Give Me Children, Or Else I Die
Why Biological Children Are Important in A World with Infertility
Introduction
As Ursula K Le Guin said in the introduction to her novel The Left Hand of Darkness “The science fiction writer is supposed to take a trend or phenomenon of the here-and-now, purify and intensify it for dramatic effect, and extend it into the future” (Le Guin I). Infertility is something that affects not just the here and now but the lives of almost anyone who has ever lived. Offspring is a necessity to all life and many animals are willing to die in order to procreate, for example, male preying mantises risk being cannibalised by the females during the mating ritual (Lawrence 569-583). To paraphrase the film Lucy (Lucy), life has only one purpose, gaining time. When the habitat is favourable, the human race as well as many other animals, choose to reproduce. This allows knowledge and essential information to continue on through generations. Children provide a vital way to continue the progress of the species even after death; it is this reason that causes infertility, particularly mass fertility, to be a large presence, not just in speculative fiction but in all genres of literature.
Although it is clear why infertility as a whole is an issue that is addressed in culture and particularly in speculative works, one element of this that seems to reoccur frequently in works of science fiction is the idea that children, alone, are not fully satisfactory in a world where infertility is a problem; the children must be biological descendants or, at least in some way, belong to the parents genetically. In the works touched on later, in looking for a cure to infertility, a trend towards “natural” methods and away from artificial cures such as IVF is seen. The reasoning behind this desire to keep things “within the family” could have multiple different explanations, such as genetics, faith, and power, these motives can be seen in the novels The Handmaid’s Tale by Margret Atwood, The Children of Men by P.D.James, Seveneves by Neil Stephenson and Prototype by M.D. Waters.
Children as a Way to Spread Genetic Material
The primary reasoning for most animals to reproduce is to spread their genetic material. In the case of humanity, it is important to pass down their genes, knowledge and family name. As humans we generally want to leave something behind of ourselves and often parents look for their own traits in their children, they look to have children who are like them or their partners in some way. This idea of wanting to leave something behind for the next generation in the form of offspring is used heavily in the early chapters of Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. In these chapters, the world has just learned that the earth will be destroyed within two years and the only hope for humanity is to send a small contingent into space orbit in order to later colonise other planets and asteroids. To placate the people of earth “frozen sperm, eggs, and embryos would be sent up there too, so that even those who were left behind to die on the Earth’s surface could enjoy some hope their offspring would one day grow to maturity in orbiting space colonies “(Stephenson 44). This form of pacification makes sense since those on earth would begin to feel as though there was nothing left to live for without the prospect of children (this listlessness and lack of purpose can be seen throughout Children of Men in which there is almost no hope of a child being born); giving the people hope ensures that they will not only have something to live for but that they will also support the mission to take people into space. Allowing the general population to give something of themselves to the new colony, removes some of the distance that could easily be created between those on Earth and those who are fortunate enough to survive in the contingent.
This preserving of genetic material also seems to provide some comfort to those that are chosen to survive in the orbiting colony. Through the preservation, they can, in some small way, keep a part of their home planet; their home countries and even, in Doc Dubois’ case, a part of their family, alive. When the scientist, Doc Dubois, realizes that he is likely to be called up to the colony, without his fiancée, “they got busy making an embryo for him to carry up into space for implantation in some other, unknown woman’s womb” (Stevenson 47). Because there are many women set to be aboard the colony ships it is likely that Doc Dubois could one day be the adoptive or even biological father to one or many children; however, he chooses to create his “child” in his own way with his partner who he knows will die. This is done in order to preserve some part of the family he may have had, had the tragedy not occurred.
In Seveneves, the characters are looking to create children who are biologically theirs. However, in a speculative fiction world where infertility is rife, it is reasonable to assume that the idea and meaning of a child belonging to someone would change; this occurs in both The Handmaid’s Tale and The Children of Men. In both novels, the readers see society as a whole eliminate a certain set of people from their efforts to repopulate.
