In a rapidly growing technological society, it is common to find ourselves integrating the newest fad into our lifestyles. In J.G. Ballard's dystopian science fiction society, living in a high rise is the latest craze. However, like many new inventions, it has flaws. Many of the residents are growing furious of inconveniences such as the lack of working elevators, electrical power, and clean water. Since the building is not subject to the same regulations as the outside world, there are many residents who are committing violent acts and vandalism to demonstrate their frustration. To survive in this hostile environment, the residents either decide to join the resistance or accept these living conditions. Ballard concentrates on three main resident …show more content…
Anthony Royal, Richard Wilder, and Robert Laing’s relationship is analogous to that of a zoo structure containing a zookeeper, a zoo-animal, and a zoo-visitor. Royal takes care of the birds “he brought them food”, he relates to the birds, thinking “their real motives for taking over the roof were close to his own”, and he “sketched many designs for a zoo, one of them – ironically – a high rise structure.” (99). These traits resemble that of a zookeeper. Wilder, as his name suggests is the wild vicious “animal” this was demonstrated when “[like] a large animal, pausing for breath, he followed the huge projections of himself cast upon the walls and ceiling, as if about to leap in the backs of his own shadows and ride them” (132). The former statement exemplifies Wilder’s relationship to a zoo animal. In most Laing centric chapters, he is “sitting on his apartment balcony” (13, 27, 116, 128, 202). When he leaves his balcony and adventures to the parking lot, he “[Looked] up at the endless tiers of the balconies, he felt uneasily like a visitor to a …show more content…
When Laing was first introduced at the beginning of the novel he exuded a passive and isolated nature. The first sign of passivity is shown in the opening line “Later, as he sat on the balcony eating the dog, Dr. Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months” (Ballard 13). This passage demonstrates Robert Laing’s because, he is eating a dog, which is already unusual to the reader, also, the dog was consumed on his balcony, meaning that Laing knew how to prepare the dog to be eaten. Additionally, he uses the word “unusual”, which is not a very strong word when it comes to describing situations that are out of the ordinary. There is also the fact that he is only “reflecting” upon the events that had occurred “during the past three months”. First off, reflecting suggests that he is not taking any actions. Secondly, during the past three months suggests that he took a long time to react to the abnormal events. The author does a flashback to three months before Laing eats the dog. Conditions did not seem too strange at first when a glass bottle landed on Laing’s balcony. They were less favorable when “an electrical failure had temporarily blacked out the 9th, 10th, and 11th floors” (27). They got more hostile when a masseuse was physically assaulted in an elevator. However, the first resident death marked a new level of