ENG 1975 Paper 1 (1)

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Reedy 1 Eugene Reedy Dr. Nielsen ENG 1975 23 September 2021 Paper 1 “It really is a dog. Just like we used to be. It could take weeks for it to heal. One broken bone, and it’s done for.” (55). This is a quote from The People of Sand and Slag by Paolo Bacigalup, which is set in a futuristic setting, as the characters see a dog as humanity in the past and comparing them to humanity in the present, or in other words, themselves. With their interaction with the dog, they realized their loss of humanity and Bacigalup compares this story with the story with society today and focuses on the idea of how humanity is starting to break down and the characters portray what society may look like in the future. As humans are innovating, the issue is when those innovations turn us away from our humanness making everyone less human. Even in today’s world these issues are evident when people focus on their phones instead of the person sitting in front of them, and these actions hinder human interaction, one of the key things that make people human. In The People of Sand and Slag, the loss of humanity within the characters is portrayed when the characters interact with the dog, letting the audience understand that people should lay off over excessive innovations that obstruct the importance of human nature. Mankind has come a long way from inventing things like the electric light to now where we have access to light and electricity everywhere, but what does that innovation have to do with the human emotion of selfishness and their lack of empathy? Firstly, technology isn’t a bad thing, rather it should definitely be applauded as these things help society, but nowadays we are moving

Reedy 2 toward the path where things like artificial intelligence and other things like robots may be utilized in society. Yes, these things do make a lot of things in society easier, but at what point should humans draw the line with innovation? In The People of Sand and Slag , one of the characters “wiggled his new stump where it was rapidly growing” (55). This is an example of what technology could look like in the future, and if people innovate technology in a way which benefits humans in way too many ways, it may cause a lot of issues. This is a point where the line should be drawn, because being able to regenerate a torn off arm isn’t a physical characteristic that humans are gifted with. If humans obtain these perks, they might start to abuse them and won’t stop because they won’t be satisfied, ending up with a society without real humans who aren’t happy. One inevitable fact about humans is that they’ll eventually die, but when that is altered, humans aren’t really humans anymore. In today’s world there are things like plastic surgery that can change the way a person looks because they think they need to look a certain way and not stick true to who they are. This shows how technology could lead to this example of selfishness, and because one cares about their looks too much, they go and rely on technology and the characters in this story truly define this idea. The dog in The People of Sand and Slag , on the other hand portrays the opposite characteristic of the other three characters. At the end of the story, Chen looks back on what the dog really was saying “I remember when the dog licked my face and hauled its shaggy bulk onto my bed,and I remember its warm breathing beside me, and sometimes, I miss it” and this shows how humans can be like the dog, who didn’t utilize any form of technology and showed the characteristics of empathy and selflessness (67). The importance of the dog is also portrayed in the story because of its symbol of what human beings ought to be like. One essential idea that separates humans from say a robot, is how the human race has the ability to understand complex

Reedy 3 emotions and have the capacity of empathy. The characters in the story on the other hand aren’t able to have these complex emotions and have empathetic feelings. Bacigalupi is hinting at the fact that humans are becoming more like the three characters, but uses the dog in order to help humans realize who they really are. Also, at one point in the story, Jaak was teaching the dog tricks where “the dog sat back on its haunches and gravely offered him its paw. Jaak grinned and shook the paw, then tossed it a food pellet” (61). Bacigalupi uses this example as a source of interaction, something that humans need in order to keep their human characteristics, and something that is meant to be more important than the regenerating of the arm. There is a big comparison between the humans and the dog and it is portrayed through the idea of usage of technology and the capacity of emotion, but the main point is how although the three characters may actually be human, the dog is actually more human than the three. Technology has created a blockage for the potential of humans, as it obstructs the human capability to have emotion and empathetic feelings. If humans allow these systems to do everything, humans may become lazy and not want to innovate, or technology might become advanced enough to outsmart humans, not letting humanity be the center of society. Once this occurs, humans will focus only on their technology and forget about those around them. Just like in The People of Sand and Slag when Musharraf mentioned, “Did you know that in the past, people believed that we should have compassion for all things on Earth? Not just for ourselves, but for all living things?” stating how the only compassion needed in the world in that story was for the characters themselves (58). It was also mentioned in a rather surprising way, as if the characters didn’t understand what people used to be like and that people like them are the norm in society. Humans shouldn’t head toward the path where everyone becomes robots, incapable of feeling anything, because being capable of these emotions defines us as humans. If society

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