In The Handmaid’s Tale, the idea of excluding certain people is not shown throughout the majority of the novel, however, it becomes clearer in the “Historical Notes” section. In this section, we see a symposium held at the University of Denay, Nunavit by the Department of Caucasian Anthropology in 2195. It is explained that the rest of the novel is a memoir from the Gileadean society, written in the late twentieth century. From the name of the department that the symposium is held at, it can be inferred that the majority (if not all) of the Caucasian population has been eradicated by the infertility crisis since the symposium is held by the Department of Caucasian Anthropology. This is further backed up by the fact that the names and places that are mentioned in the notes are not traditionally Caucasian in nature. For example, the speakers that are mentioned have names such as Cresent Moon, Pieixoto and Running Dog (Atwood 311). Although it is not clear, these names seem likely to be of Native American origin. This is an interesting development because there is little mention of race throughout the memoir section of the novel and it seems that the majority of those that are powerful in the Gileadean society are Caucasian and the named Commanders are called Waterford and Judd, which are more traditionally Caucasian surnames. This seems to imply, as a whole section, that the infertility mainly, if not wholly, affected Caucasian people and it is explicitly stated that the plummeting birth rate was “a phenomenon observable not only in Gilead but in most northern Caucasian societies of the time” (Atwood 316). Seeing as Caucasians are now few in the later part of The Handmaid’s Tale, those in power must have either not noticed that those of other races were not affected or must have ignored it, showing a singlemindedness to protect “their” genes and exclude those of others when breeding. If the Caucasians had bred with other races it is likely that the infertility would not have been so vast for them. Because the Gileadean government runs mostly on sanctions and restrictions and has shown other kinds of exclusion throughout the novel, by shipping the Jewish to Israel and the old to the “colonies”, so it is not unreasonable to consider that they would have furthered this exclusion when breeding.
In The Children of Men, once the infertility has been realized, the government passed laws which ensure that every able person will submit themselves to fertility testing. In particular, the males are required to do this because the males are the ones that are infertile. However, males with physical or mental disabilities or criminal records are not required to be tested. Similar prejudice is put upon women meaning “no one who was in any way physically deformed, or mentally or physically unhealthy, was on the list of women from whom the new race would be bred…. [they were] saved from the six-monthly … re-examinations. “(James 38). This prejudice against people, some of whom may not even have hereditary problems, seems to be somewhat foolish since, in the world of the novel, there have been no births for 25 years. As expected, this prejudice does turn out to be great error when it is discovered that a woman with physical disability is pregnant with the child of a man with history of a neuro-disability.
Although it is not outright stated in The Handmaid’s Tale, it is clear in The Children of Men that the reason behind this discrimination is to avoid “undesirable” traits in the possible offspring. Speaking about those with disabilities, the Warden of England, Xan says “if they can breed, good luck to them, but while there are limited facilities for the testing, let’s keep it for the physically and morally fit …. No one with a criminal record or a family record of offending ought to be allowed to breed, if we have a choice” (James 101). This statement from the head of the government makes it clear that they wish to preserve their own “good” genes rather than those they deem to be unfit.
These examples show that there is a strong bias towards personal genetics and traits, even if they are not directly biological, when tackling infertility. There is a primal desire to spread one’s own traits and to exclude those that are different, even when the choice is somewhat restricted.
Children as a Way to Practice Our Religion
Many religions teach that family is a vital component in life. For example, family is one of the central values in Islam and the Qur’an states that a free individual is a part of two different entities, the community and the family (Blyth and Landau 26). Connected to this, many religions encourage their followers to have children and in some cases it is specifically encouraged to have many children. In the Jewish faith, the first commandment of the Torah states that follows should ‘be fruitful and multiply’ (Blyth and Landau 30). Because of this religious pressure to have children, it seems natural that those of faith would want to claim children as their own. Through this they can be seen to be better observing their faith. It is also natural that during a time of hardship such as an inability to bear children, those of faith would turn to their god to help them and so by proclaiming their faith they are likely hoping to appeal to their god for help.
