Repent harlequin said the ticktockman questions. “'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman,”, Sample of Essays 2022-10-25
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"Repent Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman" is a science fiction short story written by Harlan Ellison in 1965. It tells the story of a society in which time is the most valuable commodity and people are punished for being late. The protagonist, known only as the "Harlequin," becomes a symbol of resistance against this oppressive system, encouraging people to value humanity over efficiency. Through the story, Ellison raises questions about the dangers of a society that values productivity above all else and the importance of individuality in a conformist society.
One of the main questions raised by "Repent Harlequin!" is the role of the individual in a society that values conformity and productivity. The story's society is highly regulated, with every aspect of people's lives, including their leisure activities, being carefully monitored and controlled. The Ticktockman, the person in charge of enforcing these rules, is depicted as a ruthless and efficient bureaucrat who punishes those who do not conform to the strict schedule.
The Harlequin, on the other hand, represents a challenge to this rigid system. He is an individual who resists conformity and values humanity over efficiency. He encourages others to do the same, leading a rebellion against the Ticktockman's rule. Through the Harlequin, Ellison raises the question of whether it is better to conform to societal norms or to stand up for one's own beliefs, even if it means going against the rules.
Another question raised by the story is the dangers of a society that values productivity above all else. The society in "Repent Harlequin!" is obsessed with efficiency and is willing to sacrifice the well-being of its citizens in order to maintain a high level of productivity. The Ticktockman is more concerned with enforcing strict schedules than with the happiness or well-being of the people. This raises the question of whether such a society is truly desirable, as it seems to prioritize productivity over humanity.
Overall, "Repent Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman" is a thought-provoking story that raises questions about the role of the individual in a conformist society and the dangers of valuing productivity above all else. It encourages readers to consider the importance of individuality and the value of humanity in a world that often prioritizes efficiency over people.
“Repent, Harlequin!” Said the Ticktockman Themes
And then she opened it, and it was for Marsh, and she was at one and the same time horrified and relieved. But the unasked question more important of the two was: how did we get into this position, where a laughing, irresponsible japer of jabberwocky and jive could disrupt our entire economic and cultural life with a hundred and fifty thousand dollars' worth of jelly beans. He passed away in June of 2018 at the age of 84. But they had all been waiting since seven, and it wrecked hell with their schedules. Let it be for Marsh, she thought, brutally, realistically, or one of the kids, but not for me, please dear God, not for me. But even they scurried to find out. You're always late, so why do you tell me these dumb things? In particular, this technology allows them to control the populace with lethal force, and to ensure the productivity of workers and the economy.
Even though it may take you a moment to figure out what is going on, give it a chance. You're always late, so why do you tell me these dumb things? And so it goes goes goes goes goes tick tock tick tock tick tock and one day we no longer let time serve us, we serve time and we are slaves of the schedule, worshippers of the sun's passing, bound into a life predicated on restrictions because the system will not function if we don't keep the schedule tight. I'm going to turn you off. And early the next day, when turn-off time came, he was deep in the forest two hundred miles away, and the office of the Ticktockman blanked his cardioplate, and Marshall Delahanty keeled over, running, and his heart stopped, and the blood dried up on its way to his brain, and he was dead that's all. He shrugged again, and went off to be late once more. .
''Repent, Harlequin!'' Said the Ticktockman Discussion Questions
Harlan Ellison was a prominent and prolific author and editor working in the genre of speculative fiction during the mid- to late twentieth century. But the unasked question more important of the two was: how did we get into this position, where a laughing, irresponsible japer of jabberwocky and jive could disrupt our entire economic and cultural life with a hundred and fifty thousand dollars' worth of jelly beans. Truly great men—often reformers or martyrs—follow their moral consciences even if that means resisting and becoming enemies of the state. At the end, one of the Ticktockman's subordinates tells the Ticktockman that he is three minutes behind schedule, a fact the Ticktockman scoffs at in disbelief. While the Harlequin has been vanquished, his effect is nevertheless felt in the ripples in time he has left behind. The Ticktockman: very much over six feet tall, often silent, a soft purring man when things went timewise. One light went out on his sector map in the office of the Master Timekeeper, while notification was entered for fax reproduction, and Georgette Delahanty's name was entered on the dole roles till she could re-marry.
Why let them tell you to hurry and scurry like ants or maggots? You don't call a man a hated name, not when that man, behind his mask, is capable of revoking the minutes, the hours, the days and nights, the years of your life. . One pedestrian skittered and tumbled, sending parcels everywhichway, another wet herself, a third keeled slantwise and the walk was stopped automatically by the servitors till she could be resuscitated. Must you always be out in that ghastly clown suit, running around annoying people? Miss Grant, but the time for interviews was set at 2:30, and it's almost five now. Then he swirled away on a vagrant breeze, and was gone. Even more dangerously, however, he is able to assume a specifically anonymous identity, which both gives him enormous symbolic power and puts him on a level with the only other anonymous actor, the Ticktockman.
An elfish grin spread across his tanned features, and his dimples appeared for a moment. Both in his own fiction, and in his role as an editor of anthologies such as Dangerous Visions, Ellison helped usher in a new era of speculative fiction writing. The last date is today's date — the date you are citing the material. So he was ordered to appear before the Ticktockman. In addition to including a chapter on Harlan Ellison, this collection of essays considers the larger subject of mechanical environments and science fiction responses to technology.
“Repent, Harlequin!” Said the Ticktockman Study Guide
Supercomputers are linked together to increase their power, and there is both widespread optimism about technology as well as unease with how technology will be used in the future. Those who become heroes and strive to save the world from destruction by the clock become enemies by the world because they are non-conformists. At the very top, at the very bottom. The Potsdam Conference effectively divided up Eastern Europe into spheres of influence. In 1945, the Second World War ended. By openly drawing attention to the mechanics of the storytelling process, Ellison tells an engaging story in a nontraditional manner and instructs the novice reader in how to negotiate its form and meaning. The Ticktockman not only has the symbolic power of his mask behind him, but he also has the entire apparatus of a technocratic police state at his disposal.
You'll have to wait till next year to submit application for this college again. The Harlequin in many ways resembles the anti-war protestors of the 1960s in his essentially peaceful yet naive confrontation with the raw power of the state. Ellison has been a leading proponent in the move to expand science fiction beyond its early taboos regarding sex and violence, as well as to expand its literary parameters. And the construction gang on the Shopping Center received an urgent order from the office of the Master Timekeeper that the dangerous criminal known as the Harlequin was atop their spire, and their aid was urgently needed in apprehending him. They will also recognize that Ellison has a larger purpose in this story, to warn his readers of the dangers inherent in contemporary industrial society. There was so much control over the people that they no longer did what they wanted to, or what they felt was right. And as he pulled the trough-pins, the air-boat slid over the factory workers and one hundred and fifty thousand dollars' worth Of jelly beans cascaded down on the expresstrip.
"Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman Analysis
She gasped, and held it as though it were a glass slide tinged with botulism, and prayed it was not for her. Then, scratching at his thatch of auburn hair, he shrugged within his motley, as though girding himself for what came next, and threw the joystick forward, and bent into the wind as the air-boat dropped. When he interjects the experience of Marshall Delahanty, he openly labels it a footnote, the point of which is to show what could happen to the Harlequin if his identity is discovered. This order, in turn, is inextricable from the class structures of the dystopian world that Ellison has created. But then, how many questions ever are? The Harlequin laughed and laughed, and apologized profusely. Miss Grant, but the time for interviews was set at 2:30, and it's almost five now.
