Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Under the Dome Ending
So at this point I'm going to assume that everyone has either finished the book or is prepared to smile and nod when the ending is talked about. What are your thoughts on the ending? I'm somewhat torn by it. On one hand it seems like a bit of a cop out where King has this good idea of a dome that traps everyone and then he focuses on the interactions of the people trapped and gets to the end and just kind of throws something together. On the other hand I can see "leatherheads" as being almost like scientists that are studying what sort of shenanigans people would get themselves into if they believed they were cut off from the world and in a hopeless situation. This explanation makes it a better read for me and makes it easier for me to look at the book as not only a great story but also a commentary on the lengths some people (Big Jim) will go for power over others.
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3 comments:
Well, my only real complaint is that if you are going to make an attempt to explain something that is sci-fi you need to go all the way or none of the way. All the way being explaining (to the best of your abilities) everything about the object. Or none of the way being "its just so advanced, we can't comprehend it".
My biggest deal with the dome is, how does it make such a difference on temperature. It obviously lets air and water through. So it is more permeable than glass. Yet heat isn't absorbed away from the dome. What happens when you stick some coffee in a cup, even with a lid? It gets cold, down to room temp. And thats without being permeable to the outside world, just due to heat being let out. Thus, I don't understand with something that is permeable to molecules but not to heat.
Because I'm currently suffering through the Hell that is physical chemistry, I just thought I'd make this little tie-in. If you look at the Dome as a calorimeter (i.e. a coffee cup) and assume the boundary is adiabatic (no heat transfers) but is permeable. It may not be very likely, but neither is the sudden presense of a giant Dome that follows the town limits. In small reactions, we can achieve this scenario so I guess the Dome is just a giant chemistry experiment in a way, at least that's how I'm going to think about it.
I am actually going to disagree with you, Ken. The addition of Science Fiction elements does not need to be an all or nothing venture. In fact I would argue that one of the most popular "Scifi" properties is exactly such a blend. I am, of course, talking about Star Wars. It is more Science Fantasy than pure Science Fiction like Star Trek.
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