I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

by Harlan Ellison

Limp, the body of Gorrister hung from the pink palette; unsupported—hanging high above us in the computer chamber; and it did not shiver in the chill, oily breeze that blew eternally through the main cavern. The body hung head down, attached to the underside of the palette by the sole of its right foot. It had been drained of blood through a precise incision made from ear to ear under the lantern jaw. There was no blood on the reflective surface of the metal floor.

When Gorrister joined our group and looked up at himself, it was already too late for us to realize that, once again, AM had duped us, had had its fun; it had been a diversion on the part of the machine. Three of us had vomited, turning away from one another in a reflex as ancient as the nausea that had produced it.

Gorrister went white. It was almost as though he had seen a voodoo icon, and was afraid of the future. "Oh, God," he mumbled, and walked away. The three of us followed him after a time, and found him sitting with his back to one of the smaller chittering banks, his head in his hands. Ellen knelt down beside him and stroked his hair. He didn't move, but his voice came out of his covered face quite clearly.

"Why doesn't it just do us in and get it over with? Christ, I don't know how much longer I can go on like this."

It was our one hundred and ninth year in the computer.

             He was speaking for all of us. 

To read the full story go to: http://www.surfturk.com/endoftheworld/ihavenomouth.html

             In high school I took an awesome science fiction class. It really is amazing that in the small, much too normal town of Helena I had this opportunity. My former teacher had some titles to recommend and I ended up reading "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream," by Harlan Ellison. Ellison is a published author and winner of multiple awards such as Hugos, Nebulas, and Edgars (according to Wikipedia). This story is a work of science-fiction, but I think it could also be categorized as horror. This piece is very unique and more explicit than many of the stories we read in class. The story is about five people locked inside a computer for eternity. The computer, called AM,  hates humanity because they created him to think, yet he is not able to do anything with his thinking. In anger, the machine destroyed the human race. The last five people on earth AM saved and put them inside of himself so he could torture them forever.

           I really enjoyed reading this story. It keeps the reader's attention throughout the whole piece, because you are constantly wondering what will happen to the characters. I thought it was such a creative idea to have people trapped in a machine that can do anything to them. As horrible as it may sound, I liked the vivid descriptions of how the five people were struggling to survive, mentally and physically. The action at the end of the story is perfect and I can't think of the story ending with a better line. 

         There were only a few things that I think could have made it better. I wanted to see a little more character development. I thought how they interacted with one another after being stuck together for 109 years was very interesting, and I wanted to hear more. Furthermore, if there was more character interaction I think there would be more agency. Up until the end, most of the events that happened were not because of the actions and choices of the characters. A little more activity on their part may have been interesting.

        For the most part I loved this story and as wrong as it may sound, I'd recommend it to someone who wants to read something a little disturbing. If your looking to read a really strange, creepy story this would be it. Let me know what you think!