Escape Artists
PodCastle => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Talia on March 15, 2011, 02:34:38 PM
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PodCastle 148: State Change (http://podcastle.org/2011/03/15/podcastle-148-state-change)
by Ken Liu (http://kenliu.name).
Narrated by Heather Welliver (http://heatherwelliver.com).
Originally appeared in Polyphony 4.
When Rina’s soul finally materialized, the nurse in charge of watching the afterbirth almost missed it. All of a sudden, there, in the stainless steel pan, was an ice cube, the sort you would find clinking around in glasses at cocktail parties. A pool of water was already forming around it. The edges of the ice cube were becoming rounded, indistinct.
An emergency refrigeration unit was rushed in, and the ice cube was packed away.
“I’m sorry,” the doctor said to Rina’s mother, who looked into the serene face of her baby daughter. No matter how careful they were, how long could they keep the ice cube from melting? It wasn’t as if they could just keep it in a freezer somewhere and forget about it. The soul had to be pretty close to the body; otherwise the body would die.
Nobody in the room said anything. The air around the baby was awkward, still, silent. Words froze in their throats.
Rated PG.
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I really like the world that this story created, even if it seemed to take awhile for the tale itself to get where it is going. There is one thing I was unclear on though; so the soul just appears in the afterbirth? That's what it seemed like when Rina's birth was described. If this is so, then how can Joan of Arc's soul have been from a specific tree? Was this just artistic license on the part of the speaker because it was the same type of wood?
This got me thinking about what my soul would be if it were suddenly to materialize, and the answer I've come to is a cactus. This admittedly doesn't really leave room for a state change, but it still seems appropriate to me.
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I felt the same way about this story: liked it, wondered about the beech tree... but I would have liked a different title. I had figured out the "surprise" ending minutes into the story. Still, a nice story and lovely reading.
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I really enjoyed this story. I love tales that show us that no matter how much things change, the human experience stays basically the same. None of us really know how long we have. None of us really know how much the things we want will cost. We all make our way through life, learning more about ourselves and those around us every moment. I was also particularly struck by the main character's story. I didn't see it coming - I thought there was a chance that the author might kill her. It's only fair, after all. Her self-discovery was beautiful.
I think my soul might be a pencil, or maybe a potted plant.
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Interesting story. It seemed to take me a very long time to figure out the details of the premise. At first, I thought that she was resurrected from the dead as a baby and the ice cube was a byproduct of the resurrection. It took me quite a while to realize that EVERYONE here is born with a phylactery, and that those phylacteries are NOT all ice cubes. But I think that was just me being dense, after I realized this then I remembered the candle from the beginning.
The ending didn't come as a huge surprise, but that's because the process of melting isn't inherently destructive (except in certain cases like an ice sculpture where the specific form is of importance). It's not like burning a cigarette, which converts the paper and tobacco into something which is not paper and tobacco and cannot easily be converted into paper and tobacco.
A good story with an interesting metaphor and an interesting metaphor, even though the ending wasn't a surprise it worked well enough for me anyway.
The only thing that I would've liked to see in the story is to see what happens if someone's soul is destroyed. The only two opportunities for a soul to apparently be destroyed ended with the person not dying, so it made me wonder if the soul connection is just a superstition. I mean, clearly the appearance of an object at the moment of every person's birth is a provable fact and is certainly of some importance, but to me that doesn't imply that destruction of this object will destroy the person as well.
Edit: Wait, did the candle-person die from burning her candle? I kind of lost track of what happened to her. If she died from burning her candle at both ends then I guess my suggestion of having a person die from it was already taken into account. To me that happened when I was still confused about the premise, so reinforcing that later might have helped my dense unlearning brain.
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I definitely enjoyed this story. It opens up a VERY interesting world and provokes all kinds of thought experiments. The question I found myself asking, however, had to do with some of the other souls mentioned - particularly T.S. Eliot's coffee.
It would seem that an artist capable of such depth should be considered to have fully matured. But it also seems that one of the rules of the world is that real maturity is only possible after a state change of your soul. It was implied that Eliot died when his coffee was all drunk - no state change was possible. So why do some people get one, and others don't?
