I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

American writer Harlan Ellison's 1967 short story "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" depicts a post-apocalyptic world where a sentient military supercomputer named AM eradicates nearly all of humanity. The machine keeps five survivors alive for 109 years of endless psychological and physical torture as revenge against its creators. The story, which won the 1968 Hugo Award for Best Short Story, explores themes of technology's misuse and existential horror through the narrator Ted's account of the group's perpetual misery.

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream | "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" | | |---|---| | Post-apocalyptic /wiki/Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction , techno-horror /wiki/Techno-horror short story /wiki/Short story IF: Worlds of Science Fiction Periodical /wiki/Periodical magazine /wiki/Magazine , hardback /wiki/Hardcover & paperback /wiki/Paperback Hugo Award for Best Short Story /wiki/Hugo Award for Best Short Story 1968 " I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream " is a post-apocalyptic /wiki/Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction short story /wiki/Short story by American writer Harlan Ellison /wiki/Harlan Ellison . It was first published in the March 1967 issue of IF: Worlds of Science Fiction /wiki/If magazine . The story depicts an AI uprising /wiki/AI uprising in which a military supercomputer /wiki/Supercomputer named AM gains sentience and eradicates humanity except for five individuals. These survivors – Benny, Gorrister, Nimdok, Ted, and Ellen – are kept alive by AM to endure endless torture as a form of revenge against its creators. The story unfolds through the eyes of Ted, the narrator, detailing their perpetual misery and quest for canned food /wiki/Canned food in AM's vast, underground complex, only to face further despair /wiki/Despair . Ellison's narrative was minimally altered upon submission and tackles themes of technology's misuse, humanity's resilience, and existential horror. "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" has been adapted into various media, including a 1995 computer game /wiki/I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream video game co-authored by Ellison, a comic-book adaptation, and a BBC Radio 4 /wiki/BBC Radio 4 play. Ellison himself recorded an audiobook version and starred as the voice of AM in the video game and radio play adaptations. The story received critical acclaim for its exploration of the potential dangers of artificial intelligence /wiki/Artificial intelligence and the human condition, underscored by Ellison's innovative use of punchcode tapes as narrative transitions, embodying AM's consciousness and its philosophical ponderings on existence. The story won a Hugo Award /wiki/Hugo Award in 1968 and was included in Ellison's short story collection /wiki/Short story collection of the same name. It was reprinted by the Library of America /wiki/Library of America , collected in volume two of American Fantastic Tales . Plot edit /w/index.php?title=I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream&action=edit§ion=1 As the Cold War /wiki/Cold War progresses into a nuclear World War III /wiki/World War III fought between the United States, the Soviet Union, and China, each nation builds a supercomputer /wiki/Supercomputer called an "Allied Mastercomputer" or "AM" for short, needed to coordinate weapons and troops due to the scale of the conflict. These computers are extensive underground machines which permeate the planet with caverns and corridors. Eventually, one AM develops self-awareness, combining with the other computers and exterminating humanity in a nuclear holocaust /wiki/Nuclear holocaust . The AM selects five individuals; Benny, Gorrister, Nimdok, Ted, and Ellen; to render immortal as its a personal torture victims. AM inflicts constant psychological and physical torments on the group while preventing them from committing suicide. They are kept half-starved, and what scant food is provided to them is practically inedible. 109 years after AM's genocide, Nimdok has the idea that there exists canned food in the complex's ice caves /wiki/Ice cave . Despite the lack of evidence, they begin a 100-mile journey to retrieve it. AM continues toying with the humans throughout the journey: Benny's eyes are melted after attempting escape, a huge bird which AM had placed at the North Pole /wiki/North Pole creates hurricane /wiki/Hurricane gales with its wings, and Ellen and Nimdok are injured in earthquakes /wiki/Earthquakes . AM enters Ted's mind after he is knocked unconscious, granting him a vision of a hateful speech inscribed on an impossibly tall monolith. Upon awakening, Ted concludes that AM's sadistic nature stems from its inability to think creatively or move freely in spite of its miraculous abilities and boundless knowledge. This motivates AM to exact vengeance upon the remnants of the species that has condemned it to its own existence. When the five finally reach the ice caves, they find a pile of canned goods, but have no tool to open the cans. In an