Walter Miller, in the novel A Canticle For Leibowitz, mocks the way we are as humans,
particularly in those ways that lead to regressive thinking. The novel pokes fun at the
attention to impractical details, such as to the spent copying the Leibowitz blueprints.
Miller also mocks humans by describing the inordinate amount of attention and energy
given to a spiritual being such as Leibowitz, as today's society worships God. Finally,
the most absurd way Miller mocks today's society occurs when he describes how they do not
give something very important the considered attention that it deserves. These are three
examples how Walter Miller mocks and shows today's society their faults.
Miller mocks the way we are as humans when Francis gives too much attention to
impractical details to the Leibowitz blueprints. Brother Francis spends many years
copying the blueprints of the circuit design. Francis copies the design so carefully he
mistakenly believes the color of the paper is important to the design of the circuit.
Francis is set on mindlessly copying the blueprint he does not realize what the circuit
design is for, and what is does. Brother Francis thinks regressively. The monks copy
out the blueprints, and then do nothing with them. As a society we do the same thing
today. In school students copy notes off the blackboard blindly, they do not know what
they are copying. Therefore, they do not understand the content.
Not only does Miller also poke fun at impractical details, Miller also pokes fun at the
way today's society revolves is the importance of a spiritual being such as Leibowitz.
Today's society is strongly set on the existence of God.
Today's society is mocked due to the importance of a spiritual being, like Leibowitz.
The monks do not really know who Leibowitz is. All of the information about Leibowitz
are only rumors. No concrete evidence surfaced to prove that Leibowitz exists. It is
the same in today's society with the belief of God. No proof that God physically exists
is evident today. Most people still believe in God spiritually on the other hand. In
comparison to the book's society, Leibowitz is their God. When Brother Francis
accidently stumbles upon possible genuine evidence of the existence of Leibowitz, they
ignore it. The Monks concentrate on the most illogical things. The only thing that they
believe is important is a mysterious pilgrim spotted in the desert. The Monks believe
that the pilgrim is Leibowitz himself. The Monks are looking past concrete evidence
wondering if it is Leibowitz who is seen desert. It seems that the monks do not
concentrate on what is really important. They concentrate on the most absurd things. If
we discover a fallout shelter in the desert that housed Jesus, we would not brush it off
like the monks did. We would protect, and display it in a museum for years to come. The
monks did not protect these documents when they sent Brother Francis to New Rome with
sacred documents. The Monks, and sadly, Brother Francis has to suffer to this
misfortune.
Finally Miller mocks the monks regressive way of thinking when they send Brother Francis
to New Rome with the Leibowitz designs. The monks did not think ahead in sending Francis
to New Rome without protection. The fact that they failed to provide protection for
Brother Francis is absurd. Francis is transporting the most important documents ever
found half way across the country all by himself without protection. Many dangers are
apparent on the way to New Rome, including robbers, and the monks failed to think ahead
to see this. Today's society is the same. Our society sometimes rushes to judgments
when we get excited. We fail to look ahead at the consequences. A good example is the
deterioration of the ozone layer from pollution. During economic highs factories were
pumping pollution into the air at an enormous rate. No one realized the damage it was
doing to the ozone. Today's society is left to fix the problem that we were not
responsible for. The factories only thought of money and failed to think ahead of what
the pollution would do to the air.
Reading the book, A Canticle For Leibowitz, it is apparent that today's society is an
image of the monks society. We copy things out mindlessly without thinking, an example
is homework, and we do not really know what we are really doing. The monks also copy
mindlessly when Francis copies the blueprints. Today's society is also dependant on a
spiritual being that could or could not exist. The monks gave too much attention to
canonizing Leibowitz. We fail to look past these things, like the Monks, and wonder if
they really exist. We also realize our society thinks too regressively and do not think
ahead when we make a decision. Instead we let the spur of the moment determine our
decisions in most cases. The monks also did this when the failed to offer adequate
protection for Brother Francis.
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