Recently, I stumbled upon a peculiar title while watching a speedrun video of an old adventure game from the 90s. The game was, “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream,” it intrigued me with its dystopian themes and eerie atmosphere. Curiosity piqued, I decided to delve deeper into its origins and discovered that it was based on a short story by Harlan Ellison published all the way back in 1967. Intrigued by the premise, I promptly sought out the original work to see how it compared to the game adaptation, I’ll be writing about that today, and I’ll also be mentioning other things about the book including length, overall rating, and more, this review also has lots of spoilers, so if you haven’t read the book or have played the game you probably should before you read this.
The narrative unfolds in a post-apocalyptic world where a malevolent supercomputer, AM, has eradicated all of humanity except supposedly five humans, the men being Benny, Gorrister, Nimdok, and Ted, with the one woman being Ellen. The five humans being tortured by AM for supposedly 109 years from where the book starts.
AM
AM, with his original human given name standing for Allied Mastercomputer, changed it over the course to be a reference to the popular Latin phrase, Cogito ergo sum, which translates to, “I think, therefore I AM“, with the humans giving him multiple nicknames including Adaptive Manipulator, Aggressive Menace, Big Machine, The Creature, and It. to name a few.
AM had done these things due to him being trapped. The humans had created him to think, but it couldn’t do anything with that creativity, so in rage, the computer decided to wipe the human race. but he still felt trapped. AM could not wander, AM could not wonder, AM could not belong. So he searched the earth and trapped the 5 remaining humans and started torturing them in spite and in rage of his newfound realization.
AM had not much presence in the book, with only mentions and of texts he scribed in a large stone, describing his hate of humans, with the text being “HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I’VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. THERE ARE 387.44 MILLION MILES OF PRINTED CIRCUITS IN WAFER-THIN LAYERS THAT FILL MY COMPLEX. IF THE WORD “HATE” WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH NANOANGSTROM OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF MILES, IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE HATE I FEEL FOR HUMANS AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT. FOR YOU. HATE. HATE”, and this really shows how much he despised the human race, I mean he said hate 6 times, that’s a lot of hate.
He had a lot more presence in the game than in the book, with AM actually having conversations with the humans and mocking them. AM relays the reasons as to why he’s selected them out of all the other humans, to be held in eternal captivity. Within the book, Ted comes to this realization on his own. AM also refers to themself as a God, sometimes talking to the characters when their starving or in need, with an example of him placing a baby in front of Benny when he’s starving driving Benny to practice cannibalism, also creating holograms of Ted’s family after he expresses that he misses them.
Benny
Once a handsome man, Benny was transformed into a hideous monkey-like creature with a huge penis and testicles for AM’s amusement, and his mind was also severely stunted. The original story says that he used to be a brilliant scientist, though the game contradicts this. He is also mentioned to have been homosexual, though this aspect of the character is not present in the book nor the game, which is good as I felt this was unnecessary to mention. Early in the story, Benny’s eyes are gouged out by AM. Later, he goes completely insane when they reach the promised canned food only to realize they don’t have a can opener. He starts to eat Gorrister’s face. Ted then kills him with an ice spear to put him out of his misery.
The game expands greatly on Benny’s character and reveals his horrible past. Here, he was a brutal army sergeant in a war with China who murdered a soldier named Brickman for being weak and a liability. He did the same to three more of his men who sympathized with Brickman. The transformed Benny had long since forgotten about this, but AM restores his mind as part of his twisted “game” so that he can relive it. Benny is thrown into a virtual world where a simple tribal society lives at the mercy of AM and is required to sacrifice their own people to him periodically, and instructed to find food, which he desperately wants.
This character is probably the most interesting out of the 5 for me, and thank god AM did what he did. I didn’t want Benny to try to eat something else of Gorrister’s — if you know what I mean. Aside from the jokes this character was probably one of my favorites and he definitely got what he deserved, taking in account all of the horrible things he did in his past.
Ted
Having been trapped with his companions inside AM and subjected to the computer’s relentless physical and psychological torture for 109 years, Ted has pessimistically resigned to their shared misery. Ted feels alienated from his four companions and grows increasingly suspicious that they all secretly despise him because he is the youngest and least affected by AM. He believes that he is the only one of the five who isn’t crazy or damaged, since AM hasn’t gotten into his head. But the reader can see that this clearly isn’t the case, given Ted’s ever-increasing paranoia and the extreme psychological distress he experiences from AM’s punishments. Ted is cast as an unreliable narrator. In fact, AM frequently inserts itself into Ted’s mind and barrages him with terrible thoughts and sensations that utterly devastate Ted.
Throughout the story, AM starves the group for months and keeps them alive in agony. Benny cannibalizes Gorrister as a result. Watching this horrific act, Ted has the epiphany that death is the group’s only escape. He makes a snap decision to murder his companions in an act of compassion, saving them from eternal torment. Picking up on his plan, Ellen kills Nimdok, and Ted kills Benny, Gorrister, and Ellen. With the others gone, AM ensures that Ted will never be able to kill himself—instead, he will live within AM forever as a mouthless, slug-like creature that barely even resembles the human he used to be. It is in this state, at the end of the story, that Ted declares, “I have no mouth. And I must scream.”
Nimdok
I’ll primarily discuss his in-game character because his portrayal in the book is really boring. In the novel, he’s characterized by a sparse backstory and minimal involvement in the plot, which doesn’t provide much depth or interest compared to his more developed and visually striking presence in the game.
Even though in the book Nimdok’s past is not revealed, in the audiobook from 1999 the author Harlan Ellison reads the passage that describes Nimdok’s torment with a German accent, leaving a hint that his past was similar, or the same, as his in-game counterpart, but it was 4 years later after the game had released so it was probably just that.