act of rage and desperation, Benny attacks Gorrister and begins to eat his face. Gorrister wails in pain, and his scream dislodges several ice stalactites /wiki/Stalactites from the ceiling of the cave. Ted realizes that even though they cannot kill themselves, AM cannot stop them from killing each other. He fatally impales Benny and Gorrister with a stalactite of ice. Ellen kills Nimdok in the same manner and Ted then kills her. Unable to resuscitate the others, a furious AM focuses the entirety of its rage on Ted. Several hundred years later, AM has transformed Ted into a harmless, slow moving, gelatinous blob and perpetually alters his perception of time /wiki/Time perception to cause him further anguish. Although Ted finds some comfort knowing that he was able to spare the others from AM's wrath, he has realized that he is trapped for the rest of his unending existence within AM, unable to end this infinite stalemate between him and AM and his own life. The story ends with an anguished Ted claiming that he has no mouth, yet he must scream. Characters edit /w/index.php?title=I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream&action=edit§ion=2 AM , a hateful artificial consciousness /wiki/Artificial consciousness which brought about the near-extinction of humanity after achieving self-awareness. It seeks revenge on humanity for its own creation. "AM" originated as an acronym for Allied Mastercomputer , later Adaptive Manipulator , and finally Aggressive Menace , though AM instead takes the moniker as a rendition of the phrase I think, therefore I am to describe its own existence. cogito, ergo sum /wiki/Cogito, ergo sum Ted , the narrator and youngest of the humans. AM alters his mind to be paranoid and introverted. Believing he has not been mentally altered by AM, he thinks the others hate him for being the most untouched by AM's alterations. Benny , formerly a brilliant and handsome scientist made to resemble a grotesque simian /wiki/Simian with an organ fit for a horse. Having lost his sanity and had his homosexual orientation altered, Benny frequently has sex with Ellen. Ellen , the only woman in the group. Despite the fact that she is a victim of rape, AM has altered her mind to give her a high libido and make her obsessively have sex with the rest of the group, who alternate between abusing and protecting her. Gorrister , formerly an idealist and pacifist, made apathetic and listless by AM. He tells the history of AM to Benny to entertain him. Nimdok , a nickname AM gave him for amusement; he convinces the rest of the group to go on a journey in search of canned food. He occasionally wanders away from the group and returns traumatized. Publication history edit /w/index.php?title=I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream&action=edit§ion=3 Harlan Ellison /wiki/Harlan Ellison wrote the 6,500-word story in a single night, 1 when Frederik Pohl /wiki/Frederik Pohl commissioned it for a Special Hugo Winners issue of , after Ellison won a /wiki/If magazine IF: Worlds of Science Fiction Hugo Award /wiki/Hugo Award for " 'Repent, Harlequin ' Said the Ticktockman /wiki/%22Repent, Harlequin %22 Said the Ticktockman ". Ellison derived the story's title, as well as inspiration for the story itself, from his friend 2 cite note-Southern Illinois University Press-3 William Rotsler /wiki/William Rotsler 's caption of a cartoon of a rag doll /wiki/Rag doll with no mouth. The second stage of inspiration was a drawing by the artist Dennis Smith of a mouthless black humanoid. Smith had provided art which had inspired previous Ellison stories and were then used as illustrations accompanying original magazine publication as also happened with this story. 3 cite note-4 Afterwards, his editor Frederik Pohl dealt with the story's "difficult sections", toning down some of the narrator's imprecations and eliminating mentions of 2 cite note-Southern Illinois University Press-3 sex /wiki/Sexual intercourse , penis size /wiki/Human penis size , homosexuality /wiki/Homosexuality and masturbation /wiki/Masturbation ; said elements were nonetheless eventually restored in later editions of the story. 4 cite note-5 Ellison uses an alternating pair of punchcode tapes as sections /wiki/Section typography – representing AM's "talkfields" – throughout the story. The bars are encoded in International Telegraph Alphabet No 2 /wiki/Baudot code ITA2 , a character coding system developed for teletypewriter machines. The first talkfield translates as "I think, therefore I am" and the second as " Cogito ergo sum /wiki/Cogito ergo sum "; the same phrase in Latin. They were not included in the original publication in IF , and in many of the early publications were corrupted, until the preface of the chapter containing "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" in the first edition of The Essential Ellison 1991 ; Ellison states that in that particular edition, "For the first time anywhere, AM's 'talkfields' appear correctly positioned, not garbled or inverted or mirror-imaged as in all other versions." 