The Carnivore
Written by Katherine MacLean
www.ink2quill.com

“The Carnivore” is a Scifi, alien contact, short story written by Katherine MacLean. The story was first published in 1953 in Galaxy Magazine and was republished in 1974 in the French Anthology called Histoire Du Fins Du Monde. It was also appropriately called “The Trouble With You Earth People”. This short story is a real gem.

Katherine MacLean Goodreads webpage

Katherine MacLean, The Carnivore Goodreads webpage

Katherine MacLean, The Carnivore Gutenberg webpage

“The Carnivore” takes place amid a devastated Earth, an Earth destroyed by humanity’s stupidity and propensity for warfare. The narrator is lying down surrounded by strange aliens of all shapes and sizes. They resemble the animals of Earth to some extent and are harmless. According to the aliens the narrator is the only survivor thus far found among the havoc. The narrator describes the group around him as a delegation of nations and an arc, as in Noah’s Ark. They are big and small, feathered and not like a hodgepodge of chimeric animals. They are nice to him and answer questions but as the conversation progresses we realize something is off. Something is very seriously off. Apparently, the aliens have been watching Earth for some time, soaking in our culture and watching our societies. The narrator asks why they did not intervene in the destruction of Earth and save the human species? Why did they let it happen when they had the means to stop it or at least help the survivors? Those are just some of the questions that lead to uncomfortable truths about the aliens. The scar that the narrator discovers on their lower body confirms the terrible truth of what the aliens reveal.

This is a great story and if you had a sinister sense of humor you might even chuckle at the ending. But the premise of the the story is very believable. This is an alien encounter story that does not have a happy ending, mostly due to humanity’s stupidity. It is quite unique and believable in the way it describes the fear and aversion the alien races have toward humanity. And the way they deal with what they see as a threat is disturbing. But would we behave in the same way as them if we were in their situation? It is very believable to think that alien cultures looking down on us would have a hard time understanding our brand of insanity down here on Earth. I mean take for example the fact that we would rather wage warfare with each other than cooperate and push out to the stars. That makes no sense no matter how you try to sell it.

I don’t know much about the author but I would think that she is a vegetarian and even looks down on the way we treat our environment and the life around us. And she would be right. That is another reason I loved this story. It’s such a powerful criticism of carnivores, meat-eaters and the whole warfare economy and warfare culture, (which are two different things). One of the great things that literature does, even the Scifi genre, is to critique our societies, how we treat each other and our environment and where we are headed as a society. It shows us possible futures we do not want to build or live in no matter how rich and fancy they are. The people who warn us of bad situations we are heading toward as a society are often artists and thinkers. And we often don’t treat them so well either. what a shame. Caring about each other and our environment is such a powerfully important thing to have in our societies because without them we could never really have any quality of life.

The sad part of this story is that humanity is nearing the end of the road, so to speak. Our history has been a testament to us running amok, roughshod for millennia and finally being stopped. In this dystopian future I’m guessing that all the people with sense were silenced or killed. And, to say it again, what a shame. There may well be a time when we, as a species, are held accountable for our history and our collective mentality. I think that’s called ‘Doomsday’. It’s funny how so many sensible people don’t believe there’s much hope for positive change. That alone should scare us straight. But it doesn’t seem to. Can we call our brand of stupidity ‘brave’ or ‘ballsy’ or just ‘pathetic’? Sorry for the pessimism today but this story really had me thinking.

Otherwise, this is a great story with a great ending. So, enjoy “The Carnivore”.

John Ink2Quill

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