"I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" Rating: 4 planets
by Harlan Ellison  
pub If, March 1967
Hugo for Best Short Story, 1968  
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Preview
In the aftermath of a nuclear war, five humans are trapped within a diabolical computer which keeps them alive only to torture and torment them.

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Background Data

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Navigation Guide
Atom BulletWhat is your initial reaction to the story?
Atom BulletDescribe the setting and the situation.
Atom BulletCharacterize AM. How did it get the way it is? What are its motivations?
Atom BulletCharacterize Ted, the narrator. How is he different from the other four survivors?

Atom BulletCharacterize the other four humans:

  • Gorrister
  • Benny
  • Nimdok
  • Ellen

Differentiate among them.

Atom BulletHow do the five humans interact with each other?

Atom BulletThey have spent 109 years in the computer. Why is the passage of time is important to AM?

Ted says that it is not important to humans. Is it?
Atom BulletWhat is Ted's motive for killing the others? Is he justified? Are Ted's actions a positive or a negative response to the situation?
Atom BulletExplain the story's title. What is the content of the "scream"?

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Further Exploration
Atom BulletEllison has said that the computer tapes that punctuate the story read "I think, therefore I AM" and its Latin equivalent, "Cogito, ergo sum." Of what significance to the story is this quotation from the philosopher Descartes?

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© 2002 Agatha Taormina
Last Revised: January 4, 2005