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▷ Download: Escape from Spiderhead – George Saunders PDF

Download: Escape from Spiderhead – George Saunders PDF

Spiderhead

From Apathy to Empathy:

The Unexpected Existence of Humanity in a Less Than Human World

Charles T. Reeder

            In George Saunders’s sci-fi short story, “Escape from Spiderhead,” the strength of one man’s limits are put to the test. These limits are emotional, moral, as well as physical.  The story forces the reader to ask themselves two questions. These are “at what point does an innate sense of empathy override the commanding influence of the body’s chemical composition” and “at what point is a man driven to go so far as to kill himself to protect the well-being of another innocent human.” The underlying theme is the search for humanity. What makes us human? In particular, at what point does fulfilling our nature as a sentient being override the desire to satisfy our superiors and the scientific progress they intend to create. “Escape from Spiderhead” argues that we as humans are innately empathetic and are against inflicting pain and discomfort on another innocent human. So, in the end the reader feels sad, for the narrator, but at the same time relieved that that kind of blind empathy and sympathy is present and thriving.

Download: Escape from Spiderhead – George Saunders PDF

The story is a first-person narrative told by a man named Jeff, a convict in an alternative prison system where scientific experiments are conducted in attempts to confirm the effects of various serums with mind altering capabilities.

To be human means more than simply having a large, capable brain and opposable thumbs. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, essence is “the attribute or set of attributes that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity.

Essence is contrasted with accident: a property that the object or substance has metaphysical contingency, without which the substance can still retain its identity.” In “Escape from Spiderhead”, George Saunders makes this so called essence of humanity the driving plot force. Jeff is literally put through trials during the course of the story in which his essence as a human being is put to the test. He is stripped down to the core so that all that is left of him is his humanity; his empathy.

▷ Download: Escape from Spiderhead – George Saunders PDF
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