In Fiction
George Orwell uses the 12-hour and 24-hour dials to symbolize the old and new worlds in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The 12-hour dial is a relic of pre-revolutionary society, used to represent the desirable past; the 24-hour dial and time system is the compulsory standard imposed by the Party, and represents both conformity and the undesirable nature of the new world. This theme is famously set in the opening line:
- It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
In the 1927 film Metropolis, the opening scene shows both a 24-hour analog clock and a 10-hour (metric) analog clock, one above the other. Both are used to convey the impression of an alien and highly efficient society.
In Jules Verne Science Fiction masterpiece,"20000 Leagues Under the Sea", Captain Nemo remarks that the clocks in the Nautilus use a 24-hour dial "Now, look at that clock: it's electric, it runs with an accuracy rivaling the finest chronometers. I've had it divided into twenty–four hours like Italian clocks, since neither day nor night, sun nor moon, exist for me, but only this artificial light that I import into the depths of the seas! See, right now it's ten o'clock in the morning.". See proj. Gutenberg.
Read more about this topic: 24-hour Analog Dial
Famous quotes containing the word fiction:
“The beginning of human knowledge is through the senses, and the fiction writer begins where human perception begins. He appeals through the senses, and you cannot appeal to the senses with abstractions.”
—Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964)
“My mother ... believed fiction gave one an unrealistic view of the world. Once she caught me reading a novel and chastised me: “Never let me catch you doing that again, remember what happened to Emma Bovary.””
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)