9/11/14 Kaia Hayes

Of the several facets of post-catastrophe literature explored in Chad Harbach's "The End," I found  the visualization of human life after disaster to be especially intriguing. Through a brief history of the genre's development, Harbach contrasts the dystopian, ultra-modern societies of Brave New World and 1984 with the depictions of  a simplistic, primitive society in novels such as Jamestown and World Made by Hand. While both visions offer starkly different outcomes-- each presenting a different set of challenges and dangers to the individual-- connections can be drawn between the aspects of mankind that authors of either style believe will be affected by society's downfall.  I believe that the nature of the society portrayed is determined by the values most influential or relevant to the author; matters of personal rights and control pair nicely with a structured totalitarian environment, whereas the man-made bounds of civilization must be stripped away to address more primal topics of human nature and social relationships. Religion, social norms, law, politics-- identity as an individual-- these concepts have all held a primary role in the way we define society as we know it now. It makes sense, then, that in contemplating the future, authors manipulate these values as a way to explore the consequences of such a change.

Apocalypse: What Disasters Reveal

Many of the points that Diaz brings up in his work are quite potent; for example, his insistence that events like the Haitian earthquake will happen again and keep happening until the collective of the first world nations re-evaluate our priorities and straighten out or until the extremely poor get wiped out by these continual events really does scare me. I agree with his point that there needs to be dramatic change in the way that we view social disasters and not just natural disasters. It was quite eye-opening to make the connections between the systematic natural destruction caused by development and over-development of areas such as Haiti and the results of the natural disasters. It seems that in times of these natural disasters, more of the world, the U.S. included, needs to behave more like the Dominican Republic and honestly try to help those in need without seeking immediate compensation. Imagine what the Dominican Republic gained monetarily from assisting Haiti; most likely not a lot. However, they serve as a superb example of the altruism that humans are capable of.