Human Control
Through each of these short stories, we are continually reminded of the ways in which our individual lives are impacted by the greater world around us. There is a perennial balance of control throughout nature, an enduring question of whether we control our lives through our actions, or whether our surroundings control the way our lives play out.
Do the countless different actions and aspects of nature come together to form a situation in which events play out a certain way? Going off of the concept of fate, are our lives inherently preordained by that which is out of our control, or can we defy this trickle-down effect from nature to change the course of our lives?
To specify from the general concept of fate, to what degree of control do we have when we are slotted into spots in a society where certain social norms dictate how we might live our lives? These stories present the ever-present issue of whether society frees us or inhibits us, whether it makes real the possibility of finding our true selves in a world of order, or whether it limits us and prevents us from finding out true selves in a culture in which chaos is prevented.
I, for one, believe a certain amount of chaos is needed for the continual evolution of the human species.
St. Lucy’s Home For Girls Raised by Wolves- Karen Russell
This story, while rooted in the fantastical through its inclusion of beings not possible or probable in real life, possesses a beating heart at its literary center that is reminiscent of real-world issues that face many. The main character of this tale is a lycanthrope who is being integrated into a civilized society along with the rest of her pack.
This pack of wolf girls is planted into a school for rehabilitation, in which they are over time stripped of the very ideals, mannerisms, and beliefs that formerly defined them. They have been dropped off at this institution for their own “betterment”, and the main character relates that she and her pack felt lost in this foreign world, having “never wanted to run away so badly in our lives; but who did we have to run back to?” (Russell 240)
They, like many throughout history and in the countless societies that lie within its span, are often trapped into certain paths of life. They could run away from this new, imposing culture being thrust upon them, but how can they hope to escape when the former option is perhaps even worse?
These wolven people are forced to conform to that which is deemed acceptable on a societal level, with no consideration for the grey nature of right and wrong in the world. Many are quick to fall prey to personal bias and reinforce within themselves the belief that their beliefs and worldviews are resolute facts in a chaotic world.
It is human nature to try to enforce law and order in the universe we inhabit, as there is an undeniable fear of the unpredictability of our world. In the setting of this school, we are presented with two characters who present opposite ends of the social norm spectrum: Jeanette and Mirabella.
Jeanette installs herself within this stranger culture with unnatural ease, instantly “removed from her origins” (Russell 241) as if she was a part of this new world all along. Whereas Mirabella is steadfast in her desire to maintain her traits, cling to her innate nature, and stand strong against the rules being imposed on her.
The main character, finding herself somewhere between these two extremes of the spectrum of adjusting to a new culture, is torn between the world she knows and the world she is forcibly integrated into. She knows her past is a decaying remnant of a forgotten world, being encroached on with great speed by the civilized society that is taking over the planet.
Her beloved heritage, the animalistic bonds shared between her and her kin, and the trees she ran through in her youth, are all being washed away by the waves of time, by the steady advance of industrial earth.
The wolven instincts inherent within her have no place in this future, and that is why she continually pushes to become “civilized”. And over time, this goal of both gaining new values and loss of old beliefs is further reached.
Towards the end, the main character and her pack have near-universally become model citizens, displaying great manners and scarcely any trace of the attributes of their past. The outlier, naturally, is the aforementioned Mirabella. At a ball to celebrate the pack’s success in social integration, the main character finds herself in a moment of great weakness.
In the spotlight of the dance, with the pressures of this new world crashing down on her, she feels the heritage she has forsaken crawling its way back to the surface. At her most vulnerable, she finds her savior to be none other than Mirabella, rushing forward to protect her from the social and societal norms that threaten to drown her, trying with all her might to “shield me with her tiny body.” (Russell 250)
And in thanks for this great protection, under pressure from this new social regime, all the main character can muster for her savior is rejection. As the pack rejects Mirabella, they perhaps seal their fate. The school expels this lone outcast, and the pack has wholly let go of their former selves in light of this new world.
In a world that would otherwise subjugate them, this pack of wolf-girls chose to change. They relinquished control of their identity, of their paths, of everything they hold dear in fear of what the alternative might bring.
Who are we to say the social conventions of good manners are of greater virtue than to lick the tears from your loved one’s face out of care, or that to fill a slot in the urban world takes precedence than to leap blindly, anomalistically in the protection of a sister who is laying beaten down on the ground.
Saint Chola- Kerrie Kvashay-Boyle
In this story, we find a young girl named Shala trying to find her way in a society that rejects her. To be a Muslim in America following 9/11 is to court controversy, and to invite great risk. Her very nature, cultivated over countless generations to be passed down to her, is in direct opposition to what the wider society around her has deemed socially acceptable in a period of great strife.
