“Shrine20220527 26356 Cceog” in “"Genesis of Eve"”
Andrea Amoroso
Genesis of Eve
There was a soft humming. When had it become perceivable? Beyond that, there were murmurs—low, unintelligible. They grew louder, louder, as the sensation of floating became detectable. Suddenly, the muffled speech became clearer. “Behold! My magnum opus!” Someone cried. Audible gasps, followed by a clamoring wave of voices drowning each other in a sea of excitement, some carried louder than others. “Professor, Professor, what exactly is your creation?” Asked one of them. “Something quite special. My comrades, what I present to you is a human!” The first voice answered. “And how did you procure it?” The last questioner added. “She is an amalgamation of all the samples collected from the forgotten planet. I took a little piece from each corner to create the specimen you see before you.” “What do you call her?” Another queried. There was a pause. “Eve” the Professor finally responded, speaking in an almost soft tone. “Her namesake is from the recovered ancient texts of the planet, amongst salvageable ruins. It comes from one of the human mythologies of how they came to be. Eve was the name of their first female.” “Where is Adam?” A new speaker challenged. “I’m sorry?” Acknowledged the Professor. “I know of the lore in which you speak, her male counterpart, Adam, where is he?” Another pause. “The Adam prototype… didn't take. There will be future attempts.” He replied. More clamoring. “Comrades, please! Contain your excitement!” Something made a clicking sound, perhaps a button. The feeling of flotation was coming to an end—gurgling, draining noises. This was replaced with the heaviness of gravity; the feeling of limbs being suspended. “My comrades, I present to you the first synthetic human, Eve!” Their eyes suddenly opened—bright, too bright! Hissing, clicking of the container being opened. They fell forward but kept from collapsing completely by supportive wiring. Their eyes started to adjust. Figures came into vision. Scales of many hues, some wore white lab coats, some had bodysuits. All towering over their gaze.
Two figures rushed to their side, unhooking them from the cables. In a daze, they tried to step forward. Their legs felt weak, unstable, almost buckling underneath from weight. “Whoa, steady now!” The Professor chuckled, as did a few others in the room. The two assistants gave support under their arms, steadying them. “Benign muscle dystrophy” Commented the Professor. “She’ll overcome it yet.” It was still too bright… yet their eyes adjusted more, taking in greater detail of the figures' features. “Can she speak?” A reptilian towards the back asked. “Let’s see.” Said the Professor as he turned to his creation. Eve’s eyes focused on him, his scales a muted yellow, slitted pupil intensely met their own. “You are Eve. That is what you are called. Speak. Say your name.” He commanded. They opened their mouth, but only coughed up purple fluid, the same as the substance that dripped off their body. “E-Eve” they managed to say, though hoarsely. “She’ll need time to adjust to her vocal cords.” Explained the Professor. “So, she understands speech and instructions?” Someone from the crowd inquired. “To a certain extent. I implemented within her very basic, innate concepts…Eve is mostly a blank slate. She’ll primarily have to learn on her own, with me to guide her.” The professor replied. He nodded to an assistant on his left, she unfastened her lab coat and draped it over Eve's shoulders, who stood bare.
***
Star cycles passed. Eve’s existence predominantly consisted of lessons from the Professor and physical therapy to fortify their frail muscles. Mixed between that, it was being hauled around to various social events—first, it was science functions. Standing around in museums or lecture halls while their creator detailed his formulation process, all the while with other reptilians gawking at the human. After some time, those died down and were subsequently replaced with dinner parties. The Professor would adorn his achievement in exquisite garbs and jewels, specially customized to fit their body. Rarely letting go of Eve’s hand, he'd then make rounds around the room introducing the benefactors to them. After all, the committee wanted a good look at where all the funding had gone. The outcome was impressive. Many would poke and prod, taking special interest in the human’s mammary glands and hair—traits in which the reptilians lacked. This stirred something in Eve...something they couldn't quite place… a feeling that made them want to pull away. They would glance up at their creator, who'd shoot a reassuring expression and so they’d comply. As much as the benefactors touched, they rarely spoke directly to Eve. “Such a vision!” They would say at them rather than to them. “You've outdone yourself, Yahweh.” His peers would joke, elbowing his sides after examining the specimen.
