Since 2009, we've done this reading group and in the process covered dozens of readings. But perhaps we've never read a short story quite like Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's "The Era." It's a story set in a future world after various wars and a re-organized society where genetic engineering has apparently gone to extremes, and brutal honesty has quite brutal.
After reading "The Finkelstein 5" and now "The Era," I think we have to say something, really a lot of things at some point about the creative and intriguing ways that Adjei-Brenyah's mind works.
Alright, I'm not even fully sure what questions to ask you because "The Era" disoriented me in unexpected and ultimately useful ways. So for now, let's do this: imagine several of us were in a room discussing this story. What should we focus on first concerning "The Era"? Why?
51 comments:
Reading this one thing that was concerning that should be noticed is that the story is take placed in the future and that people in this world focuses less on emotions and the ones who does have emotions are called "shoelookers" and that is someone that nobody wants to be in their society. This is concerning because the fact that they modify their kids to not have emotions with drugs is kinda scary to think.
-Destiny Moore,
I saw a cmment above stating how the story takes place in the future. With that being said, it's quite concerning because it means that people's mindset and heart will not change over these next few years and people will just do things without hesitation because they have been taught to lack emotions. Moreover, the children are the future, so if they're being taught not to show their emotions then how will things be for them or others when they finally explode due to keeping all of their emotions bottled up?
This story made me feel really weird inside after reading that people with emotions were looked down upon. Giving kids drugs just so they stop feeling just brings me down so much. After having friends that took drugs similar it hurt me a little reading that the kids were forced to take them by their parents.
To begin, the most concerning part of this chapter was the concept of raising a child. I am not sure if what I am saying is what actually happened in this book because I was a little confused but it seemed like the parents had the ability to choose what traits their children have when they are newborns, the parents just have to have enough money to pay for the trait. With that being said that shows a lot about how much the parents care and it is concerning because as a parent who wouldn't want their child to go through the fazes of life? It looks like the people in this story including the students seem to be very mean and insecure. The parents want perfect kids but don't want to fully interact or raise any kids. - Valarie McDonald
What's concerning is they say people who are emotional are good for nothing and that Marlene tried to smother Ben with a pillow and the parent's kind of brushed it off which I find strange. It does seem that this is the future. It also seems that the shoe lookers are looked down on .
The part I would like to focus on is the way parents can customize their children's personalities. I chose this because a character in the story named Marlene is a person whose parents customized her personality, and she did terrible things to her sibling, and even tried to kill him.
The first main concern on which we should focus is that the children lacked emotions and were unable to find any other strategies for coping other than drugs. In this narrative, how is having emotions a bad thing? With emotion, you feel and express things, and how could they do that if they didn't have it? It appears that allowing children to do this is not a good idea, and what will happen in the future? In what children would be the face of our future if they are like this. - Jania M
I believe that we should focus on the overall plot of the story, as opposed to any one piece of it. I think that we should talk about how all the different aspects of the story are changing the protagonist and what effects it has on him. More specifically, the issues in the society that was created should be looked at in terms of their impact on the main character.
-Dayevion M
Focusing on that kids were taking drugs and their parents forcing them. Also kids having trouble with their emotions and feelings. But they sadly use drugs to cope with it and that's not good at all. The parents were living through their kids and controlling them. It is sad and unfair to the kids.
-La'Raye Littlepage
This story didn't concern me it just made me look at things differently. Giving drugs to kids obviously is a bad thing and giving them things to make them not feel down is a bad thing in hindsight. But when you think of it and the actual world people will give kids drugs to help with ADHD or depression and no one really backs an eye at it. The fact that this story has kids partaking in things to improve their emotions / mood it's more concerning because of the context. When in reality we come in contact with this everyday was just made me think what makes this so different.
First, I think we should discuss how odd the dialogue was in the first and second pages of the chapter. It was a little difficult to read the dialogue because it almost sounded child-like. Mr.Harper called a student a "youth-teen" and then he called himself a "big-middler", which sounds like something a child would say to describe a child and an adult. I also found it to be quite insightful because Mr.Harper talks about optimization and how parents want perfect children. But, the process of "pre-birth optiselection" is not perfect when Mr.Harper points out how hideous Samantha was. It's been said already before, but I think the lack-of-emotion idea that this "new world" has adopted should also be talked about.