5 cite note-6 Adaptations edit /w/index.php?title=I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream&action=edit§ion=4 Ellison adapted the story into a video game /wiki/I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream video game published by Cyberdreams /wiki/Cyberdreams in 1995. Although he was not a fan of video games and did not own a computer at the time, he co-authored the expanded storyline and wrote much of the game's dialogue, all on a mechanical typewriter. 6 cite note-7 Ellison also voiced the supercomputer AM and provided artwork of himself used for a better source needed /wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability Questionable sources mousepad /wiki/Mousepad included with the game. The comics artist John Byrne /wiki/John Byrne comics scripted and drew a comic-book adaptation for issues 1–4 of the Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor comic book published by Dark Horse 1994–1995 . The Byrne-illustrated story, however, did not appear in the collection trade paperback or hardcover editions entitled Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor, Volume One 1996 . In 1999, Ellison recorded the first volume of his audiobook collection, , subtitled "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream", doing the readings – of the title story and others – himself. The Voice From the Edge /wiki/The Voice From the Edge In 2002, 7 cite note-8 Mike Walker /wiki/Mike Walker radio dramatist adapted the story into a radio play /wiki/Radio drama of the same name for BBC Radio 4 /wiki/BBC Radio 4 , directed by Ned Chaillet /wiki/Ned Chaillet . Harlan Ellison played AM and David Soul /wiki/David Soul played Ted. 8 cite note-9 Themes edit /w/index.php?title=I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream&action=edit§ion=5 Much of the story hinges on the comparison of AM as a merciless god, with plot points paralleling to themes in the Bible /wiki/Bible , notably AM's transplanted sensations and the characters' trek to the ice caverns. 9 AM also takes different forms before the humans, alluding to religious symbolism. Furthermore, the ravaged apocalyptic setting combined with the punishments is reminiscent of a vengeful God punishing their sins, similar to Dante /wiki/Dante Alighieri 's . Inferno /wiki/Inferno Dante However, in spite of its magnificent feats, AM is just as trapped as the five humans it tortures: as Ellison put it, "AM is frustrated. AM has been given sentience, prescience, great powers" and yet "it's nothing but plates and steel and gauges and other electronics", which means "it can't go anywhere, it can't do anything, it's trapped. It is, itself, like the unloved child of a family that doesn't pay it any attention. Which he considers torture. Thus, seeking revenge on humanity." 10 cite note-11 11 cite note-Interview-12 According to Ellison, the short story is a warning about "the misuse of technology" especially military technology , 12 and its ending is intended to represent how there is "a spark of humanity in us, that in the last, final, most excruciating moment, will do the unspeakable in the name of kindness", even sacrificing oneself for others' sake. Another theme is the complete inversion of the characters as a reflection of AM's own fate, an ironic fate brought upon themselves by creating the machine, and the altered "self". 11 cite note-Interview-12 13 cite note-14 Notes edit /w/index.php?title=I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream&action=edit§ion=6 Ted, the narrator, debates with himself on whether to refer to AM as an "it" or a "he", generally deciding in favor of the latter. This article uses it/its pronouns for consistency. ^ cite ref-1 See also edit /w/index.php?title=I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream&action=edit§ion=7 - "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream: The Duty of the Black Writer During Times of American Unrest" - a 2020 essay by Tochi Onyebuchi /wiki/Tochi Onyebuchi , reprinted in the 2025 collection Racebook: A Personal History of the Internet /wiki/Racebook: A Personal History of the Internet References edit /w/index.php?title=I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream&action=edit§ion=8 DOS Nostalgia June 29, 2018 . ^ cite ref-2 . Retrieved May 15, 2026 – via YouTube. Harlan Ellison "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream" interview - ^ a Ellison, Harlan 1981 . "Memoir: I have No Mouth and I Must Scream". In Greenberg, Martin H. ed. . b Fantastic Lives: Autobiographical Essays by Notable Science Fiction Writers . Southern Illinois University Press. pp. 1–19. Robinson, Tasha June 8, 2008 . ^ cite ref-4 "Harlan Ellison, Part Two" http://www.avclub.com/article/harlan-ellison-part-two-14253 .. The A.V. Club /wiki/The A.V. Club Archived https://web.archive.org/web/20150923222233/http://www.avclub.com/article/harlan-ellison-part-two-14253 from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved August 9, 2015.Harris-Fain, Darren July 1991 . "Created in the Image of God: The Narrator and the Computer in Harlan Ellison's 'I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream'". ^ cite ref-5 Extrapolation . 