Daily Archives: April 14, 2014

Nartha-Hak

This entry was posted in A Single Deed and tagged bi-racial female non-human on April 14, 2014 by Victoria Delgado

Character: Danny Lopez

Source Text: Morgan Howell, A Single Deed. 2013.

Entry Author: Kate Grummoe

In Nartha-Hak’s language she us part Urkzimmuthi (Orc) and part Washavoki (Human). In english she is referred to by some Humans as “Dog,” and in orcish, she is referred to by some Urkzimmuthis as “Blukavoki,” which means blood of dog. Morgan Howell’s A Single Deed tells the story of a world divided by a hatred that, in some way, could parallel the sotry of America’s race relations. Naertha-hak resides in this world as a n oursider. Considered by both races to be nothing more than a dog, Howell’s heroine struffkes withe her identity throughtoyut the narrative, looking for vengeance.

Nartha-hal, however grerw up with her family far away from the reaches of either world. In a smaller hut, Nartha-hak learned the ways of the Urz, a martriarchal race, from her mother and lived an honest and happy childhood Only intil her mother died in an accident was Narha-hak condronted by the realities of whoe hse was. Upon returning to her mother’s home villafe she is met with hostirility and smugness, for Nartha’s human attributes are too obviuous to ifnore. Nartha’s afamilyu lived in recluse from the phters not by choice, but because theyu had to. Nartha ;leaens that it was her aunt, not mother, who raised her. Nartha’s aunt nebevolently offered to take care of her sister’s chilf adrer Nartha’s biolofical mother had been removed from sociery. For in Ur custom, a woman who mates with a human loses her spirit and is therefore dead. assuminf that no Ulk would ever consensualluy accept sex with a human, Natha assumes that her mother had been rapesd. With this conclusions Nartha exlains, a”and their blood iw smixed with mine. Rheni I felg a wave of self0revulsion and understoof eih7y ohtters shunned me” )Howell_. Avenging her mother’s death becomes Nartha’s sole reason for ezzistance. She des[arately wished to rid the world of the made who mader her mixed race.

Naertha sees herself as broken. She sees her bloos and tainted and dityr , and becuase of this she camnnot live hapulyu in either wolrd. Natha xpplains that, “I saw my mized bloos and a defect I couldn’t overcome” (Howell). Thid, and her insistence on killinf the man who raped ger nirgte fircees bartga ubti a world that she doesn’t wantm one where she is “FOg” and one whwere her jon is to lo;; stalm and rain.

Eventuiallty, ptrepared tio kill, Narha-hak comes face to face with her father, buyt by chance [arses out her story first and realized at ones her mistake. Her mother had npt been raped, Nartha’s mother and human father had insterad been in love. Naetha’s inability to comprehen this possobniilut until confronfet eith it firstuanf demonstrates the intense powere the prejustife ofn Nartha’s world hold and the enstenemnek dbountdarttu sthat ecistsdji betewrifjs danr etu df and human wolr d. Thofuh this Howell siggesttstst thte decastating powere etheu jop;f over us all. Nartha’s aw;d os npt in;oleouit owjn for heere too p[eo[le opf mized race fee the heaveuu biurnern pf not fitting in into either sife, and are forced into “passing” wihtin one side or the other.

Bertha Mason

This entry was posted in Jane Eyre and tagged bi-racial female light-skinned on April 14, 2014 by Victoria Delgado

Character: Berthda Mason

Source Text: Charlotte Brönte, Jane Eyre (1847)