We should focus on the fact that this new world wanted to forbid emotions and give drugs just to make society more corporative. They stripped the citizens of being different, enforced certain values upon them such as being honest but in the most horrible way, and in a way it seems as if they can only feel good about themselves is if they take the drugs. The new society in "The Era" was basically fake.
Amarie McCleary
I think we should discuss how there are comparisons to real-life in the story. Like how "Good" was a medicinal drug that the staff of the school gave to the students. I feel like this is comparable to real-life drugs. "Good" is a drug that is designed to keep the students under a happy influence; this is also a known side effect in real-life drugs. Just like real-life drugs, they wore off or some people weren't affected by it. I'm sure there are more real-life references in the story for us to see.
I think we all agree that we should focus on how this story takes place in the future. It's a little disturbing because it gives us no hope for the future. It was also concerning how in the story they were giving the kids drugs. That's something that kind of goes on in today's world.
-Makiah Lewis
We should just focus on the drug usage in this story and how they made drug good back then. we should also focus on the fact that this story is being taken place in the future instead of the past.
Hierarchy is the main issue that I noticed in the story. If a student is not considered optimal, then they are destined to fail. Unoptimal students are seen as clowns for attempting to keep up with optimal students and are constantly bullied. Also, due to the depression they face, they may face an abuse of Good which could make it even harder for them to focus in class.
Jarrod Rhodes
If we were in a classroom discussing the chapter I would stress on how well he was able to create an entirely different time period after this one. Specifically, the fact that he added in the types of people, abilities that they can have, and people in the center and outer parts of the world. Another thing I want to talk about, is how certain people in the story were shoelookers and they were treated so horribly from the rest of the people in the world. And what shocked me the most is, everyone was so blunt about their feelings. This was even true in the classroom which Ben, his fellow classmates, and even his teacher took part.
I think the first thing we should focus on would be the way that some people's negative mindsets will not change from their negative ways, even in this imagined future. We should also focus on the fact that people with emotions were looked down upon and having no emotion was so sought after that parents would give their children drugs just to stop the emotions.
-Cierstin N
Something I would think to discuss first is the fact that everyone needs/are advised to take a government-made drug to feel good. The fact that need to take this drug in order to be successful functioning citizens and that without they would feel normal emotions that are deemed bad is very befuddling. It also seems like people can get "addicted" to it, or build a tolerance for it which reminds me of reality now.
Alexi J.
I think that we should discuss the fact that society has decided to give kids drugs so that they don't show emotion and if they do show it, they are looked down upon. It almost seems like they decide to do this to make everything, and everyone seem happy when in reality they aren't.
What disturb in this story was that kids werent allowed to express their emotions which is what a kid needs to do. Not being able to express your emotions as a child leads to mental disorders. Instead kids were given drugs to solve the "problem." This leads to very bad addictions that sticks with them as they grow older.
Grasping an understanding of this has made me believe that maybe this is how the future may come about. Or maybe expressing your feelings will become a sensitive topic to pursue so society just normalizes a disorder like "ADHD or depression" and prescribe them meds instead of actually seeing through the kid's perspective of things.
I feel personally that we should focus on the kids and their experiences. With majority of us still being teenagers and not to far away from the ages that kids are in the story I feel that we can really dig deep to connections that we are share. I feel that we can especially give some in put on teenage drug use and how we feel about it. Plus we discuss the way kids and teens express emotions and what lead them to do the things that they do.
Devin Perry
Reading Adjei-Brenyah's, "The Era" certainly sparked a major curiosity in my mind. I think we should first discuss how disassociated people are with their own emotions. The future, in regard to this story, is very robotic and far too perfectionist. I think it'd be interesting to discuss the amount of potential harm this could cause, if it ever were to occur. The author definitely sparked emotions with this piece.
The most concerning detail in this story for me was the children using drugs to cope with not having emotions. It was unsettling to see how the children were taught that emotions were bad. The fact that everyone has the same personality because of the "Good" drug reminded me of my own prescription. The drug prescribed to me and many others with ADHD can cause people to feel like they lose emotions and feelings but doctors still prescribe this drug as a first choice to many children and it is just socially acceptable.
As others has said one thing that was noticed is that the story takes place in the future . people has different opinions on things but also might change their opinion or mindset later on in life . Also what was really concerning to me is giving kids drugs , that did not sit right with me , because no matter what is going on no kid should be introduced to drugs.
