Alright…I’m late!!
I have to admit, I am a little upset we will not be reading anymore of Stephenson this semester. This was my favorite book that we read ths entire semester. Stephenson is an author after my own heart. I don’t know what it was exactly, but the combination of historical precedence and bleak worldview made this a very interesting read. More than that, the novel had so many elements that we discussed in relation to the overall theme of our class.
Since we didn’t discuss the Drummers all too much I thought maybe I should explore them a little bit more. The Drummers were obviously one of the most interesting entities in the story. While both the Victorians and the Confucians were relatively strange phyles, the Drummers were definitely the most jarring of all. They represent a pure bestial nature. They do not have the “civility” of the other phyles, but they contribute the most to the world at large. The only thing that comes out of the Victorian and Confucian phyles is war. The Drummers are working toward creating a liberating Seed that will equalize the world’s playing field. Will this be disasterous? Very possibly. Despite this, there is something upsetting about the Drummers.
These people are mindless and purely instinctual. It seems wrong that they should be the great creators. This gets even more confusing when you factor in Nell. She is also a great liberator like the Drummers; and in the end, she is able to overcome this group with her own technological achievements. Is the message that collective thinking is beneficial as long as we do not lose our own identities in it? Or is it that one unique mind is greater than the sum of lesser collectivised ones? I am not really sure. I think Stephenson falls probably in the middle of these two thoughts. The Mouse army is very important, and so are the Drummers. I do not think Stephenson would want to throw these groups out the window. There is a symbiotic relationship between the hive mind and the individual. They require one another to move forward.
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