1/28/2019 8 Comments Cixin LiuCixin Liu June 23 1963-Present Shanxi, China
Major Works: Novels: China 2185 (中国2185) (1989) The Devil's Bricks (魔鬼积木) (2002) The Era of Supernova (超新星纪元) (2003) Ball Lightning (球状闪电) (2004) The Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy (published in English by Tor Books): The Three-Body Problem (三体) (2007) The Dark Forest (黑暗森林) (2008) Death's End (死神永生) (2010) Short Stories: The Longest Fall (地球大炮) (1998) The Micro-Age (微纪元) (1998) The Whale's song (鲸歌) (1999) With Her Eyes (带上她的眼睛) (1999; republished 2004) Inferno (地火) (2000) The Wandering Earth (流浪地球) (2000) The Rural Teacher (乡村教师) (2001) Full Spectrum Barrage Jamming (全频带阻塞干扰) (2001) Devourer (吞食者) (2002) The Glory and the Dream (光荣与梦想) (2003) Of Ants and Dinosaurs (白垩纪往事) (2003) The Wages of Humanity (赡养人类) (2005) Mountain (山) (2006) Migration across Time (时间移民) (2014) 2018 (2014) Sea of Dreams(梦之海) (2015) Weight Of Memories (2016) Major Themes: Exploration/human curiosity Don’t become too engrossed with one idea or problem, it might take over your life Scientific discovery Novel Choice Plot Summary: The novel I chose is The Three Body Problem This book switches back and forth from the perspectives of the two main characters, Ye Wenje and Wang Miao. The book begins from the perspective of Ye Wenje, an astrophysics student, during the chinese cultural revolution in the 1960’s. She witnesses the death of her father, supported by her sister and mother.She is marked as a traitor and forced to join a labor force. She gets into trouble for supposedly co-authoring a letter written by journalist that criticises the government, when all she did was write down what he wanted to say because his hands were injured. She is almost sent to prison, but is rescued by Yang Weining and Lei Zhicheng and brought to Red Coast base, a project for using microwaves/ radio waves to attempt to contact aliens. She discovers that radio waves can be amplified by bouncing them off of the sun and sends a message. Several years later, she finally receives a message back. At this point, she had become so obsessed with the idea of aliens becoming the solution to humanity's problems that she cannot see past Yang and Lei’s warnings and responds to the message. She later kills both Yang and Lei to keep the message and her conversations a secret. After leaving Red Coast and becoming a college professor, Ye meets Mike Evans, who shares her beliefs that aliens can help humanity, and they create an organization of scientists and world leaders who share their ideas. The aliens agree to assist them, in exchange for the lives of their descendants when the aliens finally reach earth. In present time, Wang Miao, a nanotechnology professor, is asked to work with a group of government officials and other scientists to solve the mysterious deaths/suicides of several scientists within the last few months- including Ye Wenjie’s daughter, Yang Dong.He begins to hallucinate a countdown clock over his vision and is introduced to the virtual reality game Three Body. The environment of the Three Body game randomly switches between stable eras of peaceful weather, and Chaotic eras of extreme heat or cold. Wang discovers that the seemingly random changes are caused by the planets three suns, and that the planet is being randomly pulled into the gravity of the three suns. Wang Miao eventually discovers what Ye did, and she is arrested. They discover that the aliens possess a type of computer that could forever change humanity, and begin to prepare for the aliens to arrive on earth. Because this book is the first in a trilogy, the story continues in the next book and does not yet reach a conclusion. Analysis of Main Characters: Ye Wenjie: Ye Wenjie is the reason that Earth is now facing an alien invasion, but she had her reasons for contacting them.She grew up during the Chinese cultural revolution, a time period where anyone who held “opposing” views (like her father) could be killed. It was an extremely violent period, and extremely young children could be convinced to take part in the fighting. Wenjie’s younger sister, a high school student, was supportive of her father's murder and was killed in the fighting. Her mother, after witnessing her father’s death, loses her sanity. Many of her other friends also died. Having experienced some of the worst sides of humanity at such a young age left her angry and frustrated with humanity. By the time she reaches Red Coast, she can think of nothing other than finding these aliens and finding a solution to humanities issues, so much that she killed her close friends to keep the message a secret and seems very unbothered by her daughter’s death. Wang Miao: Wang Miao is suddenly thrown into the mystery of dead scientists and strange radio signals. After begrudgingly participating in the first few days, he becomes obsessed with solving this problem. Despite this, Wang Miao has lots of growth through the novel. He goes from caring very little about the state of the world and just trying to go about his job, to becoming key to defending earth from incoming aliens and attempting to save humanity. Theme: The main theme of this novel is to find a balance between doing things for yourself and doing things for the good of the world. Ye Wenjie can see only the future and humanity as a whole, and she dooms her descendants and the descendants of her fellow scientists to suffer while only thinking about the big picture. She doesn't care at all about a few lives if it means that her obsession of improving humanity is achieved. Wang Miao realises that he is too self centered and attempts to undo the mistakes of the past by assisting humanity. He attempts to help humanity while also bettering himself. