TERRY PRATCHETT. GOING POSTAL

The Terry Pratchett book 'Going Postal' released in 2004,The title refers to both the contents of the novel, as well as to the term 'going postal', which in American English slang, means becoming extremely and uncontrollably angry, often to the point of violence, and usually in a workplace environment.

This story to this book depicts the there to be a real problem with the postal service and in direct competition with those archaic deliverers of letters are the Clacks, a system that, to the modern reader, is impossible to not think of as email, though the actual process is a bit closer to the telegraph. The book’s main conflict is seen to be between the efficient and the personal, this can be clearly seen from this passage where we see a true argument for the use of letters and to not let it be put out of fashion by the new system, the clacks, or to us, e-mail.

I daresay the Clack is wonderful if you want to know the prawn market figures in Genua. But can you write S.W.A.L.K. on a clacks? Can you seal it with a loving kiss? Can you cry your tears onto a clacks, can you smell it, can you enclose a pressed flower? A letter is more than just a message. And a clacks is so expensive in any case that the average man in the street can just about afford in time of crisis: GRANDADS DEAD FUNERAL TUES. A day’s wages to send a message as warm and as human as a throwing knife? But a letter is real. (p. 171) 


I think this is a perfect extract in order to show how personal a letter can be made. These are great examples as to why a letter is so important, why handwriting is so important. Handwriting can depict any sort of personality trait and can really effect how the letter is read. Receiving a letter from a loved one, it is handwriting that makes all of the difference, it would never be the same if typed.


Are letters something I should be looking at closer, from handwriting.