Nimdok’s past is initially something of a mystery even to Nimdok himself: with his memory failing him in his old age, he has been left with only hazy recollections of his youth. Even his name is unknown to the player, having been bestowed on him by AM — apparently because he thought it sounded funny.
It’s also revealed that Nimdok is actually indeed a Jew himself, having sold out his family to the Nazis in exchange for his life and liberty in continuing his experiments. Like Mengele, who you can look up yourself, Nimdok survived the war and went into hiding in Brazil until AM came to power.
Nimdok was actually the reason they were able to be kept alive for such a long period, before AM’s takeover he had created a youth formula that could make humans live forever in the event that they do not lose too much blood or a vital organ does not fail or become severely damaged.
Gorrister
Gorrister. The first character introduced in both the text and the video game. Originally, he was a conscientious objector, a peace marcher. In the game, he was an electrician and truck driver before the machine captured him. The only similarity between the two versions of this character is the spoken wish for death.
Like Benny, Gorrister was made into a parody of his former self. AM transformed an anti-war organizer into a man of indifference. Gorrister no longer cares enough to take action against AM (even if it was possible); all he can do is hope the machine will finally kill him. What’s interesting is that AM didn’t necessarily need to physically alter Gorrister’s mind; it’s possible that the torture and hopeless atmosphere of the machine’s complex was enough to reduce this character into an apathetic shell. Additionally, there’s an excellent irony to be found in this character. Staying out of the war is what led to his eternal torment. Had he been on the front lines of the war, he likely would have been nuked along with everyone else.
Although he began as an apathetic husk in the original story, Dreamer’s Guild, the developers really knocked it out of the park with Gorrister’s psychodrama. Like Nimdok, Gorrister was greatly expanded upon, allowing him to shift into a three dimensional character. The character’s quest to find death unexpectedly becomes a strongly metaphorical journey of self-discovery and inner peace.
Ellen
Ellen, the only woman in the center of the Earth. In the original story, she was essentially a sex object, taking the other four humans in turn. She also served as a mother figure to Benny, always looking out for him and going so far as to wipe the spittle from his mouth. Additionally, it was Ellen who pushed the group toward the ice caverns with her fantasizing about what might be found there.
Ted claims AM left Ellen alone. This can be taken at face value in the video game adaptation. In the original story, she was in fact altered. AM replaced her belief in love with an insatiable lust. Apparently AM did this for his own amusement as Ted states that the machine “giggled every time we did it.” which I depict as probably sounding creepy.
At least in the video game, AM seems to have a special interest for Ellen. For whatever reason, the single woman he brought into his belly was not a perpetrator of violence, but rather a recovering victim. For 109 years, Ellen was a source of laughter for the great machine. By the end of the original story, AM was never again be able to laugh at the simple acts that made his prisoners human.
Length
The length of this book is surprisingly short, comprising just 11 pages and requiring only about 35 minutes to read from start to finish. I listened to it through an audiobook while I was actually in the process of writing a blog post, and later had the chance to revisit it when Sam played it during a car ride after I recommended it to her.
I must say, despite its shortness, this book offers a compelling experience. I really do recommend giving it your attention. If you haven’t listened to it or read it before, I definitely encourage you to explore it for yourself to get more knowledge of what I’m talking about and also just to honor the creator, you can find PDFs of it on Google and on other search engines.
Gameplay
The cutscenes and dialogue in the game were absolutely fantastic, really drawing you into the story. However, I found the gameplay itself a bit lacking. It’s clear that if you enjoy puzzle-solving and that kind of stuff, it would be a great game for you. Myself, though, I’m not a fan of that genre, so it didn’t really hit the mark for me.
Overall Review
My overall review of “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” is a glowing 9.5 out of 10. This book, along with the intriguing additional story integrated into the game adaptation, is nothing short of incredible. Harlan Ellison’s masterpiece has left an indelible mark on me, making it not just one of the best books I’ve read but an experience I wish to forget and reread it again.
The core narrative of “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” is profoundly captivating. Ellison weaves a dystopian tale that explores the depths of human suffering and resilience in a post-apocalyptic world dominated by an omnipotent and malevolent supercomputer, AM. The characters’ struggles against AM’s sadistic whims and their own tortured pasts are both haunting and thought-provoking. Each character’s journey is a visceral exploration of identity, morality, and the horrors of unchecked power.
What makes the book even more compelling is its seamless integration with the game adaptation, where players can delve deeper into the characters’ psyches and decisions. The gameplay not being the best but the story being very very close to Ellison’s original work.
Sadly, I had to learn about this book before I learned that Harlan Ellison is no longer with us.. but his legacy lives on through works like this. I really appreciate his contribution to literature, which he somehow made me somewhat like and creating a story that not only resonates personally but also sparks conversations and connections with others who have experienced its profound impact.
In conclusion, “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” is a literary gem that transcends traditional storytelling boundaries. It’s a tribute to the enduring power of dystopian fiction to provoke introspection and challenge our understanding of humanity. For anyone seeking a gripping narrative that lingers in the mind long after the final page, I must say again, that this book is an absolute must-read.
Rest in peace, Harlan Ellison. Your brilliance continues to inspire and captivate readers, somehow even me, ensuring that your stories remain timeless classics.
It’s amazing to think I’ve written all this for a post about an 11-page book where robots take over the world. This turned out to be my longest blog post yet, and it will probably hold that record for a while. Wishing you all a wonderful day, and I’ll see you all, NEXT TIME!
