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Speculative Fictions of Race and Ethnicity - Coggle Diagram
Speculative Fictions of Race and Ethnicity
Gender
Good Hunting
-Ken Liu
"I had a choice: let him keep on changing me to suit him, or he could remove the legs and throw me out on the street. Who would believe a legless Chinese whore? I wanted to survive. So I swallowed the pain and let him continue" (Liu, 70). Yan transformed herself back into a fox to escape the men which destroyed her body as she was seen as a sexual object and nothing more. By being a women, she lost all credibility even if she was left disabled without legs. Therefore, she was forced to allow him to continue to destroy her body in order to be able to continue living without the reputation of being a "whore." By including the dialogue of the conversation with Yan, Liu gives the audience an insight to the way Yan actually feels as she uses short sentences and has plenty of breaks in her speaking. Gender is a prominent theme throughout this short story as Yan was not worth much than just her body as she the man who changed her liked her being a women though that was not enough for him. He wanted a machine women as machines were the only thing that turned him on sexually which is why he decided to change Yan without giving her a choice or an option. As she recalls what he did to her, he remembers the pain she felt though she realized that due to her being a women, she had no other option than to allow the man to do as he pleased with her body as that was the only thing he cared about. He never touched her face or changed her face or brain into a machine as we only wanted to change her body as women are stereotyped as only being able to offer their body and nothing else.
Shadowshaper
-Daniel Jose Older
"But it was hard working making suggestions and not blatant declarations with her ever changing Puerto Rican body" (Older). Shadowshaper focuses on the search for Sierra's own self- discovery while incorporating family issues as well as the struggles which Sierra must face due to her body and female gender. Sierra is constantly sexualized as she is a young female of color and society pictures Sierra as an easy women as she is constantly cat called when walking on the streets due to her body form and Latina background. As she was walking in a street of her neighborhood, a few boys from a passing car began calling names and asking her to come over and sexualizing her while basically harassing her though she didn't even pay attention as she was accustomed to this as due to her color and gender she received these remarks extremely often. Sierra is seen as an individual who's thinking isn't worth much since she is a woman she is expected to do women duties and attract using her body instead of being able to express her intelligence as she has a mind which is worth much more than her body though people are unable to see this. Sierra's female characteristics made people assume that she was not smart as she was a female and they stereotyped women into being pretty but dumb. Therefore, Sierra struggled to find answers and be taken seriously due to her female gender.
The Ghost Bride
-Yangsze Choo
"One evening, my father asked me whether I would like to become a ghost bride.
Asked
is perhaps not the right word. We were in his study" (Choo). Li Lan is offered to be the bride of a man who died mysteriously and is subject to taking her family out of bankruptcy since she is the only daughter. Her father brings this up during an evening conversation in a manner that makes it seem as a command instead of a simple choice. The Lim family was on the search for a bride and made the offer to Li Lan's father though he made it seem as if it was an offer for her but in reality she understood that she didn't have much of a choice left as her father could no longer support her financially. By being the only daughter, her family saw her as their way out of poverty as she could marry for pure monetary interest instead of being able to find the actual love of her life. Lim Tian Ching begins to appear in her dream while haunting her to become his bride though she has managed to fall in love with his cousin, Tian Bai. However, Lim Tian Ching's family has managed to control her and her father's inability to provide has left her without much choice but to marry as if she was only worth money for her father. Li Lan's gender forces her to feel as if she was an object which had no say in who she got to marry. Her father intended for her to marry in order to take him out of poverty even though she had fallen in love with a different man.
Loneliness is in your Blood
- Cadwell Turnbull
"You don't need lovers, you tell yourself. Only the blood. You can still live forever" (Turnbull). Turnbull depicts the self-issues which, Sukunyoa, the man character undergoes as she begins turning old and no longer has the same abilities of seduction and attractiveness which she once did. She sees time pass in front of her as "[her] skin crinkles like old paper, pieces of [her] flaking away." In a matter of moments, she realized she was no longer the women which had the ability to have relationships with any men or women she desired to have. Instead, she had lost all her beauty and even those who were intoxicated with alcohol no longer wanted her as they called her names. As a women, she lost her attractiveness and youthfulness which made her lonely and unwanted and made her feel defeated and drained. Though, she realizes that she doesn't need the affection and sexual encounters as she only needs the blood to survive. She constantly reassures herself that she only needs the blood in order to distract herself from her depressing reality in which she is lonely and old, which is something that women fear. The gender of Sukunyoa has a large effect on her actions and feelings as a women, she has lost everything she once had which give her powers and allowed her to feel wanted which mentally affected her greatly and caused her suffering.
