Literature
Isaac Asimov’s story titled the Last question, written and published in the period of 1956, displays a lot of literary styles and devices. The choice of words, the syntax rule is equally observed because a reader easily resonates with a sense or the theme that the author is trying to put forth. Drawing inspiration and guidance from the tile, the last question, I would have recommended that the beginning of the story would have articulated rhetoric; such as a rhetoric question. In the beginning sentence of the story, this reads in part “The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light.” I would have formed and written it in the form of a question, such as; wasn’t the last question first asked half in jest, On May 21, 2061 at a time when human first stepped into the light? This would be forceful as far as capturing the imagination and focus of the reader. Below is a creative fiction with a similar thematic and stylistic approach to the story, The Last Question, which would be inserted in the beginning parts of the original story.
“Over the years, has the human race not battled long enough with probing question as to the limits of theoretical science? Is it not enough that people have aspired, dreamt and not yet actualised their aspirations into material facts? These were some of the questions and issues that the two friends Adell and Lupov, who were long serving employees of Multivac were battling within their minds. Multivac is a company that specialises in scientific exploration so as to come up with answers and solutions which could help solving the planets questions in a wide variety of fields. It is important to note that some of the questions that Mulitvac as an institution helped to solve was the creation of and design of ships that human beings used to reach and access the outer space. The outer space in this case refers to numerous visits made through the help of Multivac to the Moon, Mars and Venus and beyond.
On this particular, these loyal attendants or servants of Multivac, Adell and Lupov were chilled out, perhaps to relax and conceptualise what had happened over the last period of years. This day, they sort refuge and solace in the underground chambers just to enjoy the quietness and the ambience of their company. They felt the need to relax with a bottle of beer, away from the bustles and the hustles of the day to day running of the industry. At the chamber, they marvelled and wondered how the dream and aspiration that had been held and looked forward to by the whole human race had materialised.”
In principle, a theme is defined as a general overview and overriding idea of a story or literary work (Perkins, 3). The above piece of art is a resemblance in terms of theme, and structure to the original work, The Last Question. In brief, the structure of the above fiction is similar to the original work because the beginning seeks to introduce the reader to the mystery that topic of science and its advancements have presented to the human race. It also seeks to explore the strength of the human intelligence by coming up with answers that affect the planet as a whole through the exploration of space.
Works cited
Perkins, David, ed. English stylistic writings Harcourt College Pub, 1967.
