Planet Apes
What are some of the key themes of the book Planet of the Apes?
I need to write and essay on it. I already read the book but now need to write an essay on a main theme in the book. I need help!!
Get your hand off me you God damned dirty ape
The main events of the book are placed in a frame story, in which Jinn and Phillys, a couple out on a pleasure cruise in a spaceship, find a message in a bottle floating in space. The message inside the bottle is the log of a man, Ulysse Mérou, who believes that he may be the last human left alive in all the universe, but has written down his story in hopes that someone else, somewhere, will find it.
Ulysse begins by explaining that he was friends with Professor Antelle, a genius scientist on Earth, who invented a sophisticated spaceship which could travel at nearly the speed of light. Ulysse, the professor, and a physician named Levain fly off in this ship to explore outer space. They travel to the nearest star system that the professor theorized might be capable of life, the red sun Betelgeuse, which would take them about 350 years to reach. Due to time dilation, however, the trip only seems two years long to the professor and him.
They arrive at the distant solar system and find that it contains an Earth-like planet, which they christen Soror (Latin for sister), “because of its resemblance to our Earth.” They land on the planet and discover that they can breathe the air, drink the water, and eat the local vegetation. They soon encounter other human beings on the planet, although these others act as primitive as chimpanzees and destroy the clothing of the three astronauts. They live with the primitive humans for a few days, hoping to civilize them and learn their language.
At the end of this time, they are startled to see a hunting party in the forest, consisting of gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees using guns and machines. The apes wear human clothing identical to that of 20th century Earth, with the exception that they wear gloves instead of shoes on their prehensile feet. The hunting party shoots several of the humans for sport, including Levain, and capture others, including Ulysse.
Ulysse is taken off to the apes’ city, which looks exactly the same as a human city from 20th century Earth, with the exception that some smaller furniture exists for the use of the chimpanzees. While most of the humans captured by the hunting party are sold for manual labor, the protagonist winds up in a research facility which is doing experiments on human intelligence. The apes perform experiments on the humans similar to Pavlov’s conditioning experiments on dogs, and Ulysee proves his intelligence by failing to be conditioned, speaking and drawing figures of geometry.
Ulysee is taken in by one of the researchers, Zira, a female chimpanzee, who begins to teach him the apes’ language. He learns from her all about the ape planet. Eventually, he is freed from his cage, meets Zira’s fiancé, Cornélius, a respected young scientist. With Cornélius’ help, he goes to make a speech in front of the ape President and several representatives, and is given specially tailored clothing. He tours the city and learns about the apes’ civilization and history. The apes have a very ancient society, but their origins are lost in time. Their technology and culture have progressed slowly through the centuries because each generation, for the most part, imitates those of the past, a recognized ape-like characteristic. The society is divided up between the violent gorillas, pedantic orangutans, and intellectual chimpanzees.
Although Ulysee’s chimpanzee patrons Zira and Cornelius are convinced of his sentience, the society’s leading orangutan scientists believe that he is faking his understanding of language, because their philosophy will not allow for the possibility of sentient human beings.
Ulysee falls in love with a primitive human female, Nova, whom he met in the forest at the beginning of his visit to the planet. He impregnates her. This proves that he is the same species as the primitive humans, which lowers his standing in the eyes of many of the apes. However, their derision turns to fear with a discovery in a distant archaealogical dig and analysis of memory in some human brains. Evidence is uncovered which fills in the missing history of the apes. In the distant past, the planet was ruled by human beings, who built a technological society, and enslaved apes to perform their manual labor. Over time the humans became more and more dependent upon the apes, until eventually they were so lazy and degenerate that they were overthrown by their ape servants and fell into the primitive state in which our protagonist found them.
While some of the apes reject this evidence, others take it as a sign that the humans are a threat and must be exterminated. In particular is an old orangutan scientist, Dr. Zaius. Ulysee gets wind of this, and escapes from the planet with his wife and newly-born son, returning to Earth in the professor’s spaceship.
