Category Archives: secondary articles

I kind of miss the aliens: reading Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Talents as Critical Dystopia

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Parable of the Talents is a critical dystopian narrative in which the United States falls apart at the hands of religious zealots – Christian Americans – who purportedly seek to return America to puritanical values, but who reframe religion into an increasingly rigid and political force. The overlap of the political system with a religion that seeks to proselytize and convert people to the “truth” feels vaguely familiar. However, in this novel, there is no sanctioning body putting a stop to what would certainly be called human rights violations. We are launched into a dystopia without a back story about the function of the rest of the world, particularly the Western world. All of the world agencies, like the United Nations, that should be intervening in this world are seemingly no longer active. The United States democratic government seems to be a farce, allowing groups with power operate entirely outside of the criminal justice system and without the morals and ethics protecting individual autonomy that we value.   Continue reading →

Parable of the Talents

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Upon reading Peter Stillman’s Dystopian Critiques, Utopian Possibilities, and Human Purpose in Butler’s Parables, I found that it focused on three major points. The first uses the Parable books as a warning against this possible dystopian version of our future. Next, it investigated a discussion of the individual versus the collective/ community as a means of exploring utopian possibilities. Finally, the role of processes and change and human agency in solving the problems associated with the conditions created in this potential dystopian future.

In Parable of the Talents, there is a warning against the religious right and the intolerance that comes from what Stillman describes as “social totalities”. This warning seeks to show how a utopian dream of some today can become a dystopian nightmare. This point in particular made me think of our discussion on whether a nation can be considered a community. Today, there are man people that think of the U.S. as a “Christian nation” and are intolerant of others’ beliefs. But it seems like on a national level, this type of belief would lead to the type of theocracy Butler warns against rather than a community.

The next major point Stillman makes is that the Parable series often explores how individualism and collectivism are used to create a utopian vision amid the dystopias described in the novels.  There are instances described of people, with the means, locking themselves away from the world but it seems Butler’s conclusion is that individualism often fails and communities based on individualism will also fail, such as communities that are based on ownership of property rather than collective agreements. Acorn is a response to this problem; it is based on the need for interdependence and trust because the individual is too weak. This point seems to have been raised in almost all the works that we have discussed this semester. I especially think of Looking Backward, this belief that no person was self-sustaining was particularly relevant in Bellamy’s work. The role of community is central in the utopian vision. While Acorn does not survive, Olamina finds the Earthseed is the greater unifying factor and she chooses to abandon Acorn and focus her efforts on Earthseed.

Finally, Stillman discusses the role of processes, change, and human agency in Butler’s works. The idea of Earthseed is that change is inevitable and true immortality is the survival of the species. Stillman explains that Olamina is able to see the importance of her message through her active role in spreading her beliefs; it is only when she is an agent for this change that she feels she is making an impact. Earthseed as a religion becomes popular and the people who follow it create a larger stronger community because of their faith. Stillman does describe some of the problems associated with Olamina’s rejection of individualism (including relying on a neighborhood or traditional nuclear family) is that it cost Olamina her family and Vere is highly critical of that fact. Also, throughout Parable of the Talents Olamina does not attempt to radically change the political system but works within it when she must, this is another critique Stillman addresses about the work.

Thinking about community in the way Olamina seeks to achieve shows that community is both important and can have unintended effects. I think as Americans we think of community in terms of family and neighborhood, both of which Olamina finds as unviable options in the dystopian future. She is willing to lose her family to achieve her vision and I think that ignoring familiar relationships to create a real community based on interdependence and trust is quite radical but also causes us to rethink how we can form communities now.

 

Secondary Article Citation:

PETER G. STILLMAN

Utopian Studies
Vol. 14, No. 1 (2003), pp. 15-35
Published by: Penn State University Press
Article Stable URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/20718544

“Oryx and Crake” and the Ecological Imperative

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From page one, Margaret Atwood does an incredible job at forcing readers to believe in her futuristic creation.  However, by the time we close the book, readers realize that this futuristic world can be just around the corner.  Additionally, Atwood leaves a tremendous amount of responsibility on the reader.  Not only are we forced to make our own conclusions about the Crakers, Snowman, and the group that Snowman encounters, but just as any utopian/dystopian text, readers are expected to do something with the reading.  In other words, once we all agree that Oryx and Crake is a fate we hope to avoid, Atwood indirectly asks us how we avoid such fate.