In The Handmaid’s Tale we see a world with mass infertility and a governmental structure which is almost entirely based on religious views. In this society, more powerful families who are no longer able to produce children are given handmaids whose job it is to bear their children. The handmaids are trained for their position in re-education centres where they are taught the Gileadean belief that women should be subservient to men. Once in their positions they are responsible for very little in the household other than grocery shopping and producing children. The majority of the rules within the society seem to be based within the religious beliefs of the Sons of Jacob which is a sect of the Christian religion and the Bible is used as their holy book. In order to battle the widespread infertility, the Sons of Jacob have turned to the story of Rachel and Jacob, in which Rachel is unable to bare children for Jacob and so she “[says], behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her” (The Holy Bible, Genesis, 30:1-3). This story allows for children to be conceived and birthed by an outsider to the family unit, yet the child is still thought to be mothered by the wife of the family unit.
In the society of Gilead, the women go through many rituals in order to make the child part of the original family and detach them from the actual mother. The two most prominent of these rituals occur at the two most important times in the child’s creation, the conception and the birth. For the conception of the child, the Handmaid and the man of the house have sex while the Wife is not only present, but a true part of the whole process. In the novel, the narrator Offred recounts the process as follows: “Above me, towards the head of the bed, [the wife] is arranged, outspread. Her legs are apart, I lie between them, my head on her stomach, her pubic bone under the base of my skull, her thighs on either side of me… [she] grips my hands as if it is she, not I, who’s being fucked” (Atwood, 104). It is clear from this description that the Wife is fully involved in the conception process, in order to make it seem as though, throughout the whole gestation, that the child is truly hers. The whole affair is described as being fairly formal and unemotional with the participants being mostly clothed. This procedure seems to be almost mechanical or clinical and Offred is used only as an instrument to the couple’s procreation. Similarly, at the birth of the child, it is treated as though the Wife is the mother of the child and the handmaid is cast aside soon after the birth. What is interesting about this whole interaction is that the society of Gilead has banned reproductive technologies such as artificial insemination yet has fully embraced a form of surrogacy. Artificial Insemination and other forms of reproductive technology are rebuked by many modern Christian faiths due to the fact that they “infringe the child’s right to be born of a father and mother known to him and bound to each other by marriage” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 509) and it is deemed to be a “depersonalisation of sex extracting procreation from relationship, and adultery for both women and semen donor”( Blyth and Landau 64) , so it makes sense for them to not approve of these methods .These arguments also apply to surrogacy and certainly to what we see in The Handmaid’s Tale , yet surrogacy is the chosen method used to increase birth rates in a Christian society. It seems clear that the reasoning behind this choice is that it is the most personal of the options available. It allows the husband and wife to be fully integrated into the conception, and uses a human intermediate rather than a medical or scientific method. By making it as though the child is truly that of the husband and wife, the couple are able to fulfil their religious duty to create a family in their married life and their societal duty to provide children.
As an addition to the faith elements present in the reasoning behind these ceremonies that assure the child’s belonging to a family, there is also an element of power play involved.
Children as a Tool of Power
Religious beliefs as well as other social standards regarding fertility can cause a hierarchy where women who are less fertile are not valued in the same way as those that are easily able to have many children, even without the presence of an infertile society.
In the society of Gilead, there is a lot of power play and the whole family benefit a power lift from the birth of a child so makes sense for those in the household, the Commander and his Wife, to want to make the child theirs and not someone else’s. For the commander, a child will bring a rise is power in the government structure and an assurance of his manhood, his virility and his ability to provide for the society. For the handmaid, a child means that she has a secure future, after another handmaid’s child has been born, Ofglen says of the handmaid “she’ll never be sent to the Colonies, she’ll never be declared Unwoman. That is her reward.” (Atwood 137). For the Wife, it gives this more power within her group of other Wives as they have little else to do except to hope for a child. Hence, it is important or all those in the family to follow the rules and to pretend that the child truly “belongs” to the Commander and Wife of the family.
