All Systems Dead (All Systems Red Essay: 1984 prompt)

        Wowa, an essay! (disclaimer: not part of the essay). Hello and welcome back to the only blog whose creator delayed multiple posts of because a stupid image file was crashing the Blogger website for some reason! I am your Funk-Fearing host, and apparently, I'm writing an essay! Below's the prompt, and without further ado...

        1984. (yes, I chose the prompt year for the meme) Select a line or so of poetry, or a moment or scene in a novel, epic poem, or play that you find especially memorable. Write
an essay in which you identify the line or the passage, explain its relationship to the work in which it is found, and analyze the reasons
for its effectiveness.

This is what I get for not wanting to reuse images.

 

The Essay-ey Part of the essay:

     There are times when the longest moments of a story makes readers want to get on with the show, yelling at the book, as the moments tell us readers nothing. And then there are those short, sweet moments that pop up that feel super refreshing, because they tell the reader so much about the tale they're reading without having to waste much ink at all. In one of the very first lines of Martha Wells's "All Systems Red", the author gives readers this: "As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure". This bold move manages to encapsulate the protagonist of the work's personality while entering the story, while somehow still managing to leave room for crucial character development, making for some of the most effectivity in a single line that any protagonist could have uttered.

        When a reader first opens the book "All Systems Red", they likely no close to nothing about the protagonist. However, within the very first few paragraphs, the author manages to establish a world, a character, and a voice, with a single bold decision: Intentionally inaccurate telling via a simple sentence. 

        Murderbot, as a protagonist, once readers get acquainted with them, is viewed by its society as a deadly weapon with a hair-trigger for a conscience. This ostracization is further reinforced by most readers's knowledge of "killer robot" tropes, alongside the protagonist's chosen name, literally "Murder" "Bot". This even harkens back to the original use of the term robot, where, by definition, everyone expects a robot to immediately want to rebel and murder everyone due to its origins in the play R.U.R by Karel Capek. 

        By establishing Murderbot's failure to live up to these homicidal expectations after having gained relative freedom, Wells manages to inform the reader that not only does the world Murderbot lives in view robots of Murderbot's ilk in a negative light, but also that Murderbot is aware of these stereotypes. Note Murderbot's use of the term "terrible failure", as well. Murderbot's self esteem issues are established early in the novel and are consistant throughout. 

        This established convention within the story is not only something that constantly reoccurs within the book, but also a tool to foreshadow the suspicion that Murderbot will be looked at throughout, in a straight-to-the-point manner that makes Murderbot seem like a believable cybernetic organism. While Murderbot may be literally "heartless" in that it lacks that specific human organ, and a machine capable of killing, it is correct in its assessment that it has failed to become an engine of destruction, though its self esteem may beg to differ afore some character development is applied. (conclusion, not actually part of the essay lol) With these complexities in mind, the author of the essay must commend Martha Wells, and the reader of this essay for getting this far, and encourages the reader to pick up the Murderbot diaries as reading material, else the dark lord Chris D. Funk steal the reader's kneecaps.

Obligatory Funk Image