dont walk to close to the fire, you might freeze

A few of the binaries that I noticed in Mckay’s poem were Flight and Fall, Practice and Prayer, Lift

and Drag, and Sea and Shore. I think the significance of these binaries is to show us how quickly we

can slip across a line from one extreme to the other. McKay makes reference to “the golden mean”

which is a desirable mid-point between two extremes. I think this reference brings to light the need

for moderation and illuminates the dangers of taking things too far; had Icarus simply flown and safe

heights and not felt the need to go as high as possible he would not have met his demise in the same

dramatic manor.

 

The Practice and Prayer binary shows us that we cannot live on a prayer, we must instead plan our steps

carefully; we have to rely on our wits instead of fleeting chance.

 

The difference from sea to shore is often only a slight line. When on shore we are safe and stable, but

once in the sea we are subject to being swallowed by the abyss, our stability is out of reach we can

disappear without notice or witness and likely never be seen again.

 

As with most binaries, lift and drag can have many connotations. When faced with hard times or

decisions in life we can either lift ourselves up to the challenge and venture forward or we can drag our

feet, prolonging our turmoil and increasing our workload.

 

McKay does absolutely succeed in portraying tension between the opposing elements. It seems he

chose his binaries carefully, both in the sense that they all relate well to the nature of the myth, as well

as make the issues concrete enough that the average reader would be able to relate to them in a real

way.

 

Wikepedia defines dystopia as “the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the

guise of being utopia…Dystopian societies feature different kinds of repressive social control systems,

various forms of active and passive coercion. Ideas and works about dystopian societies often explore

the concept of humans abusing technology and humans individually and collectively coping, or not being

able to properly cope with technology that has progressed far more rapidly than humanity's spiritual

evolution. Dystopian societies are often imagined as police states, with unlimited power over the

citizens.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystopia)

 

Given this definition it would be my understanding that dystopia society would be one in which citizens

had little to no control, and such control would rather be in the hands of government or corporation. I

think in studying a dystopia novel or body of literature we might heed a warning about the dangers of

certain control or the abuse of technology in our everyday lives.

 

A couple movies I have seen that I think might fall in to this category are “minority report”, “ I-Robot”,

or “repo men.”