Aye, and Gomorrah by Samuel R. Delany

After reading the short story Aye, and Gomorrah by Samuel R. Delany, two things in particular stuck out in my mind—the world the story takes place in, and the following passage:

“What will you give me? I want something,” I said. “That’s why I came. I’m lonely. Maybe I want to find out how far it goes. I don’t know yet” (132).

While this quote is still fresh in your mind, I will go ahead and say that these words were uttered by the narrator a “spacer” in the story. A spacer is any human who’s secondary sex organs as well as glands used for puberty are removed, so that they become androgynous, pretty much sexless “creatures” to the average person in this world (for they are not very accepted). This was supposed to be so that their reproductive systems couldn’t fail in space due to radiation and whatnot. However, spacers are not “creatures” to the people called “frelks.” A frelk is someone who is very attracted to spacers, to the point where they would pay to have sex with them. In the story, the spacers capitalize on this fact, travelling around, looking for frelk customers.

I find it very interesting that the story takes place in a world in which gay activity is completely accepted, yet the police like to crack down on spacers, like when the narrator and his group of spacers walk in on a few gay men engaged in sexual activity together, not very well hidden. I think it is somewhat accurate of what gay rights will be like in the near future, for since the 60’s, the gay community has become more and more accepted. However, this story significantly raises the question of what comes next, after the gay community has been accepted. Would it be that people have become more open to new ideas, or would it just be that the battle for gay rights gone on so long that people have become desensitized to the issue? In the first scenario, another group of sexual “deviants” would survive, but not necessarily so in the second scenario. Therefore, some day I’d further like to explore, what exactly happens after gay rights are achieved?

I also am intrigued by the way that people, or spacers seem to easily travel around this Alternative World (!). The phrase “And went up. And came down in [location]” is frequently used, indicating that the spacers are travelling quickly, as well as very often. It makes them seem like transients, not bound to the Earth in any way, yet at the same time they must not have any kind of place to call a permanent home. Perhaps then, this is one of the reasons that the narrator (the main spacer), states that “I want something” and “I’m lonely.” Perhaps the narrator would like a home. Or, the narrator seems to want companionship, even if the narrator has no sexual attraction to anybody.

I personally think that Delany is getting at the idea that even if a person has no sexual attraction or no ability to be sexually attracted to others, he or she still needs and can benefit from companionship. Studies do keep saying that humans are supposed to be social creatures, and the narrator still follows the mold in a way. He finds himself lonely, and perhaps the “something” he wants is just a friend, a companion, for an emotional connection. Perhaps then, Delany is also trying to argue for gay rights at the time by saying that those who are gay also love who they love because of an emotional connection. I think he wants to show that gay people are the same as straight people in that aspect.

C.L. Moore's No Woman Born

"In times before her, other actresses had been lovely and adulated, but never before Deirdre’s day had
the entire world been able to take one woman so wholly to its heart.So few outside the capitals had ever
seen Bernhardt or the fabulous Jersey Lily. And the beauties of the movie screen had had to limit their
audiences to those who could reach the theaters. But Deirdre’s image had once moved glowingly across
the television screens of every home in the civilized world. And in many outside the bounds of civilization.
Her soft, husky songs had sounded in the depths ofjungles, her lovely, languorous body had woven its
patterns of rhythm in desert tents and polar huts. The whole worldknew every smooth motion of her
body and every cadence of her voice, and the way a subtle radiance had seemed to go on behind her
features when she smiled."

One of the many things I looked up after reading C.L. Moore's No Woman Born was the history of cinema and television in the forties. What I found was incredibly interesting-I found that apparently, during the Second World War, people still went for entertainment. Specifically, going to the cinemas was very popular, which I think set up a basis for the passage above from C.L. Moore's short story.

The story mentions that Deirdre, in the height of her career, had reached successes that no other actresses had ever been able to dream of, particularly because Deirdre was able to be known by every person in the civilized world through the invention of television. This brings me to an interesting discovery-television was not commercially introduced until 1947 while this story was published in 1944. However, the television had been introduced at the 1939 World Fair many years earlier, but the war had stopped it from further development. Perhaps then, C.L. Moore had known about the television from the World Fair and predicted just how widespread it would become. Perhaps this fact was the basis or inspiration for this part of the story, as well as the meaning of how it is just one's image that carries on through the minds of others. In this case, it would specifically be Deirdre's image because television can be likened to a series of images.

