This semester was a refreshing
break from the monotony that English often is, as it delved into subjects I
really enjoyed. While it may not show… I am, and have always been, a huge fan
of science fiction. A mere line describing futuristic technologies in The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas (“all
kinds of marvelous devices not yet invented here, floating light-sources,
fuelless power, a cure for the common cold”) – despite it not really being the
point of the story – made me giddy with excitement to read the rest, as it
transformed the image of Omelas from a quaint renaissance-era town to a
majestic futuristic megalopolis. You can only imagine how much I loved Black Box. On the flipside, the total
lack of these elements in the novel we read, The Handmaid’s Tale, made the story more difficult to read (despite
the fact that I completely understand that these details were not really
necessary to the story. I guess it’s just a matter of the writer’s style.)
The
writings that we did every week really did impact my understanding of them.
They forced me to think critically about a story that I, most likely, just took
for face value as I read it; in retrospect, I’ve never really looked at science
fiction this critically before. Looking back now, nearly every short story that
we read this semester contained an analogy to something that already does or
did occur in the real world, something that the story was designed to attract
attention to.
As such,
science fiction – at least, the “soft” variation – seems to be used a lot by
writers as a tool to represent an issue in our world without directly pointing
to it, but making it similar enough to allow an individual to point out undeniable
parallels between our world and the one that the author is building, perhaps
with an exaggeration or twist that causes us to be disgusted by it.
The fact
that an individual can read a sci-fi piece that draws them to reflect on themselves
and the world around them without a direct reference makes science fiction a
very powerful tool when it comes to discussing social justice. How else would
you do that? I mean, it’s possible that fantasy can delve into this, but it
tends to be so alien that it’s practically unrelatable. Part of the punch in
science fiction is the uncanny similarity between us and the people in the
story. You can see this in The
Semplica-Girl Diaries very clearly.
The Semplica-Girl
Diaries is very cleverly done. It’s undeniably relatable. Everyone
understands the father and his situation as a lower-middle class individual who
only wants to make his kids’ situation as nice as possible. The author tells us
a story about this guy who just wants the best for his kids, and casually
slides in the fact that the society in this story totally endorses the idea of
hanging human beings by a line through their brain as decoration for years at a
time.
With a
little bit of thought (that I likely would not have applied without the fact
that I had to write a short essay about it), you recognize a parallel between
the Semplica Girls and reality. It’s meant to represent all of the people that
we don’t see – illegal immigrants, factory workers - that work to make our
amazing lives as they are. Sure, it’s exaggerated, but this combination of
uncanny similarity between us and the people in the story, as well as the
relatability of the people causes us to reflect without being referenced, thus
not being biased on our conclusions.
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