Again, the trip takes several centuries, but only a relative time of a few years to the protagonist. Ulysee lands on earth, over 700 years after he had originally left it, and lands outside the city of Paris. However, once outside the ship, he discovers that Earth is now ruled by sentient apes just like the planet from which he has just fled (this is where his story on paper ends). He immediately blasts his ship off into space once more, writes his story, places it in a bottle, and launches it into space for someone to find.
The book concludes by returning to the couple who had found the bottle, who are revealed to be apes themselves. They scoff at the unlikelihood of humans having been advanced enough to build spaceships, and conclude that the story must be someone’s idea of a joke.
PLANET OF THE APES – Trailer (1968)
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Planet of the Apes Poster Movie French 11×17 Charlton Heston Roddy McDowall Kim Hunter Maurice Evans Planet of the Apes reproduction Approx. Size: 11 x 17 Inches – 28cm x 44cm French Style A mini poster print Pop Culture Graphics, Inc is Amazon’s largest source for movie and TV show memorabilia, posters and more: Offering tens of thousands of items to choose from. We also offer a full selection of framed posters.. Customer satisfaction is always guaranteed when you buy from Pop Culture Graphics,I… |
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Planet of the Apes Poster Polish 27×40 Charlton Heston Roddy McDowall Kim Hunter Planet of the Apes reproduction poster print Pop Culture Graphics, Inc is Amazon’s largest source for movie and TV show memorabilia, poster and more: Offering tens of thousands of items to choose from. We also offer a full selection of framed posters.. Customer satisfaction is always guaranteed when you buy from Pop Culture Graphics,Inc… |
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Planet Of The Apes: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Also Featuring Music From Escape From The Planet Of The Apes $12.98 The entire Planet of the Apes saga eventually spanned five films and a short-lived TV series. But the original is still the best, even if it’s hard to decide what’s more memorable, Jerry Goldsmith’s inventively modern score or the sight of Charlton Heston in a loincloth. We’re sticking with Goldsmith, if only for the bold resourcefulness he showed in creating a new musical idiom–ethnic Ape. Rife … |
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Planet of the Apes $2.94 The original 1968 Planet of the Apes inspired a whole cycle of sequels, a television series, and this modern Tim Burton revamp. It also contained one of sci-fi’s most original and haunting scores, composed by the great Jerry Goldsmith. In scoring his dark take on the story, Burton again turned the reigns over to longtime collaborator Danny Elfman, who promptly pays tribute to Goldsmith in the “Mai… |
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Planet of Apes – B.O. Guano Apes $5.95 International pressing of the German alternative rock act’s 2005 compilation is pressed onto an enhanced CD that includes the video for ‘Break The Line’. BMG…. |
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Planet of the Apes Collection [VHS] $14.00 The five films in the Planet of the Apes series are enjoyable as pure entertainment and yet substantial enough to inspire academic studies like Planet of the Apes as American Myth: Race, Politics, and Popular Culture. Loosely adapted from the novel by French author Pierre Boulle, Planet of the Apes was released at the height of racial and political unrest in America, adding resonance to its st… |
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Beneath the Planet of the Apes [VHS] $6.87 The second–and most horrifying–of the five Planet of the Apes movies, this film goes where few end-of-the-world movies ever dare tread. It’s the far future. The mass of humanity has descended into speechless savagery, kept as captive animals by the talking apes who have inherited the world. Two astronauts from our time have landed here, retracing the path of their lost comrade, Captain Taylor (… |
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Planet of the Apes [VHS] $3.00 Many early science fiction films are now, quite inadvertently (and in most cases undeservedly), objects of camp attention: we laugh at the silly makeup, tin-can special effects, and the naive “high-tech” dialogue. Planet of the Apes is no such film. Its intelligent script, frightening costuming, and savagely effective conclusion (which needs no big-budget special effects to augment its impact) rem… |
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Planet of the Apes [Blu-ray] $13.99 Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 11/04/2008 Run time: 106 minutes Rating: R… |
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Planet of the Apes (DVD) $11.38 Widescreen; Single Disc Version Complex sociological themes run through this science-fiction classic, about three |
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Planet of the Apes TV Series (DVD) $21.28 4-Disc Set March 21, 3085. Two astronauts land on a strange planet run by apes with human characteristics, includi |