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Oryx and Crake: A More Optimistic Approach

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In Oryx and Crake, Atwood describes a post apocalyptic world in which most readers see no signs of salvation for humanity. There is mention of many genetically modified individuals (the Children of Crake or Crakers) and genetically modified animals, particularly those used for food and medical supplies (such as the pigeons that produce human organs for transplants). It is a world that many modern day people would describe as having gone “way too far.” Although, others wonder, if we already have passed the point of no return, especially considering these concepts used by Atwood’s are not of her own creation. The novel seems to shed light on the society we currently live in and foreshadow what could be our future. Yet, is Oryx and Crake a simple dystopia that is a warning to our society, or is it a symbol of hope when all seems wrong? In the article, Liminal Ecologies in Margaret Atwood’s “Oryx and Crake” by Lee Rozelle, it becomes apparent that the novel actually may be implying that despite the dystopian appearance of Snowman’s world, there are still many positive elements and signs of hope. Rozelle states that, “From an ecocritical perspective…one finds that despite the obvious apocalypse, Atwood’s, novel offers new hope for humanity as well as other life forms. The ecological context of this novel reveals new growth in Atwood’s stressed arboretum” (Rozelle, p. 12). The article goes on to point out that the lands in the book are places that are adapting and growing, which represents life, and in turn, hope to undo the problems of the past: “In its representation of liminal life from a biocentric perspective, Oryx and Crake reminds us that place is always being born. Life emerges to confuse the dividing edge, adapting and multiplying to reconnect pieces that have been broken. It is that “unconscionable” connection, the gene splice that enables Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake to be read against the grain of critical responses that reduce the novel to a dystopian tale” (Rozelle, p. 12). I found this article made me rethink the entire novel. I read Oryx and Crake as a story about a troubled boy who grows up left to deal with the remnants and pressures of his former world, while simply trying to survive. It seemed that despite how horrible Snowman’s former world appears to the readers, it was worth something to him now that it is gone. Both the worlds of Jimmy and Snowman show dystopian tendencies, yet this article made me realize that Atwood was likely using these settings as a tool. She may have simply been trying to demonstrate that no matter how bad a society seems, one must keep their perspective in mind, and know that there is always a chance to undo mistakes as long as there is life.

Secondary Article: Rozelle, Lee. “Liminal Ecologies in Margaret Atwood’s “Oryx and Crake.”” Canadian Literature 206 (2010): 62-72. Academic Seach Complete. Web. 2 Feb. 2-13. <http://ehis.ebscohost.com.nuncio.cofc.edu/ehost/detail?sid=503ab826-f217-4f90-9742-a9b3dd0def85%40sessionmgr13&vid=26&hid=16&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=60134578>.

Omelas and Ecofeminism (Sarah H.)

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To gain an alternative perspective on The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas I read an article from The English Journal, “Through Ecofeminist Eyes: Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Barbara Bennett. This was primarily because I had never heard of the term “ecofeminist.” You may be wondering the same. Ecofeminisim brings together ideologies of feminism and environmentalism stressing the importance that everything is interconnected rather than isolated. The feminist aspect identifies the current patriarchical system of hierarchy as perpetuating world problems, which leads into the environmental aspect, environmental degradation as a world problem. You may be confused as I was, what does this have to do with Omelas? Bennett, to be honest, is lacking in her argument. I see that Omelas is a metaphor for contemporary society and the hierarchy of humans rather than a community of equality, which is a key element of ecofeminism. The kid in the basement shows that there is a definite hierarchy that people largely accept as keeping their world going, rather than rejecting this cycle and looking for an alternative as a whole. However, there isn’t a clear environmental aspect. She argues that Omelas can be looked at Through Ecofeminist Eyes by defining the environmental aspect as more of a humanitarian one. The kid ultimately serves as the example of degradation of environment (more of the communal space for relations rather than the physical environment) because he is the result of the hierarchy and lack of community. Bennett’s perspective was interesting and she did pull out some key messages from Le Guin’s story such as Omelas serving as a metaphor for contemporary society and showing that cycles of bad are perpetuated by hierarchy and lack of community, and inversely can be changed if people choose to walk away. However, I felt the application of the term “ecofeminist” to Le Guin’s story to be generally confusing.