Biology or Race?

Is the short story “The Morning and the Evening and in the Night” by Octavia E. Butler (1987), I definitely think that the Butler is using this biological situation to underline a more serious race issue. The people in this story with  Duryea-Gode disease were outcasts. They were not accepted in society once people were aware of their condition. They were stereotyped just as people from different races were stereotyped when this story was written and today. I believe that Butler used these to express a more prevalent issue of race.

The people with the disease had to go through many different forms discrimination and social out casting. “Non DGDs say that something about us makes us good in sciences- genetics, molecular biology and biochemistry” (p. 266). I think that Butler used this to exhibit how different races are stereotyped in society. This is a stereotype that is often even often given to Asian people today. This race of people being smart especially in similar subjects to the ones listed above is something that may not seem to be cruel stereotypes but they are. Even more are they harsh when we come across Asians that aren’t as smart as we thought them to be. That’s when the ridicule starts.

 The DGD people wore an emblem around their necks to let medical people know their condition in case of an emergency. This emblem seemed to stand for more than just a necklace for medical officials. It was a label. When people saw it they knew what these people were, and because they knew they talked about them and told others so that they would stay away from them. This could be paralleled with the struggle of being black in 60’s, 70’s 80’s and still today. Black people were and still are labeled by the color of their skin to be uneducated and violent and that is often not the case. However, because of their label they were and still are talked about and not seen as a prominent race.

After reading the article after the story and finding out that Butler was Black I felt even more that she used a biological disorder to exemplify the issues that people go through based on their race. It would not have been uncommon for herself to have faced some of the same issues or for her to have seen things of this nature take place.  

 * Citations refer to the edition in Daughters of Earth: Feminist science fiction in the twentieth century (2006, Wesleyan).

The Power in Breast Feeding

As I was reading this book Woman on the Edge of Time, by: Marge Piercy (1976),  I couldn’t help but feel just as disturbed as Connie felt about the relationships that the women in the future share with the men and the children in the future. The women of the future don’t birth their and children however, the role of the mother is still very important. It is so important that they have three mothers and not all of them have to be female. They can be male and the males can take care of the children just as efficiently as a woman could because they can breast feed.   

Yes breast feed! I know it’s crazy, but it is part of what gives the women in this society the power that they have. It angers Connie that the men are given this right that is supposed to give women pleasure in being a mother. She says in chapter seven “they have given it all up, they have let men steal from them the last remnants of ancient power, those sealed in blood and milk” (pg 126). Connie feels that they are giving men more power by allowing them the gift which rightfully and only belongs to women, but I think that it gives the women of the future more power and more equality amongst them and the men. This is obviously not the only reason why the women have such a prevailing role in this future world but, it along with them not physically birthing their children, definitely contributes.

Women are naturally seen as the ones to take care of the home and the children, but giving men such a responsibility like breast feeding definitely levels the playing field. It is a little disturbing to think about and it was very awkward for me to read about it, but I think that it is almost necessary to give men womanly features to really promote an equal society. Whether it be normal for them to be stay at home dads, primarily be the one to cook and clean or in this case breast feed it definitely levels the playing field.

“And I awoke and found me here on the Cold Hills side,” James Tiptree Jr. (1972)

As I was reading this short story by James Tiptree Jr., I couldn’t help but notice the hidden betrayal of women as a sex symbol. The story is about a reporter and his conversation with another man at a space station. The reporter is being told a story by this redheaded man about the sexual obsession of aliens that human men posses. While reading this I couldn’t help but think that obsession was not about aliens but about women and mans’ struggle with monogamy.  The story talks about how the aliens and come to earth and men are obsessed with trying to have sex with them despite the fact that there are human women whom they are meant to have sex and conceive with.

What I got from this story was that men are never satisfied and this is why women are treated so disrespectfully and poorly sexually. The Alien in this story is just a symbol for the other woman or the mistress that married or committed men are not supposed to have. The redheaded man who is married gave examples of the way men think about pursuing what they are not supposed to have,  by saying  “anything different-colored, different nose, ass, anything, man has to fuck it or die trying.” (166). Shortly after that he says “do you think that I can’t touch my own wife” (166) implying that he has a wife that he can have sexually but he wants what different and new.

This is the issue that has always been with men and relationships. I man has a wife or a girlfriend but is still so tempted by the new “ass or nose” that they see and thus they must have it. So women have this problem with not being able to be in a monogamous relationship. After realizing that the author was a woman I feel like this message could have definitely been something that she was trying to display.  As a woman this issue of monogamy and male satisfaction could have been something that she was facing at the time of writing the story and she just decided to throw it in the story.

* Citations refer to the edition in Daughters of the Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century (2006, Wesleyan).

“Created He Them,” Alice Eleanor Jones 1955

In the short story by Alice Eleanor Jones “Created He Them” I believe that there is a parallel between the way the wife Ann is treated by her husband and the way that he is treated at work. Ann seems to be a good wife. She cooks, she cleans and she keeps the kids quiet and out of sight so that they do not disturb her husband while he gets ready for work. She prepares his breakfast with care and obviously he has things that he likes a certain way. For example, his coffee is to be “cooled but to a certain degree” (67), he likes apple jelly with his toast, and he does not like his bacon to be too crispy. She has to be very careful and particular when making his meals or he gets angry. All her efforts often seem to be overlooked and just not good enough.  Can we say the same about Henry and the way that he is treated at work?

 When Henry comes home from work he tells Ann that he is very easy to get along with and yet he still has problem with the other men at work. He says that “they are all against him” (73). So at this job where “he does twice as much work as everyone else” (73) and is easy to get along with he is not liked and or appreciated.  

 The way the wife is being treated by her husband although, she makes such an effort to be a good wife by cooking, cleaning and be considerate of him with the children she is still chastised for the little things that are beyond her control such as, the market being out of eggs and jelly. She tries to make it easy for him to get ready for work and she still disappoints him. The tables seemed to be turned at Henry’s work with him being the one putting forth a lot of effort and it going unnoticed. He is easy to get along with and he is very conscious that he is being this way, but still he seems to have everyone against him.

In this story two people are affected very similarly, but in two different situations. One way to think of this situation is to just say “that’s what he gets.” He treats his wife poorly so he suffers for his actions at work. Is that the message that the story is sending for this particular situation? If you treat people one way eventually it will come back to you in some sense. Or you can think of the message being about hierarchy. In Ann’s home Henry is the hierarchy; However, at work he isn’t and the way he is treated proves this. It seems that no matter how hard you work or how good of a person you are, unless you are at the top your work and will often be underappreciated. This story definitely displays the this idea of hierarchy.

 * Citations refer to the edition in Daughters of the Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century (2006, Wesleyan).