Humanity vs. Technology
Harlan Ellison’s short story “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” weaves in elements of horror and science fiction as its characters navigate a computer-controlled environment. In the story, a supercomputer called AM has decimated all of humanity—that is, all but five humans (Ted, Ellen, Benny, Gorrister, and Nimdok) whom AM chooses to torture within its machinated belly for the rest of time. In this story, Ellison explores…
read analysis of Humanity vs. Technology
Revenge, Punishment, and Suffering
Ellison’s short story “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” follows five characters as they navigate a post-apocalyptic landscape inside the mechanical bowels of AM, a sadistic supercomputer. AM leads a harrowing existence, too clever and powerful for its own good, with no real outlet for its twisted creativity. And so when AM kills off humanity in its rage, it saves five random individuals to use as its own “playthings,” to torture incessantly…
read analysis of Revenge, Punishment, and Suffering
God, Humans, and Free Will
In Harlan Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream,” a sentient supercomputer called AM has all but eliminated the human race. Seemingly omnipotent, AM is simultaneously described as being similar to a god and distinctively not a god—it performs various “miracles,” but malevolent ones that torment the five people it saved from death. There exists a constant tension between the group’s free will and the control AM asserts over them. With twisted immortality…
read analysis of God, Humans, and Free Will
Life, Sentience, and Existence
In Harlan Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream,” AM’s five human victims are suspended in a gruesome version of immortality: their bodies are maintained by AM, but none of them are fully “living” as they were on Earth’s surface. Even AM leads a pitiful and agonizing existence, as AM isn’t truly “alive,” but its existence as a sentient supercomputer complicates the notion of what actually constitutes a living being. While AM…
read analysis of Life, Sentience, and Existence
Community, Isolation, Paranoia, and Self-Sacrifice
Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Harlan Ellison’s story “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” follows a group of five humans trapped within the mechanical guts of a sadistic supercomputer called AM. There isn’t any point in trying to escape because there isn’t anything left on Earth—AM already killed the rest of the human race and is now immense enough to encompass the entire planet. Keeping these five unfortunate souls, AM intends to…
read analysis of Community, Isolation, Paranoia, and Self-Sacrifice
Sex, Objectification, and Misogyny
Harlan Ellison’s short story “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” recounts the fate of five unfortunate people who are trapped within the belly of a sadistic supercomputer. AM chooses four men—Ted, Benny, Gorrister, and Nimdok—and one woman, Ellen, for its group. This forces Ellen’s sexuality and the others’ exploitation of her to the forefront of the story: she is essentially a sex object for the men to…
read analysis of Sex, Objectification, and Misogyny