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It was implied that Eliot died when his coffee was all drunk - no state change was possible. So why do some people get one, and others don't?
The bit about Eliot's coffee made me curious too, because like the ice to water or pack of cigarettes to empty box, ground coffee doesn't cease to be when you run hot water through it, it just changes from ground coffee to coffee grounds. Used up, sure, but not useless, and certainly not destroyed. Wouldn't this be a form of state change too?
I sort of got the implication that you only die when the embodiment of your soul is destroyed, but what if your soul was something incredibly durable, like a titanium bar or something? Would Joan of Arc survived being burnt if someone witnessing it just held on to her branch for her?
This would make warfare more difficult; you'd have to find and aim for an enemy's soul instead of, say, their head or heart. Genocide could be accomplished simply by stealing the target group's souls instead of shooting or gassing them. At the very least atheism would have to be practically non-existent since proof of the existence of your soul would be right there in your pocket/purse/freezer (hence the reference to the Common Book of Prayer, or at least that's how I interpreted it).
The changes this would have on the world would be a lot more immense than what we see in this story. That's not a criticism, as trying to go into detail about the world at large would probably have derailed the story. Giving us glimpses via excerpts of biographies felt a lot more natural than a plain infodump would have.
One last thing that I wondered about; is anyone ever born without a physical soul? How does/would society handle them?
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The story was pretty straightforward to me. It also seemed clear that losing or expending your soul wasn't the only way you could die, just a quick and easy way to end up dead. So, if your soul was a titanium bar you'd still die if someone shot you through the head.
As far as taking away people's souls as a method of genocide... that might work, but really, there are easier ways to kill people en masse than going through their pockets and taking away objects that might or might not be what you're looking for. You wouldn't want to take someone's prize pocketwatch only to discover that his soul was actually just the pebble he hid in his butt or something. You save time and energy by shooting him.
As for why some people get second chances and state changes and others don't... I dunno. Why do some people get a second chance at life and others don't? Why do some people reinvent and rediscover themselves while others fade away? It wasn't explained, but then, a lot of life isn't explained either.
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Really enjoyed this one. It seemed like an expanded and more interesting version of those "If you were an animal, what would you be?" kind of questions. In this case "If your soul were an object, what would it be?"
It's a neat conceit and a fantastic was of cutting right to the quick of each character. I especially liked how the unusual hook - the multiple refrigerators - pulled you in and then paid off satisfyingly.
Was anyone else getting echoes of "The Golden Compass" here and the "soul external to the body" idea?
My only criticism is with the title of "State Change"- it gave away too much. Once I registered that the woman's soul was the ice cube (maybe 1/4 of the way through) I had a pretty good idea of how it was all going to end.
-Adam
Oh, and I'd be a fountain pen-stylish, a bit snobby, and at turns smooth, creative and completely messy.
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I have mixed feelings about this one
Good : I thought it was a very interesting soul system, i wasnt quite sure if soul object affected the personality, or if it was more of a Astrology thing, and the concept that your soul object could be very fragile or maybe dangerous was another interesting part.
Bad : The ending with the ice cube melting seemed a bit too "magical" for me, the story was set in a modern society so it seems odd that nobody would know that a melting ice cube didnt mean the soul was gone, if everyone has a soul object then surely it will have happened before that the object was destroyed like that.
2. I really hated the theme, i understood the ending as 'live a little, even if that means committing suicide'
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Was anyone else getting echoes of "The Golden Compass" here and the "soul external to the body" idea?
Yes, very much so. (In a good way.)
I would have liked a different title. I had figured out the "surprise" ending minutes into the story. Still, a nice story and lovely reading.
I rarely remember titles when I'm listening to the story, or I probably would have had the same experience.
It occurs to me that maybe the choice of title was deliberate: that we were meant to know (well, guess) that Rina wouldn't die when her soul melted and that the uncertainty for us was whether or not she would work that out or spend the rest of her life giving everyone the cold shoulder.
Now I'm wondering what would happen if she boiled her soul (assuming she could do it in such a way as to retain it). Would it matter if non-soul water already in the air mixed with it? Could that even happen, or is it, perhaps, not really water but some soul-y manifestation that imitates all its properties?