We also see children used as a way to increase someone’s power in The Children of Men. When it is discovered after 25 years of infertility that a child is going to be born, both the Warden of England, Xan, and the mother’s husband, Rolf, seem to want to use the child in order to gain power for themselves. Xan’s motives are fairly transparent, as the Warden of England he is clearly used to power and is comfortable with it. To display his power, he even wears the royal coronation ring to proclaim his title. Xan’s plan to use the child for purposes of power and to possibly claim them as his own are also fairly transparent. Theo says of Xan “Once the child was born he had only to kill Theo and Julian and it would be possible to claim the baby as his own.” (James 232) and Xan even confesses his own motives directly to Theo saying “I’ll probably marry her…good god, Theo, do you realise what power is in our hands?” (James 235). It is clear from this that his only reasoning behind caring for the child at all is to use it and it is also apparent that he plans to make it appear as though the child is his own. Being able to claim the child as his own will lead the people he rules over to be in awe of him as he is the one who has given them hope of new life, “Once he gets possession of the child his power will be immensely increased, not just in Britain, all over the world.” (James 164)
In the earlier parts of the novel Rolf, also focuses on the idea of her child being a tool of power rather a miracle of life, he says “I’m not worried for [the mother, Julian’s] safety, the council won’t harm her…But it will be me … who presents my child to the world, and then we’ll see who’s Warden of England” (James 164). It seems clear from this statement that Rolf hardly cares about his family when compared to the power that they could provide him. This is further shown when, after learning that the child is not actually his, he leaves almost immediately in order to inform the Council of the child. This is a futile attempt to gain some power from the situation once he realises that his original plan of using the child is no longer valid.
Although it is less apparent than in the earlier examples, our main character, Theo, can also be seen to have power on his mind. From shortly after meeting Julian, he becomes attracted to her and says of her “I was seized with a ludicrous urge to dash to the flower- stall… It was a romantic impulse” (James 129). Once he is on the run from the authorities with her, he begins using affectionate terms to refer to her such as “dear” and towards of the novel he proclaims his love, saying “Nothing and no one will separate us, not life nor death, nor principalities, nor powers, nor anything that is of the heavens nor that is of the earth.” (James 234). It seems that his love for her is what drives him to wish, “with a sudden surge of anguish and envy, that it was his child which with such an agony of effort they were bringing into the world.” (James 225), but there is also an underlying element of power to this want. This want for power seems to be completely incongruous with Theo’s character throughout the novel as he has previous denied a place among the council who are the main body of government for the country. Yet, once the child is born and he realises that Xan will try to claim it for himself, Theo kills Xan and in order to claim Xan’s power, “He took the ring from Xan’s finger…Theo held up the ring, then deliberately placed it on his finger” (James 237). This instant claim for the power symbol seems to show that although he may be mainly looking out for his love, Julian, he is also somewhat attracted to power. It could even be said that part of his love, although likely not all, was due to her pregnancy and the power that she could give him if he were in some way able to call the child his own. This is made somewhat more likely by the fact that Theo accidentally killed his own child before the infertility outbreak, so he is in some part probably trying to make up for that with the love of this new child.