Reading the story something that was really concerning to me was that the people with emotions were frowned upon. I think it’s crazy to think we’d someday live in a world where people barely show emotions. Being a very emotional person and that being a form of communication for me I don’t think I could ever imagine going around emotionless or being around emotionless people. - Ciaunna M.
I would definitely talk about how parents are able to genetically modify their children. I think a big conversation could arise from this -- topics like: is this morally okay to do and if so, which aspects about a child would be okay to change. This book definitely leaves a lot to discuss and ponder about, so I'm sure if we had an actual discussion about it, it wouldn't end very quickly.
I would definitely talk about how parents are able to genetically modify their children. I think a big conversation could arise from this -- topics like: is this morally okay to do and if so, which aspects about a child would be okay to change. This book definitely leaves a lot to discuss and ponder about, so I'm sure if we had an actual discussion about it, it wouldn't end very quickly.
if we were in the classroom I think we should talk about the parents customizing the children. When a child is born a child is unique from both parents and all of the people around them. If everyone could customize their children the way they want them to be then not only is the world gonna be full of robotic people but there will be no individualism in the world. Seeming as though this story takes place in the future it makes you think about what the author is trying to say about the future of the world. Will the world be filled with people who use drugs to regulate their emotions? or will the world come down to choosing the children we have?
-Jercura Kindred
Jercura K.:
if we were in the classroom I think we should talk about the parents customizing the children. When a child is born a child is unique from both parents and all of the people around them. If everyone could customize their children the way they want them to be then not only is the world gonna be full of robotic people but there will be no individualism in the world. Seeming as though this story takes place in the future it makes you think about what the author is trying to say about the future of the world. Will the world be filled with people who use drugs to regulate their emotions? or will the world come down to choosing the children we have?
Kaylin P.:
This story definitely was unique and unexpected and there are a lot of topics from this story that can be discussed. But one thing that stuck out the most to be is the way emotions are handled. Firstly, in this society emotions and mental health are usually put on the last priority so to see this is the ordeal in the future is truly concerning and unexpected at the same time. As a collective we want our emotions to be a bigger priority but I can understand how what “the Era” wrote about came to be. The discussion we need to be having is how to prevent this and understand this.
Dakahi Leflore said...
My first concern would be that people who show their emotions are looked down on. I feel like that is something that is going on in the era we are in today. It also concerns me how the parents can customize their children's personalities.
-Dakahi L
March 4, 2022 at 10:37 PM
(Originally posted at https://www.culturalfront.org/2022/03/haley-scholars-group-5-nana-kwame-adjei.html)
Sierrea McNiff said...
When discussing this book, I believed we should focus on how being "perfect" is not as great as it sounds. The genetically engineered people are humorless. They do not enjoy indulges like cake. Honesty and bad manners are considered the same thing. They take shots of "Good" to feel euphoric. They bully people who do not live up to society's standards. This is no utopia but a world consisting of constant dysphoria.
March 3, 2022 at 8:19 PM
(Originally posted to https://www.culturalfront.org/2022/03/haley-scholars-group-5-nana-kwame-adjei.html)
Lauren M.:
This short story was almost like a reality check. It’s set in the future, and you see that things aren’t much different. Except for the fact that society looks down on emotions and because of this, supplies children with drugs to suppress them. This is what you should focus on because this is really something to think about. Is this how our future will be? Is this how we want our children to be?
The kids in this story were not allowed to portray or show their emotions, instead, they were given drugs to solve any problems they had. As kids, expressing emotions should be less than thought, it should be something they should be free to do. They never get to experience what it's like to be open about how they truly feel.
Nyah Marcano said...
If we were having a disscussion in a classroom about the short story "The Era" the first thing I believe we should talk about is the idea of this "perfect" society. At what cost does it take to be accepted as "good" in a place that has a false sense of perfection. -Nyah Marcano
March 9, 2022 at 8:16 PM
(Originally posted to https://www.culturalfront.org/2022/03/haley-scholars-group-5-nana-kwame-adjei.html)
Leroy P.:
As I'm reading there's one thing that was concerning that should be noticed is that the story is take placed in the future. This new world wanted to forbid emotions and give drugs just to make society more corporative. The medical drugs they gave to the kids are just as bad as the real-life drugs. After reading this story it made me feel pretty wired.
