Reading Response 10/24

For me, part of the appeal of reading dystopian fiction such as The Year of the Flood is grasping the minute details of the new and futuristic, but not really far off, world. The systems, structures, hierarchies, and even products found in these dystopian worlds all contain references to present-day “real life” world and ingrained in these usually extreme (or arguably not really) versions seems to be a warning. One aspect of the dystopian world in The Year of the Flood that intrigued me was the concept of identity especially in the context of the work of Butler, Haraway, and Halberstam we read so far. After her mother dying and her father committing suicide, Toby was straddled with the numerous debts from her mother’s medical treatments as well as having to explain her father’s death via an illegal weapon. Toby opted for covering up her father’s death/ disappearance and orchestrating her own disappearance. She was able to “burn” her identity, which is not farfetched especially if you watch way too much police procedural television shows like me (at some point, witness protection will always be bought up…). However, she was not able to “buy a new one – not even a cheap one,” which is implied entails at least a “DNA infusion,” “skin-colour change,” and etc. (Atwood, 2009, p.30).

The concept that identity can be erased and that physical procedures and products can be bought to create a new one is intriguing. In light of Haraway and Halberstam and even in our present-day world, this concept is not really radical. Literal bodily modification like plastic surgery is becoming a norm in our world. While we arguably claim that DNA and fingerprints to be the physical essence of our individual identity, what is to say that these characteristics are not also inherently unstable and can be modified. The fact that in Atwood’s dystopian world that these seemingly physical essences of individual identity can be changed for a price brings up the issue of the instability of identity (especially gender) as well the technology involved in fashioning it is bought up in pieces by Haraway and Halberstam. These products and procedures also bring up the question of whether or not if there is an essential identity (usually sans technology) can be found. Phrases like “technology of sex” and “technology of gender” have been bought up in our class, but it is possible that “technology of identity,” which is quite literal in Atwood’s dystopia, is an overarching theme to be explored.

At the same time, the concept of identity in Atwood’s world seems to be tied to knowledge, especially systematically collected knowledge. The purpose of these products and procedures to physically change one’s identity is done in the context of the CorpSeCorp’s system of controlling the population. Not far fetched from the paper trail and increasingly virtual trail in tracking people in our world, it is implied that the CorpSeCorp would have knowledge of an individual’s DNA, fingerprints, life histories, and etc., which is then utilized for control. This is implied in what is considered the greatest sin according to God’s Gardeners, which is slanted as against CorpSeCorp and its accompanying principles, is the sin of desiring too much knowledge. Likewise, a reoccurring principle the gardeners teach is to “Beware of words. Be careful what you write. Leave no trails.” (Atwood, 2009, p. 6). The notion that identity is tied with trackable and collectable (written) knowledge is implied. This idea is then played with in Amanda’s art pieces of appearing and disappearing words…