She faces a situation of such severity that the majority of us could not imagine her anguish, and yet she is symbolic of many of us nonetheless. We are all victims of a greater political and intellectual system, instilled since birth to have preordained viewpoints of the wider world. It is human nature to possess bias, and yet it is a great tragedy that many cannot see the great beauty to be found in all individual belief systems, and just how similar we truly are.
She is a young girl thrust in between two worlds, with neither entirely welcoming to her. She is subjected to great hatred and abuse in America, during a post 9/11 in which her culture and the patriotic heart of America have never been so diametrically opposed to one another.
And in the country where her cultural heart and beliefs are rooted, she is she is treated as an alien, a stranger to those that are alike her in every way but her society of residence. She must endure being a stranger to both her homes.
She is either emotionally and physically battered in America, or is the “most hated” type of person in India, with “anger and envy and danger all around you.” (Kvashay-Boyle 171) She is a proud Muslim, resolute in her beliefs and passion for her culture, but with this comes her being alone in a society that either does not understand her or rejects her.
In this world, she must either conform or endure. She must either give up her identity to find a place in society as opposed to her inner self or find herself an outcast. In a world that threatens to smother her, Shala chooses to fight for what she believes in.
She ascertains she will wear her hijab “no matter what”, a symbolic act of the great anger and “new dignity” that is born from her former “self-doubt.” (Kvashay-Boyle 170) A society of order often opens the door for many to make their mark on the world, presenting avenues by which to achieve one’s dreams.
Yet the existence of society indicates a great belief system, a culture inherent within it that has ordained itself to know between right and wrong. And in a country blinded by an act of terrorism, seething in the shared belief that pure hatred and malice are justified, it is hard for those on the receiving end to maintain their part in a greater culture.
Shala is a Muslim living in a world where her beliefs are blindly believed to be morally unjust. The extremist practitioners of her religion have placed scarlet letters on those like them in the country they attacked, and now this young girl must endure the consequences. Despite the hatred heaped on her, Shala clings to the control she has over her true identity. To conform is to let go of certain aspects of the inner self, and despite the pressure she refuses to relent.
It is a great tragedy that she is forced to endure such a situation, where she must question her very beliefs due to an institutionalized belief being instilled within the masses of those years that she is culpable of the crimes caused by a minority of her culture. Still, Shala is proof of the human capacity to weather the storm and hold on to what’s dear even when fearful of what that might bring.
Escape From the Mall- Manuel Gonzales
This is a tale of finding one’s true self in a period of radical unpredictability. In a world at the onset of an undead outbreak, the main character and some other survivors have sheltered themselves from the hordes in a closet of a shopping mall.
This ragtag group of conflicting personalities is something straight out of a zombie movie, with each vying for survival in a newly orderless world. The main character, nicknamed Cowboy, is a follower, drifting through the events almost absentmindedly, going as far as to say she’s a side character in the grander story of “Roger and Mary and Tyrone and the security guard.” (Gonzales 279)
With social norms flying out the window in the wake of chaos, Roger steps up to be the de facto leader. Without social order, what do humans become? At our most primal, what happens without a societal guideline?
This story of zombies and survivors is much more than the sum of its parts, as it evokes a sense of what we might become if we free ourselves of the shackles of what has been set before us. Following a plan to escape the mall, the main character finds herself at a crossroads.
She has found her “way out,” and with escape in her grasp, she turns back to save the others. (Gonzales 295) Without the pressures placed upon her by the society around them, she still willingly took fate into her hands and placed great risks on herself to save others.
In the chaos that ensues, she stops being a follower. With the world falling apart around her, she is at last freed from the self-imposed shackles she enacted upon herself. While running from the hordes, she wonders to herself whether we humans “need these kinds of moments,” “where our lives are upended by violent tragedy, monsters, zombies, because without them, how would we meet the men and women of our dreams, how would we make up for the sins of our past, how would we show our true natures.” (Gonzales 299)
I believe this line is central to the greater themes at play perhaps across multiple stories in these separate parts. When at our most vulnerable, we are often able to become our true selves. Human nature is to have passion, to hold a belief, and to find something worth fighting for.
And society can at times risk draining us of our individuality, and can threaten to smother us. We must all strive to maintain our individuality, to maintain our true selves even when the world around us moves to change the course of our lives.
We must choose to live our lives, to truly live, and not be kept from pursuing the goals of our inner nature. It is in times of great chaos that humankind possesses the unique ability to better itself, and uniquely grow towards a better future.
