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Octavia E. Butler, Clay's Ark
Oct. 9th, 2012 12:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dorotheanAt first I expected Clay's Ark to have more ... human interest? for me than Mind of My Mind.
Both novels concern a sort of new development for humanity -- Mind of My Mind has people with psychic abilities who are gaining power by working as a group, and Clay's Ark has an isolated set of people infected by an alien disease which changes them completely. All of the major characters in Mind of My Mind were part of the in-group of psychics; there was no real voice for the ordinary humans whom the psychics were able to use and prey on. I think this had a purpose in the novel, but one of the effects was to make it cold -- the psychic characters are difficult to sympathize with.
More than half of Clay's Ark is told from the perspective of three people who are kidnapped by the disease carriers. The disease, like a souped-up Selfish Gene, changes its victims' behavior and thoughts, driving them to infect other people so that the disease can survive and spread. The carriers remain in some control of themselves, able to choose to stay in an isolated ranch instead of going into a city and infecting a vast population, but most of their decisions do revolve around the propagation of the disease, making them selfish in ways similar to the psychics of Mind of My Mind. So, the three kidnapped people, not yet changed by the disease, are able to struggle against it and speak loudly about the problems it will cause for humanity.
I thought that these viewpoint characters would give the book a warmer, easier feeling -- a heartier and more obvious sense of moral indignation, maybe. But they don't. ( Cut for length )
Both novels concern a sort of new development for humanity -- Mind of My Mind has people with psychic abilities who are gaining power by working as a group, and Clay's Ark has an isolated set of people infected by an alien disease which changes them completely. All of the major characters in Mind of My Mind were part of the in-group of psychics; there was no real voice for the ordinary humans whom the psychics were able to use and prey on. I think this had a purpose in the novel, but one of the effects was to make it cold -- the psychic characters are difficult to sympathize with.
More than half of Clay's Ark is told from the perspective of three people who are kidnapped by the disease carriers. The disease, like a souped-up Selfish Gene, changes its victims' behavior and thoughts, driving them to infect other people so that the disease can survive and spread. The carriers remain in some control of themselves, able to choose to stay in an isolated ranch instead of going into a city and infecting a vast population, but most of their decisions do revolve around the propagation of the disease, making them selfish in ways similar to the psychics of Mind of My Mind. So, the three kidnapped people, not yet changed by the disease, are able to struggle against it and speak loudly about the problems it will cause for humanity.
I thought that these viewpoint characters would give the book a warmer, easier feeling -- a heartier and more obvious sense of moral indignation, maybe. But they don't. ( Cut for length )
