why I'm a writer

[hermetic]

A friend and I were having a heated discussion about MammothFail the other day, and toward the end of it (where we stopped because the burgers needed to come off the grill and we had to get on with the business of dinner), she pulled out what might have been meant to be a trump card in the debate, or perhaps just an attempt to validate another

Comments

[adantamystic]

Yes! Exactly that!

Also, another glaring problem to the 'it's just fiction' argument is the fact that Wrede's story uses groups and cultures that exist in our reality. She didn't create an alternate world with a different life form to tell her magical tale. She chose to use our world, the world she knows, and rewrite history in a way that was more palatable for her, an irresponsible, stupid, and unbelievably chicken-shit way to grapple with issues of colonization and violence.

Ossie Davis wrote an awesome essay in which he discusses the genocide of the American Indian, particularly how the European view of the American Indian enabled the genocide to take place. He wrote that because the European looked at the American Indians as 'part of the local flora and fauna', they were seen as something to be easily tamed and/or removed for the advancement of civilization. Because they were 'things' of lesser worth and intelligence, their desires, thoughts, and emotions were inconsequential. This is exactly what Wrede did in her problematic attempt to re-envision the reality and creation of America. She removed an entire group of people and replaced them with 'magical' creatures as though there really wasn't much of a difference.

[hermetic]

Yes, I hear you. I make a similar point at the end of my "unspeakable horror" post.

As for the magical creatures/replacement issue--I can see that, but it's not a point that really resonates with me as the whole erasure does. When I get around to reading Thirteenth Child, I think that's an idea I'm going to be keeping mind to explore.