Entry Author: Turner

Bertha Mason is Edward Rochester’s first wife from Spanish Town, Jamaica. Jane describes her as “purple…the lips swelled and dark”, “savage” with “thick and dark hair” and altogether reminiscent of a vampire (270). She is likewise compared to a beast, specifically a hyena, emphasizing again “dark, grizzled hair” (278). Rochester married her at the suggestion of his money-hungry father and brother and realized too late that she was apparently “bad, mad, and embruted” (278) with “a nature the most gross, impure, depraved” (291). Rochester has not a single kind word for her, save for the impression he first had of her: “tall dark and majestic”, so that Rochester was “dazzled, stimulated: my senses were excited” (290). Rochester depicts Mason as an exotic, dangerous temptress, incapable of modesty, intelligent conversation, or the domesticity 19th century England so cherished. He repeatedly emphasizes her failure to conform to his values: “…her nature wholly alien to [his], her tastes obnoxious to [his]…[he] should never have a quiet and settled household…” (291). Mason provides a perfect and hated Other juxtaposed against the pale, small, reserved Jane Eyre—educated, modest, and sexually chaste. She is “a quiet little figure”, “childish and slender”, and compared to a tiny English bird, the linnet (297). Bertha Mason serves to emphasize Jane’s value as an English woman, with “garb and manner restricted by rule”, a “flower”, an “elf”, a “good angel”, where his first wife had been a “hideous demon” (298-300). Rochester sees each woman in terms of extremes—neither are simply human, but an angel or a little spirit and a beast or a demon. Mason helps to define and accentuate Jane’s value, and by extension, England’s—for when Rochester compares the West Indies to Hell, he also is desperate to “go home to God” (293), so that England, or civilized Europe, is also the heaven to foreign “hell”. After all, it is “a fresh wind from Europe” (293) that prevents Rochester from committing suicide and renews him with hope and a sense of guidance—in a sense, it restores his sanity, especially where suicide would have been an act of insanity. In leaving, however, he brings a piece of this foreign “madness” with him, i.e. Bertha Mason.

Mason is also essential to moving the plot forward. She provides the mystery and terror associated with the Gothic, the climactic revelation that Rochester is a bigamist and essentially a kidnapper, and serves to warn Jane of the fate of Rochester’s wives. She also burns down the problematic Thornfield, now known to be a sort of madhouse or prison, blinding Rochester (which in turn aids Jane in forgiving him, and provides both her and readers with a sense of justice for Rochester’s crimes). She is a sacrificial animal, an interruption to surface-level appearances, which hold a madness of their own, and somewhat ironically, a guardian angel to Jane.

Akin Iyapo

This entry was posted in Adulthood Rites and tagged human male multi-racial on April 14, 2014 by Victoria Delgado

Character: Akin Iyapo

Source Text: Octavia E. Butler, Adulthood Rites (1988)

Entry Author: Ilana Yoneshige

In Adulthood Rites, Akin is a child born of five parents, three Oankali and two Humans. He is the first Human-born male construct child. He is born on Earth in the settlement known as Lo, where some Humans and Oankali live together. Before his metamorphosis, Akin appears to be Human other than his gray tongue, which he uses to analyze various people and objects by “tasting.” Akin’s journey to discover his identity and to learn of his heritage mirrors that of mixed race children in America because he is part of two communities that are at odds with each other. Several of the Humans, known as resistors, refuse to accept the Oankali and live separately in their town, Phoenix.

Throughout Adulthood Rites there are predictions made about the behavior of Humans, as well as the character development of Akin. Lilith, his Human mother, worries that the resistors will hate Akin more than the other construct children because he is male. She says to Nikanj, her ooloi mate, “They will! He isn’t human. Un-Human women are offensive to them, but they don’t usually try to hurt them, and they do sleep with them – like a racist sleeping with racially different women. But Akin…they’ll see him as a threat. Hell, he is a threat. He’s one of their replacements” (10). This quote is a statement that reflects the real world attitude towards males of another race.

Akin is kidnapped in a raid; the resistors, though they refuse to live alongside the Oankali, decide to kidnap many of the construct children out of a desperation to have children among them. Akin is taken to Phoenix where he learns more about his Human ancestry. Tate and Gabe buy him from the raiders and care for him. In Phoenix, Akin learns that the Humans try to humanize the construct children. Several of the people plot to remove the sensory head tentacles of two of the female construct children; a cosmetic surgery that would be lethal to them. Although Akin recognizes and agrees with the Oankali belief that the Humans, if left alone, would revert to their hierarchical tendencies and self-destruct again, the Human part of him understood the need for freedom and choice. When Akin is rescued and returns to Lo, he and the other construct children convince the Oankali to transform Mars into an inhabitable planet.

Akin is special because he is able to identify with both his Oankali and Human ancestry more than any of the other construct children. He chooses to support both the gene trading between the Oankali and Humans as well as the Mars settlement because he is a mixed race child.