Dinosauria, We Essay. Tell me what you think!

Naomi McPherson
Stephanie Lytle
English 4
4 Dec 2010

Sorrowful Deadliness: an analysis of Dinosauria, We

In Dinosauria, We by Charles Bukowski, he highlights the idea that as humans, are functioning within a modern dystopian society that we have inherited. He rages with misanthropy towards the human species in general, and hints that this is only one cycle of destruction that is doomed to be repeated.
The title of the poem, at first glance, is nonsensical. After reading the poem, the title suggests that we, as a society, are going to become extinct - and, in fact, be the cause of our own downfall and eventual destruction. The line “Born into” is repeated throughout the poem, suggesting that although we are not solely the causes of our grim societal state, we can do nothing to combat its digression because we are merely the inheritors. The concept of what the ‘this’ is can be interpreted many different ways. The readers individual concept of what the ‘this’ truly is helps to shape the poem as the reader views it.
The poem seems to take place in many different time periods - present, past and future. Bukowski addresses the futility of government and education in the first section “As political landscapes dissolve / As the supermarket bag boy holds a college degree / As the oily fish spit out their oily prey / As the sun is masked” The beginning of the poem seems to detail how the end begins, oddly enough. The downfall of political power, the uselessness of education and extreme pollution are all things that have been topics in dystopian literature. In this poem, Bukowski sets it in the present in order to drive in the fact that we, as we are, function within a dystopian setting. A real live 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451. Although he does not go into detail of the cause of the downfall, one can relate his tone to just a general feeling of misanthropy towards humankind. He conveys a feeling of negativity harbored towards people in general, possibly believing that their inherent flaws have always caused this world to be a dystopia.
The short, choppy and fragmented flow of the poem conveys the feeling of desperation that it intends to portray. Bukowski makes use of a list-like format, detailing the effects on humans, rather than the effects on the whole. He speaks in one section about drugs replacing God because God does not provide necessary support for the people within society. “The fingers reach for the throat / The gun / The knife / The bomb / The fingers reach toward an unresponsive god / The fingers reach for the bottle / The pill / The powder / We are born into this sorrowful deadliness”. He also depicts that humans will become inherently more violent towards each other as a means of coping, survival, recklessness. Murder will run rampant and people will have no morals or self-control. This section also foreshadows a downfall of the masses into drug dependence - much like the prominent use of the drug soma in Huxley’s Brave New World. The dependence on drugs, and the emphasis (or non-emphasis) on religion are both prominent topics within Dystopian literature. Just as soma was used to repress the presence of feelings within the World State society in Huxley’s novel (the drug once being referred to as “Christianity without tears”), Bukowski alludes that tangible, recognizable pills and other drugs will be used as a alternative to religion and the “unresponsive god”.
Bukowski concludes the poem by stating blatantly that the cycle is doomed to be repeated, whether it be by humans or another society of beings. He alludes to some sort of solace found in the aftermath of man’s self-created decimation in the final few lines of the poem; “And there will be the most beautiful silence never heard / Born out of that / The sun still hidden there / Awaiting the next chapter.” The circle of life and optimism are crushed by Bukowski’s blatant pessimism throughout this poem and his idea of, essentially, a cycle of destruction. The self-perpetuating, inherited flaw that mankind possesses creates his own destruction. The poem conveys an overall theme of helplessness, and the hopelessness of life itself – all qualities that are most certainly depicted in all dystopian novels.