The Dystopia of Apes

The world that we live in can have many challenges; such as the budget crisis in education or the economic recession. Can you imagine a world in a worse state than the one we live in today? Boulles Planet of the Apes is such a world that has Apes rule over Humans. It’s a science fiction novel that mirrors our own society. Crucial topics are presented in this novel; such as, the role language plays in our existence, to behavior that is learned through interaction, power and authority in all forms of culture and the inevitable fate of man. I pose that the dystopia of apes ruling over humans depicted in Planet of the Apes made such an impact in literary history because it is a reflection of our own society that addresses issues that we are faced with in relation to government control to the inevitable fate of humanity that is developed in language and learned behavior.

Language in our own society is a key element of communication with one another. In a lot of ways what makes humans different from animals or other living beings is our ability to speak and the level of intelligence that it takes to articulate language. In Planet of the Apes- Ulysses has to learn the language of the apes to be able to create a connection with Zira (female ape who helps Ulysses). In the original film, Taylor is not able to speak because of an injury in the beginning and then after healing connects with Zira through speaking English. It is this form of intelligence that allows both Ulysses and Taylor to communicate to the apes and shows the apes that he is a human who is different from the other humans who cannot speak. Ulysses states, “I have found in Nova and that I now saw in all others: a lack of conscious thought; the absence of intelligence” (41). Just like in our own world- intelligence is key and often times are represented by language.

Nature and nurture has been questioned time and time again. Do we learn what we learn through nurture (our own environment)? Or are we born with what we know (through nature)? In Planet of the Apes, a type of learned behavior is apparent through the science experiments and through imitation. When Ulysses encounters Professor Antelle in a cage, he sees that Professor Antelle has adapted to the other humans as a non-intelligent being and states, “I watched him while he was doing this, and there was nothing in his attitude to reveal his true nature” (160). At this point, Professor Antelle imitates the other humans in this Planet and behaves unlike his true nature. I find this disturbing in a sense that the same way the apes imitate our own world by putting humans in a cage is the same way Professor Antelle imitates being an animal in this dystopic world. Ulysses, further states, “My self-respect notes with satisfaction that apes have invented nothing, that they are mere imitators” (217). Here, it is pointed out that the apes in this planet have imitated what they have seen in the past from human behavior. This is similar to infants who imitate language through their surroundings and parents. At the end of the book Nova learns from Sirius (her son how to speak), Ulysses stating “today Sirius talks fluently and Nova almost as well” (264). Ulysse is proud of himself and sees Nova developing language as a miracle. In our own society, an infants first words are also a proud moment.

Power and Authority are also seen in Planet of the Apes, as in our own world through government. Ulysses while trying to connect with the apes states, “But there was nothing I could do to convince the orangutan” (103). Here the orangutan does not want to believe that Ulysse really is an intelligent being. In the book and the film the orangutans want to preserve ape hood and are not open to humans being intelligent because are afraid of humans taking over. In our own society, the government also keep certain information away from the public as a form of control. I think that sometimes not knowing may be helpful so the public will not go into chaos especially in emergency situations. But overall I think that it is best to be conscious of all forms of knowledge because this is the only way to know the truth no matter how harsh.

The inevitable fate of man is an interesting topic both in our own world and in The Planet of the Apes. I often reflect in our own world that we are doomed to create our own self destruction through our own pollution of earth or our own need to go into war for whatever reason deemed appropriate. In the film Taylor sees that humans destroyed themselves as he sees the Statue of Liberty and knows that he was in earth all along. In the book, Ulysse travels to another planet only to encounter more advanced apes. In my own opinion both endings bring up interesting perspectives. In the film the perspective that humans destroy civilization causes the rise of the apes. And in the novel, that apes eventually rise to higher level and humans in this sense are not the lower being. Here, the reflection of our own world makes me think of how we treat animals. We find reasons to do experiments when in another dystopic worlds apes can have that possibility of being the higher form of intelligence.

At close, language is key in identifying self in both our world and in the world in Planet of the Apes. Overall, I do think that we do learn through our environment; either through imitating each other or through learned behavior in interacting with others. Power and Authority are in all aspects of any formed civilization. And the fate of man is dependent in the will of man.