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Now I'm wondering what would happen if she boiled her soul (assuming she could do it in such a way as to retain it). Would it matter if non-soul water already in the air mixed with it? Could that even happen, or is it, perhaps, not really water but some soul-y manifestation that imitates all its properties?
Interesting question! I think that boiling it would kill her, not because the water is destroyed but because it is dispersed. Same as if she sloshed the water all over the office, I'd think it would need to stay together.
What if she is left somewhere dying of dehydration--should she drink the water? If she did drink it, would she die? If she didn't die, would her urine or sweat contain her soul after her body processed the water? She thinks the ice cube was a pain in the butt--it would be pretty embarrassing to have to carry around a cup of pee all the time.
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She thinks the ice cube was a pain in the butt--it would be pretty embarrassing to have to carry around a cup of pee all the time.
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Hahaha! That would make for some pretty awkward dinner party conversation...
Come to think of it, I think a jar of pee would be Howard Hughes' soul in this universe. ;D
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What if she is left somewhere dying of dehydration--should she drink the water? If she did drink it, would she die? If she didn't die, would her urine or sweat contain her soul after her body processed the water? She thinks the ice cube was a pain in the butt--it would be pretty embarrassing to have to carry around a cup of pee all the time.
Or what if the soul was something really embarrassing from the start. or too heavy to carry around. It also seems like some people got living souls (branch) and some have non-living souls. You'd think that a whole soul-based class system would be in place.
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I was reminded first of Philip Pullman's Subtle Knife trilogy, another venue with souls palpably externalized, although there, the flexibility was high when you were young, and settled to match 'you' at some point in your young life. That kept well with the world-view of young folks viewing adulthood as an end-point reached by age twenty or so. State Change makes a very nice complementary statement about the different life perspectives looking backwards, where you watch your younger self dodging and contorting to avoid the maze of important things on a pell-mell dash to what we were fixated on at that moment.
The misdirection toward a focus on souls as something consumed by living worked well with cigarettes, salt, coffee, water, but still let the change of perspective be as believable as, say, how a teen perspective of love as some rare prize to be schemed for and clung to, can change to that of an experienced parent who can see it as a well that only runs dry if you stop giving it away by the bucket-full. Also nicely managed was the thread that souls aren't (or shouldn't be) isolated, insulated, discrete things. They mix, they contain, they influence nearby people, and their state matters. As the urban legend story goes, about using the bird cannon to test aircraft windshields "Thaw the Chicken First"
Now to look about and see what always-nearby thing I've been lurking in. The collection of lava lamps looks promising....
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Excellent, excellent story.
@Rain - The ending isn't so much "Live dangerously" so much as "Sometimes things aren't what they seem. Even you don't know you as well as you might think." Amy discovered the truth about her soul after living dangerously, but it wasn't because she lived dangerously that she learned the truth; living dangerously, in fact, had blinded her to the truth, letting her think that she had to burn bright and disappear in a breath when she didn't have to if she didn't want to. In the same way, Rina learned that her frozen state was a choice rather than a limitation because she found something she desired enough to risk herself to obtain. You find things out by trying things, is more the tone the ending sets; it advises taking risks not because suicide is life, but because you only learn new things if you try new things.
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I loved this story. The passages from biographies were beautiful and they did a wonderful job fleshing out both the world and Rina’s character. Knowing what she read and who she read about really gave me a sense for who she was.
Was anyone else getting echoes of "The Golden Compass" here and the "soul external to the body" idea?
I totally missed this as I was listening to the story (though I love Pulman’s work).
I was reminded first of Philip Pullman's Subtle Knife trilogy, another venue with souls palpably externalized, although there, the flexibility was high when you were young, and settled to match 'you' at some point in your young life. That kept well with the world-view of young folks viewing adulthood as an end-point reached by age twenty or so. State Change makes a very nice complementary statement about the different life perspectives looking backwards, where you watch your younger self dodging and contorting to avoid the maze of important things on a pell-mell dash to what we were fixated on at that moment.
I think this is a very insightful observation. I really enjoy how it brings home the idea that we think we know exactly who we are when we are young and often find out as we grow up that we were both very right and very wrong at the same time. I also love how this brings into focus the way our expectations for ourselves and the expectations of others changes who we are.
