Module 7 was an interesting way to end the semester. On the one hand, although I respect the themes and authors of “Nine Lives” and “The Women Men Don’t See”, the stories themselves didn’t intrigue me as much as Underground Airlines. And with Underground Airlines, the story was riveting and the characters well-developed, and I almost didn’t realize who it was written by — until I flipped the page to the bookjacket and saw a white man staring up at me.

“Nine Lives” made me think of doppelgangers. If we’re one in a billion, there must be seven people who have an uncanny resemblance to us on this Earth. And I wonder how similar, or how different, their lives are from mine. Do they like similar things as me? Do they live in cities? I once read an article where two men, dopplegangers, found each other in the same small town. “Nine Lives” made me wonder how much of our identity is genetic and how much it’s nurtured. The author frequently refers to the group as “the clone” in singular tense, but as we said in class, just looking through a different pair of eyes can give you a whole different perspective. In little ways, the clones were different people.

The reveal of James Tiptree as the pseudonym of a woman author shocked me in class. I had never suspected that would be the twist, because just reading the text, I immediately made the assumption that this story was just written by another misogynistic male. The emphasis on sexuality reminded me of the story with AM, where the narrator keeps degrading the woman for having sex with them. I wonder why she wrote like how she wrote in this story, and maybe seeing her other work can make me appreciate it more as perhaps a form of satire. Because why else would women be devoted to Tiptree’s writing? I certainly wouldn’t see the allure through this one story.

Underground Airlines was a fast, engaging read. I was hooked onto the plot, the themes, the vivid characters that breathed so much life into the story. I thought the action turned anticlimatic in a way. When Victor is in the garment factory and he’s devising his way out, it seems kind of a cop out to have him “rescued” by the cops. It’s a bit of a deus ex machina except, you know, the cops aren’t really his saviors. I also felt we didn’t even see Martha forgive Victory. He was lying to her, using her to get to his goal, and she doesn’t even get a moment of anger. There she is, on their next mission. I also anticipated a lot of plot twists that never happened. Maybe Martha and Victor are looking for the same man! Maybe the man is Victor’s brother from the plantation! Also, did Victor kill Castle? That seemed a little glossed over. Also, very much like “The Women Men Don’t See,” I didn’t realize what the science fiction element was until the very end. And it was crazy! I wish they had done more with it. Actually I wish they had done a lot more with the garment plantation in general because it was so interesting to see how much it had changed since Victor was there. Despite all these notes, I was thoroughly invested in the story and characters.

Now, about the author. I was never one to think an author could write that much outside of their own experience. Maybe a side character, but not a central character like this that is clearly a different race and deals with different realities than the author. And yet I believed the voice. I thought the author was black, I forgot he was white. I’m confused now. Maybe, if thoroughly researched, written respectfully and transparently, this kind of writing works.