Bulwer-Lytton uses the setting of the mine to convey the notion that our wants lie out of reach. Under the Earth, the narrator finds perfect knowledge and a seemingly perfect race. Bulwer-Lytton suggests that perfect knowledge is below us, which could mean two things. First, there is no such thing as perfect knowledge. Second, we overlook perfect knowledge that exists right under our noses. In our modern day, we our constantly pushing limits to attain perfect knowledge, and there are dangers associated with this aggressive pursuit of knowledge. The dangers of pursuing knowledge are evident in the death of the narrator’s friend. He dies while the narrator lives.
Monday, March 3, 2014
What lies under our feet?
“The Coming Race” is neither plot nor character driven since Bulwer-Lytton
describes the setting to drive the novel forward. There seems to be a
relationship forming between the narrator and his host’s daughter, but
Bulwer-Lytton devotes most of his attention in the first half of the novel to
describing the setting. The narrator has fallen into the depths of the Earth
through a mine. Just like miners venture into mines to obtain precious
materials, the men venture into the mine in search of knowledge. In the novel,
the narrator says, “I answered, that under the surface of the earth there were
mines containing minerals, or metals, essential to our wants and our progress
in all arts and industries…” (p. 52).
Bulwer-Lytton uses the setting of the mine to convey the notion that our wants lie out of reach. Under the Earth, the narrator finds perfect knowledge and a seemingly perfect race. Bulwer-Lytton suggests that perfect knowledge is below us, which could mean two things. First, there is no such thing as perfect knowledge. Second, we overlook perfect knowledge that exists right under our noses. In our modern day, we our constantly pushing limits to attain perfect knowledge, and there are dangers associated with this aggressive pursuit of knowledge. The dangers of pursuing knowledge are evident in the death of the narrator’s friend. He dies while the narrator lives.
Bulwer-Lytton uses the setting of the mine to convey the notion that our wants lie out of reach. Under the Earth, the narrator finds perfect knowledge and a seemingly perfect race. Bulwer-Lytton suggests that perfect knowledge is below us, which could mean two things. First, there is no such thing as perfect knowledge. Second, we overlook perfect knowledge that exists right under our noses. In our modern day, we our constantly pushing limits to attain perfect knowledge, and there are dangers associated with this aggressive pursuit of knowledge. The dangers of pursuing knowledge are evident in the death of the narrator’s friend. He dies while the narrator lives.
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The initial option of what Bulwer/ yours suggests seems to be idea, especially when the narrator constantly compared the Vril-ya to human. The narrator suggests that everything in the Vril-ya's society is perfect, this perfection could be attain by perfection of knowledge. But the ideal of perfection seems so far fetch. If beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, the can we say the same with perfection. The to attain an infinitely amount of knowledge ( perfect knowledge) is impossible. If they have perfect knowledge, why do these Vril-ya questioned the narrator about the customs of the upper world. While the narrator said that these Vril-ya have the perfect knowledge, they have yet to see the celestial sky in which we came from. Their perfection is so limited and only in there eyes, so no I would argue that even in the "u"topian society of Vril-ya, perfection is still far from reach.
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