History
Kindred
- Octavia Butler
“I never realized how easily people could be trained to accept slavery" (Butler 101). As Dana and Kevin time travel back to slavery times, many African Americans suffered due to the chains of slavery which were harsh on both men and women. She watches children acting out a slave action as if it was a comedy game and realizes how twisted the world is in which the kids have learned that there is no way out of slavery as the are taught to live a slave life. Alice was raped by Rufe as he claimed to "love " her and she had babies which she told her he sold off and ultimately led to her killing herself. Rufe was a slave owner and Alice was a slave which he raped which was commonly seen among slavery times. While Dana was in the past, she witnessed many slave auctions in which she saw how some of the people she had came close to were sold and parted from their family as if they were not worth anything other than money. She witnes how a guy was sold just because he had tried talking to her and Rufe had became jealous. Due to his jealousy, he sold him away without thinking twice about him or his family ties. Dana was forced to work on the field which consisted of hours of non stop working in which slaves were not able to take any breaks or else they would get punished and whipped. The whippings would be harsh and leave many slaves unconscious. Alice was punished by getting whipped so hard that she nearly saw her death and was terrorized once again when she had to work on the fields as she had been accustomed to working in the kitchen.
The Litigation Master and the Monkey King
-Ken Liu
The Mandu emperors suppressed the actual amount of tragic deaths which is why the book was so important to hide as it was the only source of information which would allow history to be known. Tian had to conceal the book and help the widow and her family run away in order to help keep the book safe. He underwent excruciating pain though he was able to preserve history. Tian lost fingers and other parts of his body as he refused to give any information regarding the location of the family who had the book had fled to. He was in charge of keeping the family and the book safe and away from the hands of the government which had intended to suppress a horrible reality from their own citizens and outside nations. The government intended to withhold information from family members and the outside world in order to hide the atrocities and murders which they caused among the citizens during this time period. Liu reflects on a time period in which many things were concealed by the Chinese government and people had to find ways to allow history to be known through their own accounts.
Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints, in the City Beneath the Still Waters
N.K. Jemskin
This story reflects on the struggles which many people had to survive and undergo during the Hurricane Katrina in 2005 which left irreversible traces of the destruction it caused. As seen throughout the story, many were left without homes or family members as their appliances were seen floating around the the streets slowly turned into rivers with death bodies and cars floating. Tookie is stuck in a time where the land he lives on is flooded because of a recent hurricane as the streets are flooded and most of the people have been injured or died. Tookie is able to surivive and with the use of other creatures is able to find his path back to live and is able to survive the hurricane. The short story depicts a horrible time in history where a hurricane affected the lives of hundreds of people and shattered the nation into pieces.
The Man who Ended History
- Ken Liu
The medical lab testing in Pingfang in China in the 1930's-1940's included many murders as Chinese were murdered during these experiments. China intended to keep this information away from the Soviet Union and conceal the murderous and inhumane treatment away from the outside world. Human experimentation, vivisection, torture, slaughter of civilians, unlawful imprisonment, and rape were all part of the history during this time period which the Japanese inflicted upon the Chinese during the WWII time period. This story questions if it is better to leave the past behind or to relive it and learn more about it in order to adjust and change the future. As he recalls everything he witnessed, the murderous are horrendously pictured through vivid descriptions which depict the inhumane murders. Liu depicts the horrors which were seen in the past during these experiments which caused the lives of many.
Racism
Children of Men
"What do the police know about justice"-Julian. The authoritarian government victimises the immigrants and torture is strongly permitted for all the outsiders. During the crisis of infertility, the world is in chaos with thousands of immigrants channeling into the United Kingdom thought he government sets forth extreme policies which aim to disrupt the peace in the lives of these immigrants. The government sends the immigrants and refugees to camps while the Fishes fight for the rights of the refugees who deserve to have equal rights. In this crisis, the law enforcement does not serve to protect the people but instead is corrupt and fuses on creating fear among the immigrants. Therefore, the police failed to serve the community and instead insisted in racism in the chaotic communities in the UK. The police act racist themselves towards the people who are trying to find a better place to live in the United Kingdom though the police focuses on terrorizing those who aren't citizens from the United Kingdom even though that is not their job.
Shadowshaper-
Daniel Jose Older
"The shrieking shadow figure was nowhere in sign. 'She must be another OD from that damn Dominican club over on Flatbush!' 'Someone do something!'" (Older, 104). When Sierra is hurt on the floor they automatically think she is drugged or drunk because of her skin color and they don't want to help her. Sierra was drained by one of her first encounters using her magical powers while she was awaken in a white neighborhood in which she laid, visibilly hurt and confused. However, the citizens of this neighborhood automatically assumed that she was a street girl who was intoxicated because of the color of her skin. Instead of helping her or calling for help immediately, they assumed that she was lying on the floor as if she wanted to be there. Many of the men argued that she was probably just another drug addict while some women urged them to find help for Sierra who was clearly hurt. These citizens from a higher income area debated helping a human being because of the color of their skin. Furthermore, Sierra does not understand why her brother and his group play in the white areas as racism has taught her that white people do not listen to music from people of color.
