearly the start, this story is about fear-driven emotions, thoughts and actions from
Beginning with Ender himself, although a grown man, Ender continues to carry the fear
that he made a mistake during the war with the buggers, and that fear affects every decision he’s
made for 20 plus years. Being convinced that he was the destroyer, and subsequently the
redeemer of an entire species gives Ender somewhat of a God complex in power, with no God
complex in understanding.
The colony on Lusitania is emblazoned in fear on many levels. They fear the old plague
returning, they fear the piggies, they fear the Speaker, they fear the government. This can be
directly correlated to today’s reality; we fear sickness, the Islamic people, anyone who tells a
truth we don’t like either personally, or as a collective, and we fear the government. We fear both
Specifically looking at the colonists and their relationship with and to the alien piggie
colony that was native to the planet, the colonists immediately issue rules and regulations both
against and with regard to all communications with the piggies. Their fear was manifested as
force and control, making sure the piggies received no viable information to progress, commune
Almost immediately when the story unfolds between the humans and the piggies, the
“observation report” found on pg. 41 (Card) immediately brings attention that this colony of
Roundy 4
sentient life is being observed as in a zoo. A zoo is for the protection of spectators, not the
animals. When a spectator climbs the fence and is killed, the colonists immediately shut down
that “zoo” and end all communications with the piggies, for fear of another murder. Fear drove
the colonists to the planet in the first place, fear caused them to build a wall, which in essence
caged themselves in, and fear drove the second murder by the piggies, because no one thought
about things culturally, they thought about things in terms of what they knew, which was their
Conclusion
People have been struggling with survival, success, trust and faith since the beginning of
society itself. It will always be a fluid and changing concept. Fear is the most basic survival
instinct any sentient being has. It is the most natural indicator that something is wrong, out of
place or eminently dangerous. However, as we and our lifestyles have evolved, so has the need
and effectiveness of fear. It stands to reason that as technology, thinking, and human
Works Cited
Science Fiction and Imagination Author(s): David Ketterer, Eric S. Rabkin and Raffaella
Baccolini Source: PMLA, Vol. 120, No. 1, Special Topic: On Poetry (Jan., 2005), pp. 246-249
(2018)
Ketterer, David, et al. “Science Fiction and Imagination.” PMLA, vol. 120, no. 1, 2005,
Card, Orson Scott, et al. Speaker for the Dead. Orbit, 2014.
Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/two-takes-depression/201106/if-it-bleeds-it-
leads-understanding-fear-based-media.
www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/history-american-fear/.