SCIENCE FICTION
“imagination is more important than knowledge”
“I want to know God’s thoughts…the rest are details.”
ALBERT EINSTEIN
WHAT IS SCIENCE FICTION?
To gain a great insight into the the genre, or type of literarature,
simply breakd own the term:
SCIENCE
 This discipline is concerned with probing or asking pertinent
questions about how and why out world exists the way it does
 it is steeped in fact, logic, and the theories and laws that are
thought to govern our universe
FICTION
 Fiction is concerned with imagination, rather than with reality
Combine the two, and you have an arena where fact and fiction
merge. Why is this significant? Most often, science fiction allows us
to imagine what the universe MIGHT be like, if certain science facts
were true.
FOR INSTANCE:
Imagine a world where humankind had made contact with other life
forms, had formed a federation to ensure peace and had embarked
on a “continuing mission: to seek out new civilisations; to (go boldly)
where no one has gone before
Or imagine a civilization that has created robots so advanced in
design that they can take over the world.
Better yet, imagine a world that could communicate exclusively in the
space created by computers – a virtual “cyberspace” if you will.
ELEMENTS OF SCIENCE FICTION:
1. Events take place in a future molded by technology.
2. Everyday technology is more advanced than in our present
world.
3. Warns about dangers of the misuse of new science and
technology.
4. The things that happen, and the technology that exists, are factbased, are scientifically possible.
5. May contrast human characteristics of a nostalgic past with a
coldly technological future .
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT:
Use your creative skills. First IMAGINE a world where the laws of the
universe merge with your imagination. Make point form notes about
this world. You may want to ask yourself these questions:
 what does this world look like?
 Why does this world look this way?
 What do the inhabitants of this world look like?
 How do they act?
 How do the inhabitants feel?
Write two descriptive paragraphs describing your world and its
inhabitants. Use one simile, one metaphor, and an allusion in your
writing.
Due: Wednesday November 27th 2013
The Giver by Lois Lowry
In this novel, Lois Lowry warns her readers of what can result from
the lack of human connections in a society. At first glance, the society
is a utopia (a perfect society – similar to the Garden of Eden) where
everyone has an assigned role in a world free from war, fear, and
pain. But a closer look reveals that such stability demands a high
price. The society allows very few individual freedoms and limits the
choices its citizens can make. Consequently, the people lose their
ability to experience emotions and to feel compassion for others. The
main character, Jonas, must struggle with the question of whether
peace, comfort, and security are worth these sacrifices; ultimately, he
decides they are not.
Lowry’s fascination and dependence on memory was one of her
motivation for writing The Giver. While visiting her father at a nursing
home one day, she realized he had no memory of how her older
sister had died many years before. Without that memory, her father
no longer felt pain from the loss. Lowry began to imagine a society in
which people had no long term memories. She realized that the
people would live without pain but they would also live without
emotions, and ultimately, without the ability to love. The Giver shows
the need for humans to have memory in order to be whole.