Crichton: Using Literature, Using Masculinity

Latour writes, “To disbelieve or, so to speak, 'dis-buy' either a machine or a fact is to weaken its case, interrupt its spread, transform it into a dead end, reopen the black box, break it apart, and reallocate its components elsewhere” (29). This is one of the primary impacts of Crichton's novel—he is actively encouraging readngs to 'dis-buy' global warming. We've read about the importance of literature in this regard and Crichton 'martials' resources with ease—telling readers at the beginning of the novel that while it is a novel with fictional characters, corporations, institutions, and organizations but that “...references to real people, institutions, and organizations that are documented in the footnotes are accurate. Footnotes are real.” It's interesting that so much attention has been paid to Crichton's deployment of footnotes in this text because a huge part of the argument of the narrative is that even the most widely used sources may be biased or wrong. Crichton attempts to fix this, in my opinion, through his 'author's message' at the end of the novel, which closes with the statement, “Everybody has an agenda. Except me” (721). He also follows this with a section about why politicized science is dangerous, as though there can actually be a space outside of the political—I think that the Latour readings we have done regarding black boxes and the production of scientific knowledge illustrate that we don't really have a non-political space to operate in. Science-in-action is always political and saying otherwise does not change this fact.

Crichton's use of the character Peter Evans is remarkably deft and convincing in his anti-global warming construction because it provides us with someone that we would consider to be reasonable, well-educated, and successful. The point of Evans is to filter the information provided by characters like Kenner—he offers the rebuttals that I want to and is proven to be wrong again and again. Furthermore, Evans increasing unease with global warming parallels his transformation into less of a wuss and more of an action hero throughout the story. This is evident through Sarah's changing opinions of Evans. “She was disappointed with him and not even sure why. Probably, she thought, because she was nervous and wanted somebody competent to be with her. She liked being around Kenner. He was so knowledgeable, so skilled. He knew what was going on. He was quick to respond to any situation” (403). After many different people make attempts on Peter's life, he has a change of position--”If someone tried to kill you, you did not have the option of averting your eyes or changing the subject. You were forced to deal with that person's behavior. The experience was, in the end, a loss of certain illusions” (449). This change in his consciousness is matched by more responsiveness from women—notably Sarah, who “...noticed that Evan's voice had lost its boyish hesitancy. He was no longer protesting everything Kenner said. He sounded older somehow, more mature, more solid” (450). Folding the knowledge that Crichton is attempting to argue for, that “global warming is a hoax,” in the the character development and narrative structure in this way also makes it the right and proper path of a protagonist (which adds more force to his argument). It also constructs Peter Evans as a person who achieves a true Cartesian masculinity.