The novel Denton Little’s Death Date by Lance Rubin is about seventeen year old Denton Little, a high school senior, who lives in a world exactly like our own except that updates in science have made it possible to accurately predict death dates. Denton Little is due to die on the day of his senior prom, ironically with the theme Livin It Up, though is unsure as to how and when he will die. Despite his early status, a death date before the age of 21, Denton has always wanted to live a normal life. With only two days left of his life and preparing for his funeral, his seemingly last hours are packed drama and chaos as Denton uncovers a possible conspiracy, strange people, and unsuspecting allies and villains.
An interesting aspect of the novel is that even though everyone knows their death date, nobody knows how they are going to die. In the novel, Denton questions how he might die and wishes he knew. He tosses around ideas like a “car accident? Trip and fall? Stung by a bee and it turns out [he’s] allergic? Infected by some Ebola-like virus? Mysterious brain thing a la Ashley Miller? Or: straight up murdered?” (Rubin 17). It seems to be a pattern that nobody knows “how or when”(Rubin 18) they will die. The science that determines death dates is Astro-Thanato-Genetics. Astro-Thanato-Genetics or ATG is able to accurately predict the date of death, …show more content…
As suspected, Denton eludes his death because his mother injects him with a virus that help him to escape his presumed death. This implicates that people can actually evade and push off their death. This tactic has pros and cons, however. The con is that it defeats the point of knowing when you are going to die and the creation of Astro-Thanato-Genetics or ATG because now they do not know. This is similar to current society. The pro in the situation is that it this adds the possibility of extending one's life, which is a good
An interesting aspect of the novel is that even though everyone knows their death date, nobody knows how they are going to die. In the novel, Denton questions how he might die and wishes he knew. He tosses around ideas like a “car accident? Trip and fall? Stung by a bee and it turns out [he’s] allergic? Infected by some Ebola-like virus? Mysterious brain thing a la Ashley Miller? Or: straight up murdered?” (Rubin 17). It seems to be a pattern that nobody knows “how or when”(Rubin 18) they will die. The science that determines death dates is Astro-Thanato-Genetics. Astro-Thanato-Genetics or ATG is able to accurately predict the date of death, …show more content…
As suspected, Denton eludes his death because his mother injects him with a virus that help him to escape his presumed death. This implicates that people can actually evade and push off their death. This tactic has pros and cons, however. The con is that it defeats the point of knowing when you are going to die and the creation of Astro-Thanato-Genetics or ATG because now they do not know. This is similar to current society. The pro in the situation is that it this adds the possibility of extending one's life, which is a good