“Submit to him. The words brought a vile taste to her mouth, but she looked at Isaac’s haggard face, and his obvious misery and his fear for her calmed her somehow.”
In the end of Book One, it is revealed that Doro desires Anyanwu to marry his son, Isaac. At this point in the novel, submission and fertilization have been the central focus of Wild Seed and Anyanwu has represented a strong, female character. Octavia Bulter casts Doro as a typical God-like male character whose sole purpose is to spread his seed across the world.
The passage above from pages 112 to 123 shows an argument that Anyanwu has with Doro, and then an agreement with Isaac. Throughout the novel, Anyanwu has submitted because of a promise for a better life for her children – a life where she will not have to watch them die. It is revealed at this point in the story that Doro has other plans for her and she must submit to his will.
Octavia Butler uses submission in her characters to comment on the way in which we have created a skewed perspective on creating life. Doro, who uses an almost biblical manner of fertilization, is the typical male character that believes he has the power to exert his will over all. Anyanwu is revealed early on to have a power that even Doro can’t fully understand and Octavia Butler uses this power to create an interesting clash between these two characters.
Octavia Butler has expressed Anyanwu’s power, but chooses to have her submit to Doro because of her future children. I believe Octavia Butler is making an interesting comment on fertilization, in regards to it being mainly a women’s responsibility for the upbringing, and despite having a strong power over another, even a character like Anywanwu can’t escape her forced maternal instincts. This is juxtaposed with Doro’s traditional desire to spread his will, him believing that his seed alone can make a perfect child.
These maternal instincts are represented on page 122, “She knew now how the slaves had felt as they lay chained on the bench, the slaver’s hot iron burning into their flesh. In her pride, she had denied that she was a slave. She could no longer deny it. Doro’s mark had been on her from the day they met. She could break free of him only by dying and sacrificing her children and leaving him loose upon the world to become even more of an animal.”
It is further commented throughout the novel that many of Doro’s children have grown up and not achieved the amount of success he had desired. In fact, only a few of his children pleased him. Anywanwu is shown to cherish the gifts of her children, and her fertilization with Isaac later shows that their parenting had created a very special child.
Octavia Butler is using Wild Seed to comment not only on fertilization, but more importantly the process of raising a child. She is using Anywanwu as a strong female character who has chosen to submit so she can see her children live and prosper. Octavia Butler is describing an almost biblical approach to breeding and by blending in maternal character traits through Anywanwu, she is also describing how we view the process of creating life.
No comments:
Post a Comment