29 pages • 58-minute read
Examination Day
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Themes
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of eugenics, the Holocaust, and death, particularly child death.
The Moral Cost of Enforced Conformity
The premise of “Examination Day” explores the impacts of a state-sanctioned eugenics program taken to its extreme. Parents and government workers alike are coerced into accepting an unethical system that has systematized the death of children if they are deemed too intelligent.
Although “Examination Day” relies heavily on Cold War-era science fiction tropes of the 1950s, the story can also be read as a response to the American and Nazi Germany eugenics programs of the early and mid-20th century. These eugenics programs, like the Government regime described in “Examination Day,” were technocratic, mechanized, and bureaucratic. As part of a government program, targeted subjects would be administered IQ tests. If their IQ was deemed too low, they would be sterilized, institutionalized, or in the case of Nazi Germany, executed. These were terrible, immoral acts that were justified using “scientific” rationales. Philosopher Hannah Arendt would later describe those who carried out such terrible acts under the guise of simply “doing their jobs” within an immoral system as “the banality of evil” (Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem, 1964). Such a system relies on individual actors within it to do immoral acts to further its collective survival, based on false notions of superiority and patriotism. In “Examination Day,” those actors are Dickie’s parents and the Government workers.
Dickie’s parents are complicit in the enforced conformity of the society in which they live. They repeatedly lie to Dickie about the significance of the exam he will be taking. They reassure him many times with phrases like “It’s nothing to worry about” (Paragraph 5) and “you’ll make out fine” (Paragraph 26). They then willingly turn Dickie over to the authorities. If they had not lied to Dickie, or to themselves, they could have created the possibility for resistance to this enforced conformity. This is a series of moral compromises they are individually making for the so-called “benefit” of the Government and, presumably, society.
The Government workers in particular exemplify the “banality of evil” in such a system. When he arrives at the testing facility, Dickie meets a Government clerk who “held a clipboard in his hand” and checks them in (Paragraph 28). Mr. Jordan then fills out a form. This is similar to many routine government services, and it masks the fatal horror that lies ahead. For the Government workers, screening children for death based on their IQ is part of their normal, everyday work. Most ironic is the final Government worker Dickie meets who “squeeze[s] his shoulder” (Paragraph 46) as if to comfort Dickie before he begins the exam. This action is an echo of the false reassurances of Mr. and Mrs. Jordan in the lead-up to the exam.
“Examination Day” presents a world where intellectually conformity is the only means of survival. The maintenance and control of such an immoral system require constant moral compromises from those who are forced—or elect—to live within it. It serves as a warning about how government and social coercion can blunt people’s human impulses to accept—and participate in—immoral systems.
Innocence as a Lens for Dystopian Horror
In dystopian fiction, innocent children, particularly young adults or those at the cusp of coming-of-age, are ideal perspective subjects. Like the reader, they are initially ignorant about the true horrors of the world they have found themselves in. This makes the innocent character an effective vehicle for creating suspense and irony. Their innocence and lack knowledge about their dystopian reality creates tension and heightens the story’s drama. Classic examples of innocence as a lens in dystopian horror are The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and The Giver by Lois Lowry. In “Examination Day,” Dickie is an innocent figure whose perspective on his dystopian world shapes the narrative.
His perspective contrasts with his parents’, who are wrapped up in their anxiety about what his birthday portends; his mother is weepy, and his father is cantankerous. This leads Dickie to, naturally, question his parents about the “exam,” just as any innocent child might. Although their responses seem straightforward enough, their actions such as Mrs. Jordan refusing to meet Dickie’s eye and Mr. Jordan’s “abruptness,” betray their lack of truthfulness. The reader may recognize these cues but not know how to interpret them until they reach the final plot twist of the story, just as Dickie perceives “the moistness of his mother’s eyes” (Paragraph 3) but does not understand the reason behind them.
Dickie implicitly trusts authority figures, particularly his father. As a sheltered young person, he is unaware of the cruelty of his dystopian world. Like the Biblical Isaac, when his father tells him it is time to go to the Government facility for the exam, Dickie does not question it. However, unlike in the Biblical parable, his father does not spare Dickie’s life at the last moment. Instead, Mr. Jordan tells another lie to his son (“I’ll call for you when the test is over” (Paragraph 33), as Dickie walks willingly to his death. Dickie’s execution at only 12 years old is particularly tragic, as the untimely death of a child is often seen as more unfair than the loss of someone older who has lived a full life. He did nothing to deserve such a fate, as he was simply born intelligent and curious. It was only as a result of being born into an uncaring, dystopian society that he was killed.
Intelligence as a Liability in Authoritarian Regimes
The Government in “Examination Day” is an authoritarian regime that does not tolerate dissent or individuality because these qualities are seen as an existential threat. It enforces conformity through childhood IQ tests, eliminating problematic individuals before they have a chance to disrupt the system.
Even before it is revealed that intelligence is seen as an undesirable quality by the state, the narrative illustrates this through exchanges between Dickie and his father, Mr. Jordan. Dickie is shown to be an intelligent, “alert-eyed” boy who is “uninterested in the colorful squares of fast-paced action” in his comic books (Paragraphs 3, 7). He is curious about the world around him and asks perceptive questions like “What makes [the grass] green?” and “how far away is the sun?” (Paragraphs 12, 15). In response, his father gives useless, incorrect answers, replying to each question “Nobody knows” and “Five thousand miles,” respectively (Paragraphs 13, 16). Mr. Jordan himself has conformed to the authoritarian regime. He appears content to read the “Government newspaper” as his sole source of knowledge.
Mr. Jordan’s responses to his son’s intelligent questions can be read in two ways. One interpretation of Mr. Jordan’s vexed responses is that Mr. Jordan himself, as someone who is not intelligent, does not know the answer to his son’s questions. Alternatively, it can be read as a father’s attempt to protect his son by ensuring Dickie does not appear too intelligent. For instance, it is possible he deliberately gives Dickie the wrong answer about the distance from the Earth to the Sun so that, if Dickie is asked a question about it on the “exam,” he will get the question wrong and thereby seem less intelligent than he really is.
A key aspect of authoritarian regimes is their monopoly on knowledge and information. They use state-run media and propaganda and limit education to force their population into ignorance about reality. To such a regime, an independent, intelligent thinker like Dickie poses a threat. Thus, the Government in “Examination Day” has established a system whereby those with outstanding intelligence are routinely executed to ensure they remain in power. This is also a warning to members of the society who seek to know more: Step out of line, and you may find yourself similarly targeted. The mortal threat of appearing intelligent explains Mr. Jordan’s passivity in the face of the Government regime. He does not resist for fear of risking his own life.
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