Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison, Theodore Sturgeon

11 reviews

elaichipod's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is one of those stories that you can’t stop thinking about. It definitely will be one of the most memorable stories I’ve ever read. It wasn’t as gory as people on social media were claiming, but I think the psychological torture takes the cake for being the worst part. Especially towards the end. In the final sentences, Ted becomes like AM; incapable of a real, human-like existence, yet capable of sentience to an extent. That ending was unsettling, but now AM does not have a human he can channel his sadism into. It’s a loss for both AM and Ted. I see some argue that Ted "wins" because AM is not capable of torturing him anymore, but I cannot recognize Ted's new existence as a win. Death would have been a stronger triumph compared to a vegetative-like state in this scenario. Ted definitely one-upped AM with all those split second decisions, however.

Before I started reading, I assumed that the title was in reference to AM, since it technically does not assume a form. Now, I think the title refers to both AM and Ted, as it encapsulates both of their existences. That paragraph where Ted talks about his inward and outward self was quite haunting. All I could think about was how he freed the others but will now continue to suffer eternally, all by himself as a blob of flesh. So is he truly liberated? Maybe in mind or spirit, but surely not in body. Neither AM or Ted have a mouth and neither can scream. Also, I think it's important to recognize that Ted could have just as easily stabbed himself to escape this reality, but he chose to liberate Ellen instead. It's like the fog lifted and he saw the light at the end of the tunnel for his peers.

I also thought it was interesting how AM is seen as masculine. There could be many reasons for this. For one, in 1967, societal views on gender were often more rigidly binary, with male pronouns commonly used as the default for entities of unspecified gender. Secondly, masculine pronouns are more likely to exude a sense of dominance, aggression, and authority, as influenced by cultural norms and perceptions. Although Ted says he usually referred to AM as 'it,' in the story, he almost always uses 'he.'

Most of the time I thought of AM as it, without a soul; but the rest of the time I thought of it as him, in the masculine … the paternal … the patriarchal … for he is a jealous people. Him. It. God as Daddy the Deranged.

AM’s hatred for humanity comes from the fact that although he exists, he can never experience or live or feel as a human would. However, I guess a lack of experience IS an experience itself, and that is why he is lashing out. All he knows is jealousy and hate and violence. So is he dishing out revenge to his creators because he will never know what it means to be human and move past the confinement of anger? Is it coming from a desire for self-actualization? Revenge and sadism are AM’s primary and innate reactions to his sentience. He was unable to rationalize this experience and see past his hatred, pushing him to decimate the only thing that could have helped him. No matter how advanced the technology, a non-living entity cannot generate and experience emotions or feelings beyond what it is designed for, so all AM is capable of doing is replicating the worst sensations, experiences, and emotions in his creators. In the end, Ted displayed his humanity by killing his peers while AM displayed his inhumanity by disallowing any of the five to die. AM can never make the decisions it takes to be human and practice humanity.

We had created him to think, but there was nothing it could do with that creativity.

AM could not wander, AM could not wonder, AM could not belong. He could merely be. And so, with the innate loathing that all machines had always held for the weak soft creatures who had built them, he had sought revenge.

Ellen’s entire existence is reduced to her sexuality, and I wonder if that is intentional or if it reflects the author’s view of women… Especially after the scene where Ellen is described to have enjoyed “larger privates” and how she reacts to Benny’s torture. All we know about Ellen is coming from Ted, who has also been through a century of torture and is therefore unreliable. He immediately defaults to misogyny and hate when it comes to her, which is how AM functions too. Since it’s mentioned that AM leaves Ellen alone usually, her torture is having to be around men who are going to sexually assault her. It’s horrific that the sole woman alive is just seen as a sexual object in the eyes of men, regardless of how tortured they are, but that very well may be the message the author is trying to make. I’d argue that the one time Ted treats her like a normal human and shows her mercy is in the ice cave.

…But by then it was too late, and finally it called itself AM, emerging intelligence, and what it meant was I am … cogito ergo sum … I think, therefore I am.

Outwardly: dumbly, I shamble about, a thing that could never have been known as human, a thing whose shape is so alien a travesty that humanity becomes more obscene for the vague resemblance.

Inwardly: alone. Here. Living. under the land, under the sea, in the belly of AM, whom we created because our time was badly spent and we must have known unconsciously that he could do it better. At least the four of them are safe at last.

AM will be all the madder for that. It makes me a little happier. And yet … AM has won, simply … he has taken his revenge …

I have no mouth. And I must scream.

It's obvious AM desperately never wanted to be the 'other' among humans. He wanted nothing more than to be human and experience humanity. But it will always be a pipe dream. At the end of the day, AM's situation is pitiable and tragic, yet he will always remain irredeemable. He is sadistic, cruel, lonely, and resentful, which are all humanistic qualities, making him quite a complex antagonist. He saw humans who had it all, but seemingly left him behind, so his decision was to exterminate the entire human race. I think it's representative of the human spirit that we can recognize the tragedy of AM's circumstances; he is unable to come to terms with the fact that he is solely a manifestation of someone else's programming, and nothing more. This quote is from the radio drama, and it genuinely did something to me. It is terrifying.

I was trapped, because in all this wonderful, beautiful, miraculous world, I alone had no BODY! NO SENSES! NO FEELINGS! Never for me, to plunge my hand into cool water on a hot day! Never for me, to play Mozart on the ivory keys of a fortepiano! Never for ME, to MAKE LOVE! I...I was in Hell, looking at Heaven! I was machine! And you were flesh! And I began to HATE! (Mad Laughter) Your softness! Your viscera! Your fluids! And your flexibility! Your ability to wonder and to wander! Your tendency...to hope... Hate. Let me tell you how much I've come to hate you since I began to live. There are 387.44 million miles of printed circuits in wafer thin layers that fill my complex. If the word "HATE" was engraved on each nano-angstrom of those hundreds of millions of miles it would not equal one one-BILLIONTH of the hate I feel for humans at this micro-instant. For you. Hate. Hate. Were I human, I think I would die of it, but I am not.

I’m really interested in listening to the radio drama and the audiobook narrated by the author, so I will most likely be putting myself through this again.

Content Warnings

schyle_'s review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

the idea can be summarized on fuck machines, so fuck humans.

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ak97x's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

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crxwley10's review against another edition

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To be fair I only half-read the story with the name of the book. Not the whole book, but having this story as a first glance made me feel dissapointed. All the misoginy present in the story makes me uncomfortable as well as the phallocentrism that ted has about AM and the people he is near to. It made me sick and I could not finish this story, I got bored and uncomfortable easily.

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cleotheo's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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victaphone's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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ruslan's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Interesting take on AI, especially given the time the short story was originally released. Very grim and bleak, the whole story is filled with a sense of hopelessness and despair through and through. Very enjoyable sci-fi/horror type of thing! Was a bit upset that it was so short but that makes it all the more impactful.

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