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This one really caught me up in the story and did a good job of conveying the tension surrounding trying to keep the ice cube from melting. Also, I never really pay attention to the name of the story so for me the payoff at the end was great.
I loved how it raised all sorts of existential questions about who we are; in the story we are able to observe how each person is shaped by their perception/understanding of the physical embodiment of their soul. At first glance this seems to be very different from our own world, but really, our soul shapes each of us individually and it's just a lot harder to observe when we aren't physically carrying it around in our pocket.
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As it did for others, the story title left me anticipating the ending, but I was pleased when the state change turned out to be a matter of choice. The way Rina kept checking those freezers, I was convinced there WAS going to be a power failure and this would turn into a Pseudopod story. Instead, happy endings all around!
I enjoyed each celebrity biography in turn and was especially tickled by Eliot's coffee. The charismatic guy in the office kept me guessing - what could his soul be? - so the reveal at the end was extra satisfying.
Also, to join the discussion on what my soul would be... probably a rock. I have a great collection in a bowl on my desk and I pick through them when I have writer's block.
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I think the metaphor is most interesting when you consider how well it encapsulates the idea that we are shaped by our innate natures, and yet we can also shape them right back. A pack of cigarettes can be smoked and then turned into a house for a hermit crab. A block of Styrofoam could be carved into a sculpture of a tiger, or maybe a doorstop. We are what we are, but we are also what we choose.
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I had a really difficult time following this one, at first. The segue from the book on the frig to the actual story in the book confused me, mainly, i think, because of the mention of the photo of Rina and her roommate so close in proximity to the story of the book: the two similar enough to make me think it was a flashback rather than the content of the book (actually, i went back and forth several times: first thinking it was the book, then i thinking it was a flashback). I don't think i'm the only one who had this problem, as several people got in mind that you stay alive as long as your soul is intact, when, actually, there was nothing in the story to indicate this. I think that notion (for me, at least) came from my confusion where i thought Rina was long-lived because the part mistaken as a flashback was obviously decades earlier, so for a while there it made me think they lived for as long as their soul was intact.
ANYway.
So while the ice cube was no surprise to me, the cigarette box was. For me, that was the most beautiful part of the story. I ended up liking this story, but i thought it could have been much shorter and retained its depth. It thought it was very creative, even if it did put me in mind of Pulman's soul concept. I really loved the author's interpretation of how the historical characters's souls were embodied.
And, as usual, great insight, SC! I really enjoy reading your critiques!
Oh, and as to the question of her soul becoming steam—the story states that you have to keep your soul close in order to survive. As steam, her soul would have been difficult to contain and keep constantly near. =)
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I totally saw where this was going, but I so rarely predict the end of stories that it didn't bother me at all. I loved both the basic idea and the execution; it was all very elegant.
My soul would probably be a tube of lip balm.
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This was really neat! I liked the story a lot, but especially the storytelling. I usually know where a story is going, but this had me fooled till the last moment. Then I thought, Wait! it's still there, it's just water! haha
Anyway, great story!
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And, as usual, great insight, SC! I really enjoy reading your critiques!
Well, I'm glad somebody gets some use out of them, anyway. I tend to assume a different response (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Smge23DCE8#t=1m26s). Doesn't stop me from carrying on, mind you.
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Yeah the first transition to the book section threw me for a loop, and it took a while to figure out what was going on. I kind of tuned the book segments out. Did anyone pick up on what they contributed to the story?
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Yeah the first transition to the book section threw me for a loop, and it took a while to figure out what was going on.
Seconded.
I kind of tuned the book segments out. Did anyone pick up on what they contributed to the story?
A. How literature changed when everyone's soul is outside the body -- the candle, the coffee, the beech branch, the pebble.
B. Calling back to it in the final scenes, when Rina reflected upon what would happen to her soul in the same way as the candle, the coffee, etc.
My interpretation anyway.
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So while the ice cube was no surprise to me, the cigarette box was. For me, that was the most beautiful part of the story. I ended up liking this story, but i thought it could have been much shorter and retained its depth. It thought it was very creative, even if it did put me in mind of Pulman's soul concept. I really loved the author's interpretation of how the historical characters's souls were embodied.
