It’s no secret that America currently faces numerous problems in regards to race, class, and gender based discrimination. Contemporary authors such as C.E. Morgan and N.K. Jemisin have challenged these issues, but each have done so in different ways. As opposed to Morgan, Jemisin uses a fictitious world set in the future in a futile attempt to convey racism, sexism, and class division. Jemisin’s novel, The Fifth Season, is exactly what is wrong with America today. No issue will cease to exist if it is not properly addressed, and dancing around serious problems pertaining to discrimination will not solve anything. Problems must be confronted directly, not in a made-up world meant to give readers their own interpretations.
This fictional society known as The Stillness features numerous classes of “groups and factions” (286) not unlike America. What does differ, however, is that the falsified issues throughout Jemisin’s work are a mere parody on what America legitimately faces in regards to societal strife. While readers are learning a multitude of imaginary terms and definitions, blacks in America still face greater poverty rates, are more likely to fall victim to violent crime, and have a lower life expectancy rate than whites. Furthermore, the problem of racism is prevalent, as hate crimes occur and segregation is less than sixty years removed. When Jemisin utilizes the term “rogga” to describe one race, one can only feel disdain, as it is a poor take on another racial slur with a similar sound used to describe blacks. It is said that “sometimes a rogga can’t learn control” (140), mirroring the negative connotation given towards blacks in other literary works of both past and present. Questioning “friends who talk to an orogene” and how “it sounds ridiculous” (125) is another example of a racist connotation masked by science fiction.
In regards to gender, women have become prominent leaders in American society. In less than one hundred years, women went from not being able to vote to having a presidential candidate. Numerous other women serve in government jobs, within the US Military, and in other professions that were once exclusively reserved for men. Jemisin’s need to give certain women characters dominant superpowers and the ability to warp the weather is meant to elevate women to a powerful status and empower feminist readers. In reality, this has an adverse effect, as women do not need to be inflated with powers to showcase their strength.
The world of science fiction in literature is meant to escape, not enrich. While the current generation in America has made numerous strides in the effort to curb racism and sexism, these efforts have stemmed from hard work and determination, not fictitious stories meant to convey an underlying meaning. Masquerading an issue does more harm than benefit, and while Jemisin has received numerous accolades for her work, it is still to be determined if The Fifth Season is culturally significant.
I think you presented a very well thought out argument. It is obvious that Jemisin’s novel confronts past and present American societal issues ranging from gender, race, and class. While the novel initially draws parallels to African American class disparity through the Orogene race allegory, specifically at the Fulcrum, it also draws upon the harsh classifications of usefulness at different comms. In your essay, I believe the class argument could be extended beyond the comparison of orogenes and the disparities of the current African American population in America, to include modern stereotyped class distinction based on valued jobs and socioeconomic standings that are displayed throughout comms within The Stillness. With your regards to racism, I think you made a great comparison between the fictional troubles of orogenes and those facing African Americans today. I believe this section of your argument could be strengthened even further by drawing comparisons between the treatment of Guardians and orogenes, to that of African Americans and the police force, even including the Black Lives Matter movement. Jemisin makes this subtle comparison a few times throughout the science fiction novel, with orogenes stating “Guardians don’t like to discipline us where the stills can see, if they can avoid it; might earn us inappropriate public sympathy” (287). Even though this occurs in a fictional world, you could utilize this example to strengthen the seriousness of Jemisin’s real world message about race and police brutality.
ReplyDeleteYour argument intrigues me, as I can’t help but wonder what you believe authors should really do. Allegory is a powerful and popular tool used by writers, and figurative language, parallels to real life situations, and fictional representations of societal problems are key to the works of novelists. I can’t imagine the works of writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald or Herman Melville without the dramatic usages of allegory they have. So if, as you seem to be implying here, writers should only say exactly what is happening in the real world in their books and critique it in a realistic sense, what is the point of writing a novel?
ReplyDeleteTo be blunt, novelists are not journalists. It isn’t N.K. Jemisin’s role to write hard-hitting news stories which expose the struggles of oppressed America that you’ve listed here. She just isn’t a journalist. So why hold her to that standard?
Works of historical fiction like C.E. Morgan’s have their place, just as works of science fiction like The Fifth Season do. The book serves as allegory, relating real world concepts to a fictional realm which is ripe with symbolism and meaning. I think, if you consider the things that Jemisin is saying rather than just pushing them aside as “falsified issues”, “parody”, and “futile”, you’ll see that she has a lot to say.
I also feel it’s worth noting that Jemisin is both black and female, two points that you bring up to critique her work. It might be worth considering that, as the oppressed minority in both of those situations, she uses the language and parallels to oppression that she does for meaningful reasons, not simply because she’s too lazy to critique it in reality. Also, Jemisin spends her spare time as a political activist, feminist, and anti-racist blogger, according to the bio on her website which I’ve attached. Maybe it’s worth putting her ideas from the book in the context of her own experiences, rather than putting aside all of science fiction as a useless realm in which to use political allegory. In fact, I think science fiction is a realm which requires this politicization--and enrichment-- sincerely.
http://nkjemisin.com/about/
The thesis of this blog post is an important point to consider. Confronting problems directly is important, but one wonders how an author is able to confront a problem in the real world through a science fiction novel. Nevertheless, the point about generally addressing problems directly is a good one. In the second paragraph, the problems black people face in America is a strong point. However, the insinuation that this is due to racism is unfounded. The poverty rate disparity is due to historical racism, but that racism is no longer in the laws of the country. According to the Pew Research Center, the wage gap between whites and blacks has shrunk over the last 50 years by 6-7%. Although that is too small, it is progress. Generally, violent crime is committed by a race against the same race. While almost everyone wants violent crime to shrink, racism is not why that violent crime occurs. The lower life expectancy is almost completely due to food deserts, not racism. Although these issues are real and should be addressed, racism is not the reason these factors are still prevalent today. The point made about gender is a fantastic one. Women do not need superpowers to gain power, they can do it themselves. Overall, the argument about addressing problems directly is a great point, but the problems addressed cannot be blamed on something in the ether.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting point. I respect the idea that problems must me confronted head-on in order to be solved, but I question whether that was the intent of Jemisin’s novel like you suggest. To me, it seems that in order to confront a problem, it must first be acknowledged. Using science fiction as a race allegory, as The Fifth Season clearly is, is a valuable tool in helping individuals come to understand and recognize how racism or identity-based discrimination might work in the United States. Many people in the US do not believe racism exists today and deny that it has and continues to shape our policies in our country. In the novel, Jemisin uses Guardians and the Fulcrum to point out how discrimination and government policies can lead to one group of people, the Guardians, holding a large level of control that is argumentatively abusive over another group of people, the Orogenes. When racism is placed in the context of a fictional society on a fictional world, it may help people identify unfair treatment of others based on their identities because it does not require the self-reflection or self-critique blatantly pointing out racism might. As someone else said in their comment, Jemisin is not a journalist but instead a novelist; she is simply using what she is able to do best and successfully addressing racism through science fiction
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