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Return to the Planet of the Apes (DVD) $16.82 2-Disc Set An animated television series from 1975, RETURN TO THE PLANET OF THE APES originates from “La Planhte |
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Escape From the Planet of the Apes (Blu-ray Disc) $14.35 This third installment in the PLANET OF THE APES series finds Cornelius and Zira in modern-day Los Angeles. They have traveled back in time, but soon find that they have enemies in the past as well as the present. This is thought by many to be the best… |
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Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (Blu-ray Disc) $14.35 An intelligent ape from the far future leads an Army of monkey servants in a revolt against their human masters. The fourth film in the PLANET OF THE APES series features the most explosive subtext of any film in the series, and a sleek, futuristic pro… |
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Planet of the Apes $7.91 Description not available. |
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Beneath the Planet of the Apes (Blu-ray Disc) $11.38 The second installment in the PLANET OF THE APES series finds another astronaut (Franciscus) following in Heston`s time-wandering footsteps to a planet ruled by highly evolved apes where he encounters a group of nuclear holocaust survivors living in Gr… |
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Planet of the Apes (DVD) $6.92 Single Disc; Widescreen In remaking this classic sci-fi horror film, director Tim Burton takes on a whopping chall |
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Battle for the Planet of the Apes (Blu-ray Disc) $16.14 The fifth and final episode in the Planet of the Apes series. After the collapse of human civilization, a community of intelligent apes lives in harmony with a group of humans, but a community of mutants who reside beneath a destroyed city try to conqu… |
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Planet of the Apes (DVD) $9.88 Single Disc Version; Sensormatic In remaking this classic sci-fi horror film, director Tim Burton takes on a whopping challenge and succeeds. Astronaut Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) is part of a space station crew that, in the year 2029… |
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Planet of the Apes 01′/Quest for Fire (DVD) $9.89 Double Feature; 2-Disc Set PLANET OF THE APES: In remaking this classic sci-fi horror film, director Tim Burton takes on a whopping challenge and succeeds. Astronaut Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) is part of a space station crew that, in… |
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Planet of the Apes (DVD) $24.25 Full Frame 2-Disc Special Edition Complex sociological themes run through this science-fiction classic, about thre |
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Planet of the Apes (DVD) $24.25 Double Digi-Pack In remaking this classic sci-fi horror film, director Tim Burton takes on a whopping challenge an |
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Beneath the Planet of the Apes (DVD) $13.36 Widescreen The second installment in the PLANET OF THE APES series finds another astronaut (Franciscus) following |
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Planet Ape (Hardcover) $37.58 Describes the physiology, habitat, social interactions, and ecology of the great apes, including orangutans, gorillas, and chimpanzees. |
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Planet of the Apes (DVD) $24.25 Widescreen 2-Disc Special Edition Complex sociological themes run through this science-fiction classic, about thre |
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Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (DVD) $13.36 Widescreen An intelligent ape from the far future leads an Army of monkey servants in a revolt against their huma |
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Planet of the Apes (DVD) $7.8 Dubbed Spanish; Spanish Packaging In remaking this classic sci-fi horror film, director Tim Burton takes on a whop |
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Battle for the Planet of the Apes (DVD) $13.36 Widescreen The fifth and final episode in the Planet of the Apes series. After the collapse of human civilization |
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Escape From the Planet of the Apes (DVD) $13.36 Widescreen This third installment in the PLANET OF THE APES series finds Cornelius and Zira in modern-day Los Ang |
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The Artificial Ape (Hardcover) $17.64 While Darwin`s theory explains our common descent, scientists have grappled with the reasons why human evolution defies the principles of natural selection and why, although we dominate the planet, we have become the weakest ape. In this f… |
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Millennial Mythmaking (Paperback) $39.55 “These nine essays from a variety of disciplines expand upon the writings of Joseph Campbell. Modern examples of myths from various sources such as Planet of the Apes, Wicked, Pan`s Labyrinth,and Spirited Away; the Harry Potter series; and Second Life … |