The Punishment of Luxury

The Punishment of Luxury

"The Punishment of Luxury" is a short story written by Michael Carson. It was published within the book "" (a collection of 26 short stories) in 1993.

This utopian, or rather dystopian story deals with the consequences of the inauguration of a "Dark Green" government which has introduced "the Punishment of Luxury" according to their radical beliefs about how the world should look like.

Plot summary

In the story a man is executed for driving a car in a futuristic London where environmental correctness has gone too far. The citizens suffer under the Dark Green totalitarian regime because the party prohibits alcohol, cars, tobacco and all other luxury goods that contribute to the pollution of the planet. People who do not follow the rules of the government are executed or brought to the "Dark Green Re-education Centre" in Mid- Wales where they have to dust the leaves of trees day after day, to clean out badger sets and even have to nurse cows.

The main character of the story, Arnold Watney, intrigues against the Dark Green government and puts up secret resistance against it by owning a car (which is called "Mabel the Morris Minor" and hidden under a sheet in his lounge at home), smoking cigarettes and drinking his home-brew beer.

While watching the execution of a car driver (Dr Stone), Watney realises how dangerous his violations of the Dark Green laws are. Therefore, he secretly dumps his beloved Morris Minor into a pond and confesses his drinking and smoking habits to the Dark Green Cell, who sends him to the Re-education Centre.

After three weeks of re-educational treatment, the Dark Greens are overthrown. Besides Watney, many other people have hidden their cars. However, it turns out that the news of the overthrow has only been a clever strategy of the Dark Green government to rouse cars from their hiding places. The owners of the cars have to bear the consequences of their disobedience and "up and down the country" people are killed by the government.

Analysis

The attitude which is presented by the short story is clearly dystopian: although there might have been a formerly honest and upright intention, namely to create a better world by avoiding everything which is unnatural and thus harmful to the environment, it is shown that everything which is driven into an extreme is negative. Another issue actualised in the short story is the appearance of the hidden side of the human nature when the controlling power vanishes.fact|date=September 2008

Every political or social group which forces other people to suppress their own human needs, even if they are luxuries, destroys an important part of humankind. And since human beings are a part of this nature, which shall be preserved in the story, a restriction of human behaviour can also be interpreted as a violation of nature. A reduction to a more thoughtful and ecological behaviour towards this world would be an agreeable aim, but in a moderate and respectful way, which grants nature and human beings the possibility to bloom.fact|date=September 2008

The origin of the title is probably the 1891 painting by Giovanni Segantini in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.fact|date=September 2008

See also

*""


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Punishment of Luxury — Punishment of Luxury, also known as Punilux was an independent band which existed in the late 1970s and early 1980s.From a background working in left wing English fringe theatre groups, Punishment Of Luxury were a four man post punk band formed… …   Wikipedia

  • Punishment of Luxury — Punishment of Luxury, auch bekannt als Punilux war eine Punkband, die zwischen den späten 70ern und den frühen 80ern existierte. Der Name stammt von einem Gemälde von Giovanni Segantini. Gegründet im Dezember 1976 im Nordosten von England… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • The Reformation —     The Reformation     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► The Reformation     The usual term for the religious movement which made its appearance in Western Europe in the sixteenth century, and which, while ostensibly aiming at an internal renewal of the …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • The Counter-Reformation —     The Counter Reformation     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► The Counter Reformation     The subject will be considered under the following heads:     I. Significance of the term II. Low ebb of Catholic fortunes III. St. Ignatius and the Jesuits,… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • The Emperor's New Clothes (2001 film) — Infobox Film name = The Emperor s New Clothes image size = caption = director = Alan Taylor producer = writer = Simon Leys (novel) Kevin Molony, Alan Taylor Herbie Wave (screenplay) narrator = starring = Ian Holm Iben Hjejle Tim McInnerny music …   Wikipedia

  • The City Heiress — is a play by Aphra Behn produced in 1682. The play conforms to the general rules of Restoration comedy, but it also keeps Behn s own highly Royalist political point of view. The play concerns the seditious knight Sir Timothy Treat all and his… …   Wikipedia

  • THE MIDDLE AGES — …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Characters in the Deltora Quest series — The Deltora series features a wide line of characters, both important and minor. The series also features many different monsters and creatures that appeared in all of the many different books. This article is a list of the many different… …   Wikipedia

  • The Sopranos — This article is about the television series. For the pilot episode of the series, see The Sopranos (episode). For the novel unrelated to the series, see The Sopranos (novel). The Sopranos Genre Drama …   Wikipedia

  • The Little Golden Calf — infobox Book | name = The Golden Calf title orig = ru. Золотой телёнок translator = image caption = author = Ilf and Petrov illustrator = cover artist = country = U.S.S.R. language = Russian series = genre = Satirical novel publisher = release… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”