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Lauriano, Luke

Professor Nellis

English 3

11 December 2013

Echoes from the Deep, Frighten the Weak

My peripherals have been enclosed by a circular black wall that is never ending and un-

relenting. The visuals of my own imagination are completely gone because of this obscure terror.

As I look to my left, and to my right, there is nothing but darkness. Suddenly, an un-identifiable

object flies past me, nearly taking my head off. The objects continue to fly past me multiple

times at tremendous speeds; all coming from a general direction, but gliding past both the left

and right sides of me. My only choice is to sit-and-wait, until finally, it catches my head. The

sheer force of the projectile was enough to stun me and leave me motionless for only a few

seconds. I felt something that I have never felt in my entire life, fear. This object was completely

un-known to me and I have no idea who was sending it. I had no time for these thoughts, so I

moved vertically as fast as I could in this thick darkness. I was able to get out of the way of the

original target’s trajectory; however, this freedom did not last long because the missile found its

target over and over again until I could not move. Then, the most tremendous amount of pain

shot through my body as each one of my arms were ripped away from me. I looked up to see my

grim reaper, its body was twice the size of me and completely black. I have no idea where he or

she came from and I do not even know this person’s name, all I know is that he or she is the one

to send me to my maker.

This sense of fear is something that a man name Michel Foucault, a French philosopher

who wrote the essay Panopticism, has been able to recreate this anxiety through his essay.

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Panopticism is idea that through the act of knowing that someone is being watched, but not

knowing when he or she is being watch, that person will become disciplined. This form of

discipline is a result of visibility or surveillance; however, surveillance or discipline cannot be

achieved without the right type of architecture. Foucault involves this architectural idea through

the example of a prison. Imagine having a circle, and in that circle there is a center, and

everything revolves around the center of the circle; this is the architecture of the panopticon from

a bird’s eye view. The center of the circle is a tower that is supposed to have a guard inside of it

and on the circumference of the circle is supposed to be where the cells holding the inmates are.

Now since the guard tower is in the center of the circle, the guard has a three-hundred and sixty

degree field view of every single inmate; this is called the panopticon. He can look at any inmate

he wants to at any given time he desires, and every single inmate knows this; however, not one

inmate knows whether or not the guard is looking at him or not. This can result in a threatened

feeling in the inmates mind creating a sense of discipline. Since the mind is threatened by the

unknown, the mind of the inmate has no choice but to try to calm itself or become fearful. This

results in a calm, disciplined inmate who is less likely to try and cause an uprising or rebellion all

because of the constant surveillance. Since the inmate cannot see any of the other inmates, this

also causes a sense of isolation; the inmate feels useless and insignificant compared to the

invisible authority watching him “constantly.”

The invisible authority creates a sense of discipline with the inmates from the act of

surveying. These are some of the main traits that Foucault proposes towards panopticism. These

traits cannot function without each other because discipline cannot be achieved without constant

surveillance and invisible surveillance will not work without a perfect architecture; if there is no

surveillance or discipline, then the aricheture is useless and becomes a blueprint or idea. Another

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trait Foucault includes is the idea of relating panopticism to a plague. What Foucault means by

this is that the panopticon creates a sense of isolation. He gives an historical example of

remoteness by relating it to a town that has been stricken with the black plague. The black plague

is a disease that wiped out millions in the fourteenth century. The infected people were

constantly isolated from healthy people and this isolation would have given them a sense of

feeling un-wanted. Thus, this isolation is a way of creating a disciplined utopia of people struck

by the plague.

Panopticism is able to be related to many different examples in both historical and

modern times, just like the plague stricken town. It can also be found in a marine environment,

revolved around the two species of viscous animals; the giant squid, who belongs to the

taxonomic class Cephalopoda, which means foot-head, and the sperm whale, who belongs to the

class Mammalia, which means mammal. In this scenario, the sperm whale is considered the

hunter and the giant squid is the hunted. These two animals are considered to be extremely smart,

especially the giant squid, which is considered the smartest invertebrate [animal without a

backbone] in the world. Sperm whales’ pursuit of giant squid relates to Foucault’s idea because

the hunt expresses panopticism’s traits of discipline, surveillance, architecture, and plague.

Sperm whales have a mechanic called echolocation to be able to seek out the giant squid

from a distance. The whale has a large organ called the melon which resides on the upper portion

of its head. This melon sends out a sound wave at extreme speeds and if an object is hit, the

sound wave then reflects back to the whale’s lower jaw and the whale analyzes the data received

to know the exact location of the object or organism. This tool can be used multiple times in a

matter of seconds because of how fast sound travels through water. A sperm whale’s sound wave

is so large that if it hits an organism, it will feel like a punch and can actually stun the organism.

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The squid have developed adaptations try and avoid these sound waves. “Many cephalopods

species have vertical ecologies and are specialists at retaining low density, iso-osmotic

ammonium chloride solutions. Since gas expands with the reduction of pressure, only

ammonium allows extensive, rapid vertical movement” (O’Dor). This means that the giant

squid’s body is made up of low density proteins [muscle] and lipids [fat]. This makes it so the

sound wave from the sperm whale is more likely to go through the squid rather than reflect back.