Trista M.:
I believe that the first thing we should discuss is how emotions are seen as a bad thing for people to have. They are looked down upon for showing feelings. Instead, they use medications/drugs to make them feel good.
I feel that we should mainly focus on the prediction that the Era is creating. In this generation it is already hard for men to express theirselves for example, men find it bad to cry and let their emotions build up because in society they are deemed to be the strong people when in reality they are still human and still have emotions. That idea is starting to transfer to women and children as well, Im a female myself and I try to avoid crying in front of people and expressing my feelings w=even at my lowest points. Children are also punished for crying. So I see a future of a bunch of people with mental problem s because when you allow pain to build up many new problems comes with the pain.
For the world to not want you to show emotion is my biggest concern. To me people need to be able to show emotions and express how they feel. Keeping everything bottled in isn't good and it'll eventually make you numb to all of what you feel. They say that shoelookers aren't worth anything or good for anything for showing emotion. How is that possible when it's human all humans feel things. It's just a matter of if we feel the need to express it or not or if we can express it.
Emyia Kirksey
Taniah P.:
This book just opened my eyes. The thing people see in” African American” people is ridiculous. If we keep at it with this hatred, we have in our hearts. The cycle is just gonna continue throughout history and throughout the future. I feel like this book is speaking facts about society today. It might get worse through time to go back to old habits. That our ancestors had to go through. Parents are conniving their children to continue to hate “African-American”. When it doesn’t have to be like that. These kids white or black are the future of this country and world. There needs to be a Change in this country, so we can all move forward in the future.
I think that the most concerning thing about "The Era" is how they raise their children. In the story they make it seem that the parents are the ones who decide their children's traits. I think this is quite a weird thing even though it happens in the future. I think that it made sense somewhat since this was in a society that did not have emotions. --Meikiyia Roberts
What we should focus on first, concerning “The Era” is having kids. If I was an adult living in “The Era,” I would specifically not have children. Simply, because I know my child's life would not be fulfilling. Growing up without emotions and being forced to take drugs to not have feelings, just doesn't seem like a life worth living. Also, the fact that parents have the option to select personality traits for their children just rubs me the wrong way. The whole point of growing up is to learn about yourself and to discover your identity. All of that is stripped away in this futuristic society and I do not like that. The fact that many parents knowingly choose to have kids and force them to grow up in that passionless world is so upsetting. I felt so bad for all the kids, especially Marlene, she deserved so much better.
- Chris Rhodes
In the text, people that showed emotions were looked at as less than. They were not respected, and the same thing can be seen in real life with African Americans. Showing emotions in real life can be viewed as weak and/or soft.
Tyra O.:
What should we focus on the most is that the kid doesn’t get to show they emotions and let them use drugs.
It's sort of depressing how the void of emotions is. Everyone is different and they have their own set of feelings and emotions, so to see that devoid and removed from the pool of possibilities that one holds--it seems ridiculous and cruel to me.
Zariyah Reid
If we were to be all in a room discussing this short story the first thing to discuss in my opinion would be the utopian society that they’re living in. This short story deeply reminds me constantly of The Giver. The society chooses professions, families, food source along side many other things. Another intriguing part of this story is how your familial unit will disown you if you think anything different from what themselves, society, and the teachers are teaching you. It’s almost like no one can open the eyes of the others. No one in the society truly knows what happen before their own time but I guess it’s similar to our world in many ways because we have some of the same major issues.
Sophina K.:
I feel like the first thing we should all focus on first is the characters and how they all interact with each other. How they talk to each other is a bit strange. The way they all act, and talk are disorientated, and some parts of the story catches me off guard. Like the fact that these are kids using drugs in school to feel some type of good.
With this story the focus of conversation should be how the parents interact with their children. They did not seem in touch with their emotions which is concerning. A child should not have to rely on drugs to deal with their emotional trauma. It also makes me think of generational trauma and what the parents went through as kids to want to live through their children.
-Memory
Theon'Janae P.:
The most concerning detail in this story for me was the children using drugs to cope with not having emotions. It was unsettling to see how the children were taught that emotions were bad. In todays society emotions and mental health are put on the last priority so seeing this is the ordeal in the future is concerning and unexpected.
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