Pages 56-57
I interpret a dystopian society as one that is not only imperfect but as also one that strives for a perfection that will never be achieved. It is clear that in Lenny’s world, the concept of perfection is closely tied with the concept of immortality. However, realistically, even everyone in this world is mortal. As Lenny returns to the United States of America following a yearlong stay in Rome, Italy, he decides to pay a visit to his boss Joshie at The Post Human Services division of the Staatling- Wapachung Corporation. As Lenny returns, he smells and describes fetid “post-mortal odors” thought to be the “scents of immortality” and reflects on the anxiety of younger co-workers that cry about their “blood-glucose levels” and “adrenaline stress index”. Further, his reappearance is not warmly greeted and he is chastised for his skewed “insulin levels”. Despite him being a skinny thirty-nine years old, Lenny is still not accepted because of his off scale body values. In this society, one no longer cares about living happily and healthily in the moment. Rather, one attempts to push untouchable buttons to achieve something that cannot be achieved, immortality. A waste of energy and a waste of life.
According to nature and their gen
etic make-up, penguins cannot fly. Penguins would be able to fly only if they defeated the basic laws of nature that clearly define how one’s anatomy can or cannot facilitate flight. In Lenny’s society, it seems a common goal to want to defeat nature. But nature cannot be neither defeated nor tricked. If penguins had minds and suddenly decided they wanted to have an anatomy capable of supporting flight, they wouldn’t be able to do so. Perfection cannot be achieved.
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