Project Gutenberg 2009-09-02 Public domain in the USA. 186 McConnell, James V. 1925 1990 McConnell, James Vernon Francis, Dick Francis, Richard D. Life Sentence Produced from Galaxy Science Fiction January 1953. Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net "Life Sentence" by James V. McConnell is a science fiction novella written in the early 1950s. The story explores themes of aging, death, and the struggle for autonomy within a society that has transformed individuals into perpetual wards of the state. The narrative follows Oliver Symmes, an elderly man confined to a hospital for the aged, where he grapples with his own memories and the limitations of his body, as well as the profound feelings of loss and betrayal stemming from a pivotal crime in his youth. The story centers around Oliver Symmes and his tormented past that resurfaces as he exists in a future society where the concept of death has almost become obsolete. After committing murder in a fit of passion during his youth, Oliver is subjected to a life sentence that leads to his ongoing existence within a hospital setting, designed to prolong life regardless of quality. As he reflects on fleeting memories of love and the vitality of youth contrasted with the shadows of his present confinement, Oliver's struggle encapsulates a poignant exploration of the human condition—the desire to live and the instinct to seek an end to one’s suffering. The narrative crescendos with his futile attempts to escape the clutches of enforced life through self-destruction, ultimately highlighting the irony of a life unfulfilled and the fight against an imposed existence devoid of freedom. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 84.7 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories PS Text Science Fiction Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Novels 56438 2025-10-12T09:43:26.460262 text/html 52642 2021-01-05T12:44:13 text/html 121940 2025-10-12T09:43:30.567245 application/epub+zip 120730 2025-10-12T09:43:28.283236 application/epub+zip 120663 2025-10-12T09:43:27.140262 application/epub+zip 265097 2025-10-12T09:43:32.172275 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 159327 2025-10-12T09:43:29.836244 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 127459 2022-09-13T18:18:43.090369 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 49241 2025-10-12T09:43:26.193264 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 49112 2021-01-05T12:44:14 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 19264 2025-10-12T09:43:32.305250 application/rdf+xml 12027 2025-10-12T09:43:27.635238 image/jpeg 3380 2025-10-12T09:43:27.385254 image/jpeg 57626 2021-01-05T12:44:14 application/octet-stream application/zip 18926 2021-01-05T12:44:14 application/octet-stream application/zip 121221 2025-10-12T09:43:26.469283 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia