Our world today has been broken down, mostly by destruction for others. War after war we fight, beauty is nonexistent, and hatred, evil, and destruction fill our souls. We can connect our daily lives with a short story by Ray Bradbury, The Smile, where destruction takes place. The Smile portrays a story of gruesome destruction, which is shown through art, specifically, the Mona Lisa, war, and broken down civilizations, which connects directly into our society and current events, such as the ongoing issues with Syria and North Korea, for example, they are breaking down their civilizations, likewise with The Smile.
The intro is confusing. What point does the story make about art? How does that connect to the Syria and North Korea situations? First, The Smile shows destruction through spitting on the art. This tells us that their society is filled with an abundance amount of hate and they only know destruction. For example, citizens in this society lineup to glance upon art, this is in their social norm. They believe they should hate the past and everything in the past. People in this civilization, spit on the painting, known as the Mona Lisa to show strong hate. The reasoning behind this is because,”.. it has to do with hate.
Hate for everything in the past” (Bradbury 69), likewise with current society, where we feel nothing, but hate for countries and races all because of past wars and conflicts. Therefore, destruction can easily be shown through art in the world today. For example, the Charlie Hebo comics were art, however, shortly after ISIS bombed their headquarters. Mostly, because of their art, which was considered racist. It shows how true art is really not appreciated amongst some. The spitting is their way of showing destruction and appreciation towards art. Therefore, their way of showing they appreciate something is shown through violence.
Nothing is beautiful in this society, because everything has been done and people are tired of the violence. Moreover, civilizations are not common in this futuristic society because in the past conflicts arose with many countries. Bombs went off and poverty came into play. Food was scarce, for example when buying berries, Kevin said “…. it sold a penny a cup to warm their stomachs; but not many were buying, not many had the wealth” (Bradbury 69), thus implying that because of all the destruction civilization could not function properly. In the beginning of the story, buildings are described as, “the ruined buildings” (Bradbury 69).
This indicates that buildings here were broken down and beat up, because of demolition and combat. This is connected to prevalent society, as in some parts of the world, like Syria, there is little to no civilization. This shows the theme of destruction, because this is how they solve their conflicts, through violence. Lastly, war is definitely the center of this story. The reasoning behind all of this, is because of war. They fought for too long and now they feel only hatred and desolation between one another. For example, Grigsby says, “Things were in a fearful mess there for a while.
All we got now is bits and pieces”(Bradbury 69). This insinuates that apprehensive events happened, such as war. The author suggests that, because of the struggle, all these sequences of events are occurring, for people to feel strong abhorrence towards each other. People are fighting, because they feel destruction towards each other, which causes them to hate the past. In conclusion, destruction in the past has only caused more destruction, just like hate causes hate. Lastly, in current society today, there are an abundance of current events that connect directly with the topic of destruction.
For example, the events that are going on in present day Syria. The group ISIS is taking over and a civil war has broken out, amongst three opponents. Bombs are going off and people are getting taken out of their home and killed daily. Likewise, with The Smile, where civilizations amounted to nearly nothing all because of war. Furthermore, the bomb threats of North Korea, indicate that this is a devilishly destructive society. In The Smile, it is suggested that people feel hatred and that it is the human way and the only way for humans to be in the social norm.
In conclusion, The Smile is similar to society in present day and people feel the same loathe. In conclusion, in The Smile, destruction is a popular theme, throughout the entirety of the story. The author develops destruction in several ways, for example, art, downgraded civilizations, and war, which varies directly with real society; the events of Syria and North Korea show this. Beauty is nonexistent and only destruction lives within this society. Just like most good science fiction, the events are true and reality to futuristic societies.