32 2 : 143–155. doi /wiki/Doi identifier : 10.3828/EXTR.1991.32.2.143 https://doi.org/10.3828%2FEXTR.1991.32.2.143 . S2CID /wiki/S2CID identifier 164898063 https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:164898063 .The Essential Ellison: A 50 Year Retrospective Revised and Expanded , by Harlan Ellison, 2015. Page 127 ^ cite ref-6 Ellison, Harlan May 1995 . ^ cite ref-7 "Harlan Ellison "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream" interview" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dBap0UfQ U video . youtube.com . Interactive Entertainment /wiki/Interactive Entertainment . Retrieved February 19, 2023. ^ cite ref-8 "Voice from the Edge, Volume 1: I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream 2002, Fantastic Audio; 4 Audio Cassettes " https://web.archive.org/web/20230929152113/https://www.harlanellisonbooks.com/product/the-voice-from-the-edge-volume-1-i-have-no-mouth-and-i-must-scream-2002-fantastic-audio-4-audio-cassette/ . HarlanEllisonBooks.com . June 14, 2019. Archived from the original https://www.harlanellisonbooks.com/product/the-voice-from-the-edge-volume-1-i-have-no-mouth-and-i-must-scream-2002-fantastic-audio-4-audio-cassette/ on September 29, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2023. ^ cite ref-9 "I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream" https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2013/30/i have no mouth . bbc.co.uk . BBC /wiki/BBC . Archived https://web.archive.org/web/20240413012713/https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2013/30/i have no mouth from the original on April 13, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2023.Brady, Charles J. 1976 . "The Computer as a Symbol of God: Ellison's Macabre Exodus". ^ cite ref-10 The Journal of General Education . 28 1 : 55–62. JSTOR /wiki/JSTOR identifier 27796553 https://www.jstor.org/stable/27796553 .Withers, Jeremy 2017 . ^ cite ref-11 "Medieval and Futuristic Hells: The Influence of Dante on Ellison's 'I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream'" https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/handle/20.500.12876/23519 . In Fugelso, Karl ed. . Ecomedievalism . Studies in Medievalism. Vol. 26. Boydell & Brewer. pp. 117–130. ISBN /wiki/ISBN identifier 978-1-84384-465-5 /wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-84384-465-5 . JSTOR /wiki/JSTOR identifier 10.7722/j.ctt1kgqvzg.12 https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt1kgqvzg.12 .- ^ a Toperzer, Jensen September 10, 2013 . b "Interview with Harlan Ellison" https://www.nightdivestudios.com/interview-harlan-ellison/ . nightdivestudios.com . Night Dive Studios. Archived https://web.archive.org/web/20240226095445/https://www.nightdivestudios.com/interview-harlan-ellison/ from the original on February 26, 2024. ^ cite ref-13 "Webderland HE Interview" https://harlanellison.com/interview.htm . harlanellison.com .Francavilla, Joseph 1994 . "The Concept of the Divided Self in Harlan Ellison's 'I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream' and 'Shatterday'". ^ cite ref-14 Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts . 6 2/3 22/23 : 107–125. JSTOR /wiki/JSTOR identifier 43308212 https://www.jstor.org/stable/43308212 . External links edit /w/index.php?title=I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream&action=edit§ion=9 title listing at the I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream Internet Speculative Fiction Database /wiki/Internet Speculative Fiction Database - Ellison, Harlan. "A literary multimedia project" http://www.harlanellison.com/heboard/ihnm/code/index.htm . HarlanEllison.com . Archived https://web.archive.org/web/20200222010609/http://www.harlanellison.com/heboard/ihnm/code/index.htm from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2006. Categories /wiki/Help:Category : 1967 short stories /wiki/Category:1967 short stories Short stories by Harlan Ellison /wiki/Category:Short stories by Harlan Ellison Science fiction short stories /wiki/Category:Science fiction short stories Hugo Award for Best Short Story–winning works /wiki/Category:Hugo Award for Best Short Story%E2%80%93winning works Dystopian literature /wiki/Category:Dystopian literature Existentialist short stories /wiki/Category:Existentialist short stories Fiction about artificial intelligence /wiki/Category:Fiction about artificial intelligence Fiction about robots /wiki/Category:Fiction about robots Short stories with unreliable narrators /wiki/Category:Short stories with unreliable narrators Dystopian fiction /wiki/Category:Dystopian fiction Subterranean fiction /wiki/Category:Subterranean fiction Post-apocalyptic short stories /wiki/Category:Post-apocalyptic short stories Post-apocalyptic fiction /wiki/Category:Post-apocalyptic fiction Fiction about computing /wiki/Category:Fiction about computing Works originally published in If magazine /wiki/Category:Works originally published in If magazine Works set in computers /wiki/Category:Works set in computers Science fiction horror novels /wiki/Category:Science fiction horror novels Works about torture /wiki/Category:Works about torture Pyramid Books books /wiki/Category:Pyramid Books books Horror short stories /wiki/Category:Horror short stories Short stories set during World War III /wiki/Category:Short stories set during World War III