Also the squid is one of the faster invertebrates in the sea, allowing them to shoot vertically up at

tremendous speeds due to its light biochemical composition. “It is worth noting that the chemical

composition of the musculature of Architeuthis sp. Includes a high concentration of ammonium,

which would make it neutrally buoyant, due to its reduced density” (Robison). This neutral

buoyancy is an evolutionary development that results from the sperm whales forcing them to

become sit-and-wait predators rather than free swimming predators, which they used to be. The

sit-and-wait method is a defensive adaptation because the sperm whales are less likely to pick up

on a squid that is not moving. This may not make sense because it should be harder to hit a

moving target then a sitting target, but this is a stronger method because if the squid is moving

through water, it causes a moving liquid trail around it that is easier to pick up from

echolocation; however, if it is sitting still, the sperm whale has to hit its low density streamline

body, which is shaped like an arrow. These evolutionary adaptions are related to Foucault’s idea

of discipline, because if the animal is feeling threatened, it has to develop these disciplines in

able to adapt to the sperm whale’s hunting tools. Another adaption that squid have developed is

the idea of visibility, but this idea relates more to panopticism’s trait of surveillance.

Surveillance in panopticism is represented by the idea of knowing when you are being

watched, but not knowing when. When sperm whales have a strong advantage of echolocation in

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open waters, the squid have no choice but to go into the dark depths of the ocean. The ocean is

separated into five different layers from top to bottom: “epipelagic zone [sunlight zone],

mesopelagic zone [twilight zone], bathypelagic zone [midnight zone], abyssopelagic zone [the

abyss], and hadapelgic zone [the trenches].” (Marine Biology) Giant squid were originally free

swimming animals that resided in the epipelagic zone and the mesopelagic zones. Until sperm

whales decided to make them their main source of food because of their abundance in their

territory. This forced the squid to go into the abyssopelagic zone and the hadapelgic zone to mate

and feed. "It's a very scary environment in the deep sea, a very difficult lifestyle and that's why

99.99 per cent of the eggs [squid embryos] won't survive.” Dr. Norman claims that the squid

eggs will not survive in at these depth, this is because squid are not originally adapted for these

conditions and were forced here; however, this area is ideal for squid to seek shelter from their

continuing predator because of how completely pitch black this zone is. The idea of this

defensive visibility is related to Foucault’s notion of surveillance in panopticism because when

the squid receives that initial punch of the sperm whale’s sound wave, the squid has no idea

where it came from and it has no idea when it might be coming again; so it has no other choice

besides becoming cautious and venturing into the dark abyssal trenches where it is less likely to

be found. So Foucault’s feature of surveying is found though the whale’s echolocation, which

can be hard to use when the whale is surrounded by towering walls.

The reason the giant squid go into the hadapelgic zone is because of its deep trenches.

These trench’s architecture are perfect to hide in because the sperm whale’s sound wave is more

likely to hit the wall of the abyss rather than the squid. Imagine looking down a never ending

corridor that is shaped like the letter U that appears to have an infinite depth. The echo can only

reflect back to the whale once and cannot bounce from object to object. The squid would never

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have needed to move to these depths if it were not for the sperm whales forcing them to become

disciplined. Without this obedience, there is no architecture of the abyss because the squid would

never have needed to go there to begin with. This relates back to Foucault’s idea because the

infrastructure of the panopticon is so important to creating discipline in the inmates through

surveillance.

Giant squid have been known to be an isolated creature because of how much they of

their life they spend in the depths. This isolation relates to them hypothetically being infected

with the bubonic plague. Think of it this way, these creatures have been forced into their homes

[abysses] by their authoritative hierarchy [sperm whales]. The giant squid are trapped by the

sperm whales and have no other choice but to sit-and-wait for either their dinner to come to

them, or their death. This is the same process that Foucault’s plague stricken town had to go

through. The infected people waited for their authority to come by and give them food and they

did not know whether or not they would die because of the sickness. Now the infected people in

the plague stricken town are not considered food to their authority; however, they are siting-and-

waiting for the next step to come, just like the giant squid.

Foucault emphasized panopticism as being something that can be related to many

different aspects of life, even in places that someone would never think of. A sperm whale

hunting a giant squid is not the only aspect of life that is similar to panopticism; however, it is

one of the places that not many people would think of to look. Giant squid are considerably one

of the most isolated invertebrates in the world because of what the sperm whales have forced

them to do. The sperm whales send terror down the giant squid’s absent spine because of their

echolocation’s all-seeing-eye; forcing the squid to become adaptive towards these threats and

continuing the survival of the fittest. All of this could not be achieved without the vast and

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mysterious design of the dark-blue wonder that is the ocean. People only know a minority of

what goes on in these abyssal trenches and yet what goes on down there can be related to

Foucault’s idea of panopticism.

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Work Cited

Rosa, R., J. Pereira, and M. L. Nunes. "Biochemical Composition of Cephalopods with Different

Life Strategies, with Special Reference to a Giant Squid, Architeuthis Sp." Marine

Biology 146.4 (2005): 739-51. ProQuest. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.

Brown, Cindy, and Jim Kisiel. "Squid Dissection from Pen to Ink." Science Activities 40.1

(2003): 16-22. ProQuest. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.

Hoving, Hendrik Jan T., et al. "Sperm Storage and Mating in the Deep-Sea Squid Taningia

Danae Joubin,1931 (Oegopsida: Octopoteuthidae)." Marine Biology 157.2 (2010): 393-

400. ProQuest. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.

Castro, Peter, and Micheal Huber. Marine Biology. 9thth ed. New York: Mcgraw-Hill, 2012.

Print.

Nigro, Daniel. Marine Biology, Biology 20 Lecture Packet. Long Beach City: Long Beach City

College, 2013. Print

Bartholomae, David, and Anthony Petrosky. Ways of Reading. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford St.

Martins, 2010. 282-317. Print