Throughout
“The Fifth Season” N. K. Jemisin weaves a tight story with many twists as well
as delicate topics, all of which she handles beautifully through her use of subtlety.
This delicate web she builds through her story is able to handle these topics due
to the fact that she effectively targets the readers emotions, without overwhelming
the reader. Her subtlety as a strength is best displayed when she handles the provocative
topics of gender, and sexuality. When Jemisin introduced Tonkee, a transgender
character, she first built the character and later introduces her gender
identity. Her identity is introduced as she bathes in front of Essun, in a nonchalant
manner ending in her joking about making her a breeder. Jemisin’s use of a
nonchalant dialogue as well as the light-hearted comment at the end, elevate
her writing because it opens the door to large debates while enforcing the idea
that nothing about her character changes because of her gender identity. This simplistic style when bringing up large
provocative topics better touches the readers emotions because the readers have
already developed an attachment to the character for all of their other qualities.
Her style also perpetuates that something as small as a character’s gender
identity does not make them any less of a person. A similar writing style is
seen when Jemisin tackles sexuality as well. When she addresses Alabaster’s
sexuality the conversation centralizes around a “Guardian”, and the detail that
he was a date with a man was just another detail. Similarly, when she introduces
a polyamorous relationship, Innon states “Oh? So you have decided to share?”
(356) Innon brings up the start of a polyamorous relationship in a casual manner
that does not cause the reader to think twice. It normalizes all of these situations
and is able to beautifully humanize each typically polarizing issue so that
readers think of them as people, not as just their sexuality or their gender. This
writing style allows Jemisin to exhibit that they don’t have to hide part of
their identity “[b]ecause I want you to like me” (234). Jemisin’s simplistic
style perfectly lends itself to humanize polarizing issues.
I appreciated Jemisin’s approach to topics like gender and sexuality. Jemisin’s nonchalant attitude towards these different identities works to normalize the spectrum of genders and sexualities, like you said. However, Jemisin’s subtlety regarding these topics allowed for her to be much more forward in using the novel as an allegory for race. Early in the novel we are shown how orogeny is similar to race when Schaffa comes and takes Damaya to the Fulcrum, a place where Orogenes are forced to do particular kinds of work under the control of Guardians, which could be compared to the enslavement of Africans and African-Americans in the US or even to the control that white police officers attempt to exhibit over black Americans. The quiet mention of Tonkee’s gender and the more obvious but seemingly accepted polyamorous relationship between Syenite, Alabaster, and Innon also speak to the probable fact that in The Stillness a person’s most important identity is Orogene or non-Orogene. Whether a person is capable of orogeny, like race in the United States, has been a dominant determinant of how society views and treats an individual. Jemisin focuses much of her energy on relating The Fifth Season to race in America, but mentions these other identities as a way of normalizing them while also emphasizing the role orogeny plays as an identity.
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