Andy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
amoraobscura) wrote2020-06-01 10:02 pm
amoraobscura) wrote2020-06-01 10:02 pm
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the wrongs question: the Broken Earth trilogy
I'm only at the beginning of N.K. Jemisin's The Stone Sky but these books. I don't think I've ever read books that do so much thematically and have so many ideas.
But, one thing that really stands out to me is how--in comparison to these books-- so many fantasy and sci-fi stories that deal with discrimination, slavery, and persecuted minorities ask the wrong questions. The logic goes that because [insert fictional minority] are dangerous they deserve to be exterminated. And in The Broken Earth books the logic still holds. Many believe orogenes need to be controlled and enslaved because they are dangerous. If they weren't so dangerous, these extreme measures wouldn't be needed. And so, much discussion--as it is in discussions of other fictional minorities--is about are these so called "dangerous" minorities actually dangerous. If they are, they need to be controlled. If not, these controls are inhumane.
But in The Broken Trilogy, Jemisin makes it clear that this doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all.
Are orogenes dangerous?
Of course they are. An orogene can snap their fingers and cause an avalanche that buries an entire town--of course their powers are dangerous.
So what.
Orogenes are dangerous but they are also human beings. They're people. They don't deserve to have their humanity stripped from them. And if people as powerful as orogenes don't deserve to be enslaved or discriminated against, than people who are capable of a lot less don't either.
There's no reason for it. Ever.
But, one thing that really stands out to me is how--in comparison to these books-- so many fantasy and sci-fi stories that deal with discrimination, slavery, and persecuted minorities ask the wrong questions. The logic goes that because [insert fictional minority] are dangerous they deserve to be exterminated. And in The Broken Earth books the logic still holds. Many believe orogenes need to be controlled and enslaved because they are dangerous. If they weren't so dangerous, these extreme measures wouldn't be needed. And so, much discussion--as it is in discussions of other fictional minorities--is about are these so called "dangerous" minorities actually dangerous. If they are, they need to be controlled. If not, these controls are inhumane.
But in The Broken Trilogy, Jemisin makes it clear that this doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all.
Are orogenes dangerous?
Of course they are. An orogene can snap their fingers and cause an avalanche that buries an entire town--of course their powers are dangerous.
So what.
Orogenes are dangerous but they are also human beings. They're people. They don't deserve to have their humanity stripped from them. And if people as powerful as orogenes don't deserve to be enslaved or discriminated against, than people who are capable of a lot less don't either.
There's no reason for it. Ever.