Part of the reason C.L. Moore, if the World Fair had been the basis, was able to predict the success of the television was because Cinema was already very big at the time. Apparently, since World War 2 was going on, many people needed entertainment to help relax and take their minds off of things. Cinema was naturally a great option, and many actors and actresses started getting famous like people had been in the radio's past.   Perhaps that is why C.L. Moore chose for Deirdre to only have sight and sound-just what you need to understand a television. This opens up all the questions like if we actually need the other senses to be considered human or able to experience the human experience.

However, my guess is that because the television only emulates sight and sound, it is the same for Deirdre's career. In fact, it seems that Maltzer was quite minimalist with Deirdre's design, giving her only the tools of her image and sound, the only things she would need for being on television. It makes you think that many people in the past watching television would only be able to remember the image and voice of a person, the only things carried by a television. People in the radio era probably only remembered voices. Therefore, for Deirdre, it is quite sad that her image has been shattered, for people must have remembered her image well-not her personality or anything, but simply it had been her images that had captivated the audiences.

Sources:
http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade40.html
http://www.forties.net/entertainment.html
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_type_of_entertainment_was_popular_during_World_War_2

No Woman B.orn by C.L Moore (pg. 21-41)

            “I believe there’s an affinity between men and the machines they make. They make them out of their own brains, really, a sort of mental conception and gestation, and the result responds to the minds that created them and to all human minds that understand and manipulate them. (32) ”

            When Deirdre says this while reflecting on her body, it seems as if she is not truly her own self anymore.  Of course, it seems that she has the power to think whatever she chooses to, judging by the fact that her brain is intact and she spends this time talking about her feelings over the matter.  However, when she describes the “affinity between men and the machines they make,” it is almost as if it is implying that machines must be owned, and the creator is always the closest person to his or her machines.  Therefore, it seems as though the creator is being a good parent, yet it also seems that is implied that such a relationship is stifling for whatever or whoever is on the receiving end of the attention, in this case Deidre.  Therefore, although it seems that Deirdre is her own self, she seems to belong to someone else and her freedom is almost as artificial as her body.  Would she really be able to live knowing that her physical being practically belonged to someone else? She already was not given a choice when it came to whether or not to preserve her brain and try to rebuild her.  It is almost as if keeping her alive was definitely a mistake, for it was a first breach of her right to her freedom before she was even conscious again.
            Therefore, although the feat of rebuilding Deirdre is a huge leap for science, it seems like a huge step backwards for human rights and liberties in general.  Of course, it would be understandable to anyone that the scientist who has worked long and hard to be protective of his work, and will go to many lengths to protect the experiment as a success.  However, I feel that if some scientists indeed were to be so attached to their work, they would reach out the the rest of society to become more accepting of the work they do. Perhaps then, the bridge between alternate life forms and human beings could be linked.

            Therefore, it seems that freedom will remain a big issue in the rest of the short story to come, and the morality of the entire situation seems like it will have to come to a clash soon.

Introduction!

"The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life" - william Faulkner

            My name is Shelley Wang, and not too long ago, my friend sent me this quote. Not only do I think it perfectly describes what I feel art to be, but reminds me of how literature seems to capture the aspects of the world around it, and show a snapshot of time, to all who read. I always seem to become absorbed by the new life these books can create.

            On another note, I am a Chinese American girl from California, and I have always had a huge passion for all kinds of art and my Asian background! Therefore, I’m not yet sure if I will be joining, but I do love Chinese Culture). There is just something about being able to create something from scratch and getting so lost into your work that you are creating. With science fiction writers, I feel as if they have the most fun writing because they are creating completely different worlds. I think I would really enjoy it.

            My goal this year is definitely to learn how to enjoy blogging and to become better at written communication!  Everything Hopefully, I can therefore quickly get my points across, and as early-on as possible.

           

Shelley