Kindred
- Octavia Butler
Dana and her husband's marriage isn't appreciated by her family as they see her as a disgrace and basically disown her. Dana's aunt is in favor of the relationship as she believes it will make her children lighter which will cause them less suffering. However, her uncle is extremely upset as he expected her to marry a black man and threatens her by cutting her out of the will if she married a white men though she married him either way. Their interracial relationship is shunned by many. Dana questions Kevin if his family will agree on their marriage though he claims he only has a sister. However, Kevin's sister, whom he thought would be happy about their relationship, turned out to tell him that if he married a black women she would stop all contact with him though he blamed this on the influence of his sisters husband who is racist. His sister preferred to forget about her only family because of the fact that he was in love with a women of a dark color. Kevin views Dana as a person and does not base their relationship of the differences in race. Therefore, their relationship is faced with many struggles stemming from their only family members. Afterwards, once they travel back in time, Kevin has to act as if he was a slave owner and Alice was his slave in order for people not to question why they would sleep together or why she had special rights with Kevin. Tess was jealous that Alice and Dana were close and helping each other escape which is why Tess told on them before they managed to accomplish escaping. She had been jealous that they were not getting treated the same as other black people in the plantation.
Mongrels
- Stephen Graham Jones
As an outsider, the boy is excluded from society as he doesn't fit in and experiences racism from others. He also doesn't fit in with his own family which furthers the racism which he has encountered. He gets trouble at school because he has an active imagination in which he depicts a picture with too much detail and is therefore seen as a criminal. Also, he is unsure if he will turn out to be like his aunt and uncle or if he will fit in the normal world like his mother which is why he lives in a world where he does not fit in either. He tried to follow a normal live by living amongst regular people and going to school while receiving an education though his aunt and uncle have to escape from state to state often in order to run away from the law which is why he has also grown up living the life of werewolves. In a scene of the short story, the narrator is assumed to be Mexican at the gas station which identifies how quick people are to stereotype and assume the roots of others without taking the time to actually ask.
Cultural Identity
Good Hunting
-Ken Liu
"Yan leapt out of the door like a bolt of lightning. Stealthily, gracefully, she darted into the streets of Hong Kong, free, feral, a hulijing built for this new age"(Liu, 73). Yan was destroyed by the machines though she was also able to get her old self back through the use of technological advances and machines. Yan wanted to regain her own identity with the old powers which allowed her to meet the young man who helped her hide and helped her find herself. She had been a hulijing who went around causing trouble with her mother while the man and his father would intend to stop them. While his father and her mother became old, he aided Yan through her search for her identity as she had not been able to transform anymore which was what she considered to be her mother's legacy and her own identity. By using the machines, she was able to transform and had more powers and abilities than she once had had naturally.
The Litigation Master and the Monkey King
-Ken Liu
Tian preferred getting tortured and being honest and protecting the sacred book. He was part of the "hooligans" who defended people though he was unable to defend himself. He underwent a tough decision though he made a decision which displayed his identity clearly. Tian was considered lazy and unable to actually defend anyone though he would succeed. He also has a Monkey King with which he constantly talks with in his imagination. Tian demonstrated himself to being a loyal and honest person as he sought to preserve the memory of those who the government had suppressed and destroyed. Tian understood how important it was for the future for him to hide the book and surpass all the obstacles and challenges which were put in front of him while trying to help the family run away and hide the book. As they constantly gave him chances to tell them where the family had went, he stayed quiet and kept his promise of helping the family as his culture was at risk as everything was written in the book of the killings caused by the Manchu Emperor.
A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai'i
-Alaya Dawn Johnson
"The silence between them is strained. It's as if Key isn't there at all. And soon, she thinks, she won't be. 'I've made my choice,' Key says" (Johnson). Key protected Tetsu and feels as if she betrayed her human kind as vampires take over the world and she becomes part of them. As a human caretaker, she promises to never hurt them though the moment she turns into a vampire these promises disappear and she loses allt he care she once had for the human kind. Once she has decided, that her identity is with the humans as she doesn't identify herself as a vampire anymore, it is too late. She hope for too long to be able to transform in order to be able to love Tetsuo that she lost her own identity and became what she had grown to despise. She became everything she had once promised she wouldn't become as along with a change in her cultural identity, she also changed into a heartless vampire. Key had the chance to destroy what had put her culture at risk though she decided not to which resulted in her changing into a vampire without a final decision made by her. When she was part of the humans, she was in charge of taking care of the food for the vampires though once she characterized herself with the vampires, she was no longer a caretaker but instead the one who hurts others without feeling any remorse as she hurts the girl.