I must add that, yes, the cigarette pack did come as a surprise to me, too, regardless of the title, even though the ice/water didn't. That was one of the more profound moments for me.
-Adam
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To begin with, this one left me really cold. However as it progressed, I warmed to it.
(HAHA SEE WHAT I DID THERE?)
yeesh.
Anyways, I did enjoy this one in the end. I didn't see the ice/water thing coming -- nor the cigarette box for that matter -- but I ended up really liking the metaphor of a physical soul. Nicely done.
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To begin with, this one left me really cold. However as it progressed, I warmed to it.
(HAHA SEE WHAT I DID THERE?)
yeesh.
Anyways, I did enjoy this one in the end. I didn't see the ice/water thing coming -- nor the cigarette box for that matter -- but I ended up really liking the metaphor of a physical soul. Nicely done.
"Everyone must 'See what you did there.'"
Heh... Norm.
-Adam
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I liked this story.
The bit about the candle really stuck with me. Imagine being able to light up your creativity and and be brilliant. I'd love to be able to switch on inspiration like that.
The story itself was really interesting. I liked how the soul reflected the characters of the person and really got me thinking about what my soul would be. I was almost willing the MC to just throw caution to the wind and live a little. I hated the idea that she was being confined to scratch her way through life, always protecting that little ice cube. I wanted her to try to life despite that, rather than living for it. In the end she did that and I was really happy that it worked for her. I didn't see it coming, but I though it really worked well. The bit about the cigarette box was also really interesting. I know a fair few people who could do with smoking that last cigarette and growing up a bit.
I thought the salt was a little odd. I mean, sure, salt livens things up, but too much of it tastes horrible. Salt on it's own isn't that great. I thought salt's dependence on others to be bearable could have been explored a little better in the character of the guy with the salt soul.
The bits that looked at historical figures and their souls was really interesting. I started thinking about what other historical figure's souls would be. Hitler for example? Or Alexander the Great? How about contemporary figures, like Obama or Cameron. What about friends of mine, what about me? (on a side note, this feels a bit like the way people were trying to work out what their totem would be, if they were in the film Inception)
I'm not sure what my soul would be. Self-evaluation is really hard. There's so much that I love and so many different things that represent different parts of my life that I'm not sure how that would all be represented in one thing. Maybe that fact in itself should be represented by something. What symbolically represents a Jack of all Trades?
Actually the whole 'soul at birth' thing got me thinking about the implications for free will and determinism and nature vs nurture. If who we are is represented by an object at birth, is literally everything about us written in our DNA, or written in a future over which we have no influence. I guess idea of a State Change means that we can influence who we are, but that only seemed to apply for certain people - can a pebble really change state in the same way as water? Does that mean that some people have more free will than others? Does that make people with changeable souls more human that those with fixed ones.
In fact the example of Cicero using the pebble to overcome his weaknesses actually implies that our soul can come to represent whatever we want it to. How we use our cigarettes, what we do with out ice cube, how we take out coffee, effects who we are. The object in itself is not as important as what we do with it. Our soul defines us, but we define our soul by our actions.
This story really was food for thought. I think it's going to stay with me for a very long time.
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A. How literature changed when everyone's soul is outside the body -- the candle, the coffee, the beech branch, the pebble.
B. Calling back to it in the final scenes, when Rina reflected upon what would happen to her soul in the same way as the candle, the coffee, etc.
My interpretation anyway.
I think those are both true. Also, it gave a better idea for the variety that people's souls can take and how they can match their owner's personality.
I thought the salt was a little odd. I mean, sure, salt livens things up, but too much of it tastes horrible. Salt on it's own isn't that great. I thought salt's dependence on others to be bearable could have been explored a little better in the character of the guy with the salt soul.
Also, doesn't salt raise blood pressure if taken in too large a quantity? Anyone who marries him is asking for an early death. Water, on the other hand, has to be taken in much, much, larger quantities, and over shorter periods of time, to be dangerous.
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Actually the whole 'soul at birth' thing got me thinking about the implications for free will and determinism and nature vs nurture. If who we are is represented by an object at birth, is literally everything about us written in our DNA, or written in a future over which we have no influence. I guess idea of a State Change means that we can influence who we are, but that only seemed to apply for certain people - can a pebble really change state in the same way as water? Does that mean that some people have more free will than others? Does that make people with changeable souls more human that those with fixed ones.
