Muse

In Muse by Dean R. Koontz, we as readers get a glimpse of the world in the distant future. Not only do we see the world from the outside looking in, but also on the inside looking out. In this reading, I not only saw examples of extrapolation in the world (the space travel through the galaxy and to new and undiscovered planets), but also the concept of xenophobia.

In the reading, the author writes a first person point of view of a man returning from his travels to a home that does not accept him, or his outside influences that he has picked up along the way. His father, and even some of his family’s friends are reluctant to embrace his new life, and kill his slug, “Icky”, and further ruining the life and talent of his son.

This story reminds me of a drug or alcohol addiction in our world today. Like Icky, it is a substance used by a human to form a sense of self or an out-of-body experience. People feel creativity while under influence of these substances, and the outside sees it as the bad that it is. People tend to feel more creative and  high while using it, but when they don’t have it, they fell somewhat lost. The difference between this story and today’s world of drugs and alcohol is that Leo had a symbiotic relationship with this creature that gave him confidence, it didn’t wear him down. It was a sort of a parasitic friendship that was more giving than receiving to one another. Leo gave Icky life, while Icky gave Leo talent, confidence, and the personality that he formed during his travels and the rise of his fame.

In the end, xenophobia was very real in this story because of the way people took in the creature. People seemed to feel flustered in the story, and suddenly thought different of Leo just because of Icky. Even his father thought differently about his son at the thought that this ‘thing’ is taking his son away. Leo was practically disowned by his father because of a relationship with something new and strange. I think that whether his father was right or wrong to kill Icky is up to the reader but honestly, it’s irrelevant. We as people tend to think of ourselves as superior, and reading stories like this just shows us our own arrogance with the unusual, and our own instinct of violence in a case of extreme fear.