Although these men use Julian to their advantage once she is pregnant, they do not directly try to hurt or manipulate her. In Archetype by M.D.Waters we see Declan control Emma throughout and manipulate her in order to use her fertility. In the world of this novel, there is mass infertility, few women and the main character Emma, begins the novel with almost no memories and even has trouble comprehending the world around her. It is shown early on that Declan is her “husband” and it is when she is learning this that he begins to show his controlling tendencies towards her. When she struggles to comprehend the meaning of the word wife, Declan says to her “One day you will say it and believe it.” (Waters 4). That this is one of the first things that he teaches her emphasises how important it is to him that she believes this and knows her place. Although he seems to be a loving husband, there are moments when his controlling nature shines through the façade. One instance of this is when Emma refuses to restrict her activities and she protests saying “you cannot do this to me” and he replies with “I can and I will” (Waters 51). This shows that even though she feels that she has some freedom, Declan is willing to take it away from her at any time he pleases. As time progresses it becomes more and more apparent that even though Declan appears to be giving Emma more freedom he is still heavily controlling of her actions. When he presents her with the gift of a painting studio, she realises that there is only one way out which is a teleport that Declan can easily monitor. Later, Emma is told that she is a clone and that Declan took her “soul” from her original’s dying body so that he could have her for himself. He does this because when they were originally married, they were both forced into it and Declan’s father paid for her to wed him. The resistance saves her from the woman’s camp that forced her into the marriage and so Declan feels he has been conned out of his chance to have a wife in this world where women are scarce. His possessiveness comes out more and more throughout the later part of the novel, he says that “I never would have let my father force me into this marriage if I didn’t want you the moment I saw you… I’m not giving you up. You’re Mine.” (Waters 275-276) and “You [can’t] run from me forever; I always get what I pay for” (Waters 334). These statements show not only that he is possessive of her but that he enjoys the power he has over her. Controlling Emma is not just a way to show his power over her but by keeping her and cloning her to make her fertile he is also striving to gain the power within the society that comes from having a wife and children. As part of his controlling nature, he also almost forces her to bear his children and does not allow her to use any sort of protection. This could be seen as normal in this world as it is illegal to use protection yet he does not seem to have any respect for the law in other areas of his life and if he truly cared about her and wanted the best for her, he would allow her to have this freedom. Rather than helping her to avoid conception, he subjects her to regular testing and it is clear to Emma that he is displeased with the lack of progress as he “comes home with the usual glum expression after hearing the news that [Emma is] not carrying his child yet.” (Waters 255). As there are not enough women for the men of the world, having one that is fertile is a huge show of power and influence in the community. However, as a rich and powerful man, it seems that he would be easily able to buy another wife if he wished yet he is fixed upon Emma and as we see in the sequel Prototype he is willing to chase after her when she leaves him for a second time. This single mindedness to have her as his wife and as the mother of his children is likely his need to exert his power over her and to show his power to the resistance.
Declan is not alone in his controlling nature over women and he facilitates the cloning and murders of other women so that their husbands can erase their memories and make them more fertile in one operation. This is seen when Charles and his wife Ruby are introduced. Although Ruby is only in the beginning stages of the recovery from the cloning operation, Charles still takes her away from the recovery centre and conceives a child with her. It is clear from this as well as some other aspects of the society as a whole that controlling women is much more normal than it is in our society and so it makes sense that Declan would feel that it is his right to have a marriage and a child with the woman he chooses and has paid for.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the examples from these four novels show that in a number of science fiction worlds where fertility or lack of children is a problem, the characters still move away from options such as adoption and strive to have children that are in some way their own. As Ursula Le Guin said in her introduction (Le Guin), science fiction is often an extrapolation of things that we see in the real world. This is certainly true in this case as biological children have often been preferred to others even in times of trouble. A historical example of this phenomenon is Henry VIII’s insistence that he could have a male child at the expense of other people so that his heir would not be female and so that he could exhibit his personal virility to his subjects. Only time will tell if this trend of “biology is best” will continue into the real future.
Works Cited
Le Guin, Ursula K. The Left Hand of Darkness. New York: Ace Books, 2000. Print.
Lawrence, S.E. “Sexual Cannibalism in The Praying Mantid, Mantis Religiosa: A Field Study”. Animal Behaviour 43.4 (1992): 569-583. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.
Lucy. Hollywood: Luc Besson, 2014. film.
Stephenson, Neal. Seveneves. New York: William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2015. Print.
Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale. London: Vintage, 1996. Print.
James, P. D. The Children of Men. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1993. Print.
Blyth, Eric and Ruth Landau. Faith and Fertility. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2009. Print.
Catechism of the Catholic Church. London: Burns Oats, 2002. Print.
Waters, M.D. Archetype. New York: Penguin Group, 2013. Print.
Waters, M.D. Prototype. Turtleback Books, 2014. Print.