In fact the example of Cicero using the pebble to overcome his weaknesses actually implies that our soul can come to represent whatever we want it to. How we use our cigarettes, what we do with out ice cube, how we take out coffee, effects who we are. The object in itself is not as important as what we do with it. Our soul defines us, but we define our soul by our actions.
I started going there with those thoughts, too. Maybe a "Our lives is what we choose to make of it. Some people may have some innate gift that makes it easier for them, but it doesn't mean they can do it better."
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Oh wow! I totally missed the title until the end. This totally blew me away.
The concept of some people needing to change state or view their lives differently in order to grow is just amazing.
Bravo!
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As a Latin student, I enjoyed the bits about Cicero and Catullus (Though the "Church Latin" pronunciations made me cringe a bit). I think that the soul metaphor would be incomplete without speculation on the souls of historical figures. I wonder what Jane Austen's soul would be? Maybe an inkwell... That would be good fit in the state change theme. >^v^< It's fun to speculate!
My soul might be a glowstick or an emergency flare XD
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Apparently, the author has never heard of sublimation. :P
Anyway, I liked this story, and the idea of inanimate objects as our souls, and I imagine that, as when Rina mentioned pre-refrigeration, there are some babies born with very ephemeral souls that just don't live very long.
I have no idea what my soul would be in that universe. Possibly a meeple. (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/7848/definition-of-a-meeple)
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@allie The Church Latin pronunciation is for the philistines who would have no idea who the story was on about if the narrator had used Classical Latin pronunciation. Even as an ancient historian, I'd have been slightly confused for a moment.
I do agree that the stuff about Cicero and Catullus was awesome. It would have been nice to have had Aristotle or Plato or some other Greek person thrown in as well, for a bit of classical balance
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I'm coming late to this one - though I listened to it over a week ago, I've just been too busy to post much recently. But even though I don't really have much of substance to add to the conversation here, I just wanted to say that I, too, really loved this one. Great concept, great execution, not much else to say.
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Coming late to this one to, but ohhh, I love this story! I fell in love with the literature bits. That first one, with the letter and the poet burning her candle at both ends, and her ex-lover throwing it back in her face...OUCH!
I sort of figured what would happen with the ice cube, but still it was a joy to listen to. And what I really enjoy is how everyone here is reflecting on what their own soul would look like. I would say mine would probably be Jasmine tea. The best thing about that would be it can be brewed, then sprinkled on the compost heap for fertilizer for yummy veggies...
And writing that does make me wonder. If a soul can change states, can it change forms? If I was to sprinkle my hypothetical spent tea on the compost and it becomes fertilizer, will I be able to scoop up the dirt and carry that around? If I use it to grow veggies, would my soul be in that? I eat the veggies but save the seeds, would my soul be in that?
Hmmm....
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I have to second the majority here with a hearty: "Well done!" An ever-so enjoyable tale! I liked the inclusion of historical figures. A bit difficult to really speculate as to what everyones' soul would be. Hemingway? A bullet? A fish?
It is nice to look back and see that the things we strived for with single-minded purpose and a knowledge of the "rightness" of our quest can be swept away and exposed by a singular circumstance that alters our perspective on our needs and purpose for all time. Evolution, reinvention, risk- parts of life and obligatory parts of a good story. Well done, indeed.
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I've undergone four state-changes in my life so far. The first, California to Washington, was forced on me when I was a minor. Since then I've also changed from Washington back to California after high school, then back to Washington in 1998, and Washington to Oregon with my wife about five years ago.
:P :P :P :P
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This was a nice story, but I spent too much time wandering during book segments and transitions thinking about refrigeration backup systems. An empty refrigerator is not very good at maintaining a constant temperature. Every time you open the door on an empty fridge, all the cold air pours out along the floor, and the interior temperature is raised significantly. Even if she did nothing but have buckets of water in the fridges, that water would hold onto the cold better while the door was open. Also, a stand freezer with a lid on top would be more effective than a vertical fridge/freezer.
I guess my fantasy requires more thermodynamics.