Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Harlan Ellison's I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream. Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream: Introduction
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream: Plot Summary
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream: Detailed Summary & Analysis
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream: Themes
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream: Quotes
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream: Characters
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream: Symbols
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream: Theme Wheel
Brief Biography of Harlan Ellison
Historical Context of I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream
Other Books Related to I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream
- Full Title: I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream
- When Written: 1966
- When Published: 1967
- Literary Period: Postmodernism
- Genre: Short story, science fiction, post-apocalyptic fiction, speculative fiction
- Setting: Post-apocalyptic
- Climax: In extreme hunger, Benny cannibalizes Gorrister’s face. Seeing the window of opportunity to save his companions, Ted stabs both Benny and Gorrister. Ellen follows suit, stabbing Nimdok. Ted then kills Ellen, consigning him to an eternity alone, tormented inside AM.
- Antagonist: AM
- Point of View: First Person
Extra Credit for I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream
Drawing Inspiration. In 1965, Ellison came across a doodle drawn by his friend, cartoonist Bill Rotsler. The drawing featured a rudimentary doll-like figure, sitting slumped with the words “I have no mouth and I must scream,” scrawled on the bottom. With Rotsler’s permission, Ellison used this as the inspiration and title for one of his best-known literary works.
Crack the Code. The black rectangles interspersed with the text in “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” are computer tape time-breaks, created by actual programmers. Ellison wanted to experiment with the limits of the printed page, and to present the reader with what it’s like to be stuck inside the mind of a computer. In reference to Descartes and the name the computer takes for itself, “AM,” the time-breaks read “I think, therefore I am” and the same phrase in Latin, “Cogito, ergo sum.”