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) The biggest ways that Cixin Liu’s life influenced his novel is through the setting of Ye Wenjie’s story. Cixin Liu was born in Yangquan, Shanxi, China, in 1963 during the cultural revolution and was eventually sent to live with his grandparents to escape the violence. His experiences during this time shaped the way that he portrays Ye Wengie's life and possibly, the way she thinks. Before he became a writer, Cixin Liu was an engineer, and worked in a similar type of job as Wang Miao. His background as an engineer is also what led him to write science fiction and to explore space and scientific ideas and research in his work. Works Cited: Works Cited Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, blogs.nature.com/futureconditional/2016/08/19/the-three-body-problem-and-beyond-a-qa-with-liu-cixin/. “Liu Cixin.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Jan. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Cixin. Liu, Cixin, and Ken Liu. The Three-Body Problem. Tor Books, 2014. By: Hannah O.
8 Comments
Alex Wagner
1/31/2019 09:45:59 am
I get that people can become so obsessed with something, that is essentially takes over their life. I wonder why Cixin Liu used aliens to demonstrate this?
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Hannah O'Connor
1/31/2019 02:12:48 pm
I think he chose aliens simply because of his background in science and that he has an interest for outer space and extraterrestrial life, and wanted to bring that into his writing. Many of his other books are also sci-fi and space phenomena related, such as Ball Lightning and The Era of Supernova.
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Jordyn Ingram
1/31/2019 09:52:26 am
How do you think the plot would have been different if Ye Wengie hadn’t contacted the aliens? Kind of a broad question, but do you think the story would’ve ended the same way? Or would the resolution have been prolonged?
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Hannah O'Connor
1/31/2019 02:24:05 pm
I think if Ye Wenjie hadn't managed to contact aliens, she would have taken out her anger and frustration with humanity in other (possibly more dangerous) ways. I think part of the reason that she chose to accept a deal with the aliens was because it would take them many years to get to Earth, and she would be unaffected.She was so extremely driven that I don't think that much would have been able to stop her either way. Without the aliens, the plot of the story would have to drastically change, since Wang Miao's portion of the story is basically him trying to fix Ye Wenjie's mistakes and figure out what she did, when the aliens will arrive, why scientists are dying, etc. I can't really answer about the resolution, since this book is the first in a trilogy and the story isn't over yet.
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rachel kirby
1/31/2019 10:02:46 am
what would happen if the aliens were not contacted
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Hannah O'Connor
1/31/2019 02:29:01 pm
If the aliens were not contacted, I think Ye Wenjie would have become more and more frustrated and upset with humanity until she lashed out, causing serious harm to herself and others. Depending on what Ye Wenjie did in the past and how impactful it was, Wang Miao's life in the present would either be completely normal ( as it was before he was asked to help with invading aliens) or drastically different. I don't think there would be any reason to include Wang Miao in the story without the aliens, as his portion entirely revolves around trying to fix the problems created by Ye Wenjie.
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Terrell Williams
1/31/2019 10:04:11 am
Whose side do you personally agree with more as both main characters are very different?
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Hannah O'Connor
1/31/2019 02:32:00 pm
I personally agree with Wang Miao more, simply because he puts much more thought into his actions and is more thoughtful to others. He originally doesn't want to help stop an alien invasion, but realizes he has to, because all of life on Earth is at stake. Ye Wenjie can only focus on herself and her own experiences, and creates even more problems while trying to fix her own.
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