The Many Sides of Science Fiction by Anne Cramer

Today, we have one of our old friends posting again. About a year and a half ago, Anne Cramer suggested a post about YA and Shakespeare. I thought it was a great idea. She produced it and it remains one of my favorites. Especially, when I talk with teachers who think that YA isn't sophisticated or useful in the curriculum. You can find it here. This time Anne discusses YA and science fiction. 

The Many Sides of Science Fiction by Anne Cramer

​When I first began writing this blog post, I wanted to highlight exploring content areas in the English Language Arts classroom through the use of science fiction texts. Trilogies like His Dark Materials and The Hunger Games worked as a springboard in my middle school classroom to engage even the most reluctant researchers in a quest to uncover the scientific reality governing the multiple dimensions of Philip Pullman’s Oxfords as well as the creation of genetic hybrids like Suzanne Collins’  tracker jackers. The right text can create fire where there was barely a spark. 

What was at first a battle slowly became a part of the classroom culture. By viewing the future through a particular lens, my classroom began to discuss important moral and ethical questions such as the aftermath of cloning and genetic engineering. This framework also created a natural interest in learning the proper ways to research and write up results, formulating opinion pieces, preparing for debates, and other ELA content areas. Together, we created a classroom community of inquiry and investigation while also meeting a great deal of content standards.

This exploration created free-thinkers interested in fact checking. My students became connoisseurs of exploring speculative fiction that carried current scientific theory into the future.  They followed Merriam-Webster's’ definition of science fiction as “fiction dealing principally with the impact of actual or imagined science on society or individuals or having a scientific factor as an essential orienting component”. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/science%20fiction).   
 
From this pursuit, my classroom generated a list of titles they felt would allow educators and librarians to engage students in scientific endeavors while also creating a myriad of exploration of cross-curricular themes and academic pursuits . 

Science fiction forces the reader to examine his or her role in the future. The author of The Carbon Diaries, Saci Lloyd, said in an interview that science fiction is the “The best lens for examining contemporary society”. While my students generated the list above, many of the books did not reflect the future being created in the here and now, the one reflected in a multitude of news outlets.  Lloyd touches on the role of political and ecological refugees seeking asylum in her novels, a small and poignant piece of her larger narrative. Each of the novels above touches on one aspect of culture and color but none are written directly from the perspective of a person of color. 

Many of today’s science fiction novels paint a monochromatic future, (see The Future Is Pale: Race in Contemporary Young Adult Dystopian Novels By Mary J. Couzelis) There tends to be a lack of cultural and racial identity in the characters in the novels. Our students need to see themselves in our future or have the platform to explore how, in the future constructed in many science fiction novels, race has been extinguished and cultures whitewashed in order to achieve a perfect world.  The Marrow Thieves, The Giver, and Parable of the Sower provide three opportunities to explore not only the science behind science fiction but also tap into the diversity of science fiction characters and novelists. The three books create a framework to discuss how the need for a “perfect” world erases different cultures and communities in order to achieve some semblance of salvation. 

​Indigenous writer Cherie Dimaline The Marrow Thieves and Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower create dystopian futures where climate change has created chaos due to resource scarcity and poverty. Moreover, the race of the characters plays an important factor in their future: white is good, everything else is bad. The authors address these in different ways. The books highlight many of the themes touched upon in The Critical Merits of Young Adult Literature: Coming of Age and our students can use the lens of science fiction to examine contemporary society by comparing current social, political, and scientific trends to these timeless texts. 

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Dimaline and Butler are also not afraid to introduce a wide variety of characters that are usually sidelined in mainstream science fiction (note I use mainstream- there are many other examples in the genre that break the mold). One of the great and tragic love stories in The Marrow Thieves is Miigwans’s loss of his husband Issac to recruiters, a story that echoes the relocation of indigenous people to American Indian Schools for cultural assimilation.  Butler’s creation of a black female science fiction protagonist in Lauren Olamina (especially when looking at the publication date of the novel) is as revolutionary as Lauren Olamina’s actions. Butler also broke through racial and gender boundaries with her presence in the science fiction world. She remains the only science fiction writer to ever become a MacArthur fellow. Dimaline is the first Aboriginal writer in residence for the Toronto Public Library. 

​There is no shying away from the attempts to whitewash the future in these texts. The bittersweet introduction to The Marrow Thieves instantly alerts the reader that the genocidal mistakes of our past are being repeated in the future as the main character, Frenchie, and his new family try to save the oral history tradition and rituals of their respective tribes. They are at the edge of extinction and desperately clinging to their community. Lauren Olamina and her family are barely managing an existence in walled-off community, Robledo, California. They are trapped inside for safety reasons but, at the same time, are slowly dying of poverty and lack of opportunity.  The only way out is to sell themselves to a company, a comparison to slavery that many students will not miss. 

​Drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages are obstacles in the settings of the novels as well as making their presence known in recent headlines. Flint, Michigan. Standing Rock, North Dakota. These brutal stories quickly faded from headlines while the problems continue to grow. Both writers introduce characters who are openly gay, have suffered great trauma, and are victims of class warfare. These issues are openly discussed in these texts, offering up a ripe field for discussion when juxtaposed with Lois Lowry’s The Giver. In this canonical text, Lowry does not shy away highlighting the whitewashing of the future in order to create harmony. She forces the reader to address the erasing of differences and of love for the good of the safety of The Community.  Jonas’ escape paves the way for many discussions about the risks that people take in order to break away from sameness and seek communities that are accepting of the differences that make us human. The theme that links all of these texts together is community. What remains true throughout time is the importance of the bonds of humanity and our need to be together, no matter how bleak our future.       

The community and culture of our schools is changing. Through exploring the role of community in these unique texts, we can promote not only the science concepts inside the novels but also to make sure that we address the importance of community as well the silencing of the voices of any racial group, economic faction, or sexual orientation. These three novels are a unique insight into the role of interconnectedness, a force that no matter how old civilization becomes, continues to drive our youth to seek each other out and form community. While the definition of community changes from each novel, the main characters intrinsically find themselves hurtling towards each other with a force as strong as gravity.

These diverse texts show us that the answer to many of our dystopian problems are not solved by one hero or even science but through true leadership that utilizes delegation of authority and makes  space for those who do not fit the conventional molds of the future.  These science fiction novels that paint a diverse landscape for our students to identify with also make sure to create communities of acceptance, something that many of our students long for.
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The true horror of our future in these three novels is not what science creates or the scientists that wield the power. No, the true horror lies in what humanity creates in the name of protection while hiding behind a mask of fear: the breakdown of community. The ritualistic and thought-out plans to dismember the foundation of civilizations by destroying art, music, culture, language, and love. The humanities ground the communities in these science fiction novels. Community as revolution is something that our students see reflected in current social and political movements and even better, like the protagonists in these three novels, these movements are headed by teens who are refusing to accept the answers that society is dealing them. They are hurtling together through tiny hand-held devices to lead us to a brighter and safer future for generations to come. 

Bibliography
 
Butler, O. E. (1995).Parable of the sower. London: The Women's Press.
Dimaline, C. (2017). The Marrow Thieves. Toronto : Cormorant Books
Lowry, L. (1993).The giver. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Until next week.