Re: He, She, and It

From: Hope Cascio (Hcascio@aol.com)
Date: Mon Jun 16 1997 - 22:29:13 PDT


I'm so glad to jump in when we're discussing a book I've actually read! I'm
making a list, y'all, and in about a year I'm finally going to have something
intelligent to say about Dune or something like that, totally out of left
field.

Anyway, about He, She, and It. I was really saddened by the connection Piercy
makes between the golem and the android, how they are creations of man (man,
not woman) and serve man, behave and feel just like men, but are not entitled
to the rights of other men. Bringing in a comparison to Frankenstein suggests
that it's not right to treat living, feeling creations of men as if they are
not men, but the feeling I got from He, She, and It was that it was proper to
treat the golem and the android as if they were no more than clay and metal.
In the society in which they live the people, especially the women like
Shira, are often treated as pawns as well, and this is treated as a grave
injustice. Is Piercy being ironic, and wants me to follow this train of
thought, that we act as if it's all right to treat some people without power
like they are disposable, and we should be saddened and angered at this
treatment?

Hope Cascio



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