The Ghost Bride
- Yangsze Choo
Li Lan respects her family's needs and decides to take the offer as her culture allows parents to sell their daughters off even though she's fallen in love with someone else. In her Chinese culture, she obeys the cultural standards and does not disobey her father. Li Lan undergoes a long journey when trying to escape the Plains of the Dead in which she is tricked out of and must figure out how to get back hopen while her spirit weakens. Throughout this journey, she learns to discover herself and decides to ultimately not marry the cousin as she realizes her worth and learns how to make her own decisions while learning to not always follow the cultural rules.
Monsters
Mongrels
- Stephen Graham Jones
This coming of age story focuses on a family which consists of werewolves and a young boy who is growing up without a clear definition of his future. Aunt Libby and Uncle Darren must constantly move around throughout the world with the boy in order to escape the law and never be discovered. The werewolves are shunned and unliked by humans which is why they must hide their identity as humans think werewolves are nonexistent. His grandfather dies in the middle of a transformation and the boy watches and his uncle destroys the body of his grandfather by shattering basically every bone left in his body and leaving no trace behind after burying him as monsters in transformation could not be found by humans. The scene in which the narrator is assumed to be mexican demonstrates the racism which is displayed throughout the story. Furthermore, Brittany Andrew's grandfather was also a werewolf as he attacked the narrator halfway through a transformation in which he turned into a creature himself which is why Darren continued to fight him and kill him after transforming himself as well. Then, the grandfather was thrown off to the side of the rode and if he was to ever be found people would expect him to be a large dog which had been ran over. These creatures are able to transform from humans to werewolves within a matter of time though after a certain age, it gets harder for them to be able to transform quickly.
A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai'i
-Alaya Dawn Johnson
" You will understand: he said to her when she was human. i wouldn't hurt you: she said this to a girl who- a girl-she drinks" (Johnson). Vampires take over the world while keeping the humans in campus in which the vampires take advantage of the humans and only use them for feeding. Key discovers the vampire, Tetsuo, and instead of killing him at the young age in the garage, she decides to shelter him and protect him. She falls in love with him and lives with the hope that she will become a vampire in order to be with him. However, she regrets this decision by the end of the story as she realizes that he turns her into a vampire as well and she breaks all the promises she had made to the other humans regarding never sucking their blood or punishing them. As Key turns into a vampire, she also turns into a monster and everything she once hated. The theme regarding fruits is constantly seen as flavors are of extreme importance to the vampires as they find flavor in emotions and people. The humans are seen as objects to the vampires as the vampires rule the world. The humans have little say as they are the actual outsiders in a world which has been gained control by vampires. As a human, their opinions aren't valid and are left without choice as once Key choices to stay a human, it is too late as Tetsuo's plan the entire time was to transform her. The humans are constantly being hurt by the vampires though helpless. The vampires are depicted as monsters which constantly feed of the humans which they have held captive after being able to gain control of the human world.
Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints, in the City Beneath Still Waters
- N.K. Jemskin
"Tookie sat on the porch of his shotgun house, watching the rain fall sideways. A lizard strolled by on the worn dirt–strip that passed for a sidewalk, easy as you please, as if there wasn’t an inch of water already collected around its paws. It noticed him and stopped" (Jemskin). Tookie encounters many monsters and creatures which serve to both relieve and complicate his survival after the hurricane which completely destroyed the city. Tookie undergoes a journey after being a regular man along with creatures. Through the use of vivid descriptions of everyday surroundings, the audience is able to image the setting and feel as if placed in the story. The hurricane has left behind no trace of life as Tookie is encountered with creatures instead of humans. These creatures appear in different forms though they accompany him throughout his journey.
Loneliness is in your Blood
- Cadwell Turnbull
Sukunyoa, an immortal monster who lives off blood and being able to peel her skin to become attractive goes around finding women and men to attract to take to bed throughout her youthful years. The author constructs this story to be written in second person point of view which adds a creepy dimension to the story of the creature. Sukunyoa lives a lonely life as she is set apart from the rest of the world when she has turned older and can not attract anyone anymore. The girl she lives with constantly reminds her of the loneliness in which she lives in due to her creature ability to live off the blood of others. Sukunyoa is a monster who begins to create a little monster with the girl she's raisinga s she teaches her how to attract guys to be able to suck their blood.
