Concept of Futurology

One reason that Berry's article is effective is because it shifts tone at least twice. He begins in a serious tone, straightforwardly presenting his basic theme and argument. He says the futurologist is trying to do something which cannot be done---predict the future. He asks what inspires the futurologist, and then suggests a number of answers. In giving those answers, he shifts to an ironic, drily sarcastic tone, so that the reader feels that perhaps he simply wants to entertain. For example, he writes that the universities have had to invent futurology because they have been turning out too many Ph.D.'s for the available job openings. He adds that futurology is attractive to futurologists because they can pipedream and never be called on their fantasizing:

If you build [a castle in the air] in the future, which does not exist, you can call it a "logical proj

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the materials and lives of this world, from the mutual dependence of creatures upon one another, from fellow feeling (Berry 180). The problem, of course, is that the hideous future the futurologists were predicting when Berry wrote this essay is now certainly coming to pass. His dream of communal farmers is idealistic in an era when small farms are going bankrupt every day, swallowed by agricultural combines. Bibliography Berry, Wendell. "Looking Ahead." 176-182. These four stories all have to do with immigrant experiences in the United States. The experiences are similar in that the clash of cultures which takes place in the consciousness of the main character in each story leads to an awakening on that character's part. In three of the four stories, this awakening can generally be seen as positive, while in one story (Sui Sin Far's "In the Land of the Free") the awakening is horribly painful and negative, at least at the point where the story ends. Taking the last story first, we find in Far's tale the emotional, psychological and spiritual brutalization of a young mother whose baby is taken from her by the immigration service of the United States. She is told that the baby will be returned to her the next day, but
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Approximate Word count = 1653
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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