After one particularly exhausting evening, Eve sat in in their containment chamber as the professor brushed out their hair. He had been perceptive to a certain change within his creation—though unsure of what exactly it was. After an eternity of silence, the Professor finally spoke. “Something is troubling you, Eve?” Asking in a way that felt more like a statement than a question. That was all the prompting Eve needed to let their contained thoughts to bubble over and spill. “Why did you make me?” They asked without missing a beat. Taken back, the Professor hesitated. “Why, to show everyone that I can.” He answered, continuing to brush. “That’s it?” Eve whimpered, swiftly spinning around to meet his gaze. “That’s it?” The professor echoed. “Do you know the countless hours and resources that went into making you? Certainly not!” He huffed. “But what am I meant to do? Since I emerged it's been the same over and over, accompanying you to lectures, accompanying you to dinners, is that it? That’s my life?” Before he could answer, they asked in a low, shaky tone. “What is my purpose?” At this, the Professor began to chuckle. “Your purpose” He began, lightly poking the human’s nose. “Is to be my accomplishment!” The human’s eyes began to moisten, and they buried their face into a nearby cushion. They quietly started to sob. “Eve… listen to me. Once Adam is finished incubating, you’ll have a playmate and forget all about this silliness.” The Professor sighed and reached to touch them, then pulled his hand back at their head abruptly jerking up to meet his eyes again. “I have no purpose!” Eve wailed, their face wet with tears and mucus. “What does it matter?!” The Professor asked astounded—his question only made their crying intensify. All at once, he grew impatient. “Cease this hysteria!” He ordered. “What is causing this, Eve? Your cycle isn’t for a fortnight—I don’t understand what has you so disturbed!” The human didn't answer immediately. They swiped their eyes with their forearm and gazed at the Professor with a seriousness he had never seen on their face. “I want to go to Earth.” Eve said gently. “Impossible.” The Professor informed. “I told you, there’s nothing there...there's nothing for you there. It’s ruined.” “You went!” They exclaimed. “Please Professor, I beg you! I've never asked for anything in my whole existence, and I'll never ask for anything again...I promise.” Eve pleaded. The reptilian sighed and caressed their cheek. “Eve…you are my dearest creation. Though I do wish I had the foresight to make you less precocious.” He lamented and stroked their cheek with his clawed thumb. “I’ll make the preparations,” he announced after another lengthy sigh. Immediately Eve perked up. “Thank you!” They beamed and hugged their creator. Awkwardly, the Professor patted the back of their head. “I would advise you not to have any expectations.” he mumbled.
***
As the pair exited the wormhole, Eve’s eyes scanned their surroundings in search of the blue marble—but nothing was to be seen. Then, they focused on a gray sphere, it grew closer as the ship approached. “That’s it?” They questioned the Professor, bringing their face closer to the window, squinting. “Indeed.” He answered. The human waited for further explanation, but there was only silence. Then, the Professor broke the stillness. “We’re docking.” He announced, as they broke through the gray haze of the stratosphere. Eve waited for the sooty mist to dissipate–it never cleared. Even once grounded, the same fog encompassed the ship. The Professor did a final check that both of their suits were in working order and readied the masks. “Let me remind you again. The atmosphere is unsuitable for either of us to breathe...under no circumstances are you to remove this filter. Do you understand me?” He asked, fastening it into place for Eve. They nodded. “Good...shall we?” he invited, punching in the main door’s opening pin.
Eve followed behind their creator, a sudden tightness forming in their chest. This is what they came for. This is what they wanted. So…why feel the sudden apprehension? It puzzled them. Regardless, they followed the Professor off the vessel and felt the hard ground of the planet. For the first time, Eve saw their place of origin with their own eyes—bleak, ashy. Now that they were out of the craft it became clear how thick the fog was…they could barely see a few feet in front of them in any direction. “Do stay close,” the Professor commanded. “I told you, not much to look at. It’s quite a miracle I recovered anything from this place—but I suppose it's a testament to the lab’s quality equipment! And why do you think I'm so acclaimed? Making you wasn’t just complicated, finding the materials alone was quite a task!” He boasted. For a moment, Eve was filled with excitement as they noticed a small bit of plant life next to their foot. They dropped to their knees and reached out to touch it, but the dark shriveled thing that resembled life disintegrated. The tightness returned. “What...happened?” They asked, looking behind them at the Professor. “You only said Earth was a forgotten planet…” “Oh, it's not completely clear. We generally rely on the theory that to protect humanity from the ever-expanding threat of solar rays, they blocked it out themselves.” He answered matter of fact. “That's what makes you so special! A construction of a species long eradicated countless millennia ago!” He went on, as Eve began to hyperventilate. “I do hope this makes you feel better, now that your curiosity has been cleared—" Absentmindedly the human’s hands began to drift to their head, felt for the release button and pushed it. At once the mask fell away from their face and affixation began. Instant regret. Eve clawed at their neck in a futile attempt for air, in such desperation leaving red streaks on their flesh. They hadn’t experienced too much physical pain in their existence but this by far was the worst. Just as Eve’s vision started to blur, suddenly their mask was hastily hooked back in place and breathing resumed. They gasped, finally taking in filtered air. Everything burned, their throat, their eyes.
“Eve! I deliberately told you not to take off your filter! What on this side of the cosmos were you thinking? Do you get a rise from elevating my stress hormones?” The Professor demanded. “I-I don’t know what came over me.” They responded meekly, their bloodshot eyes still tearing. Stillness hung in the air for a moment. Suddenly, everything clicked into place for the Professor. “L'appel du vide.” He said in a hushed voice. “What?” Questioned Eve weakly. “Call of the void. Your need for purpose, overthinking your existence… you’re more human than I anticipated. I didn’t account for this while I was making you, I didn’t think I had to worry about such things with a synthetic being.” He mused. More human than he thought? What did that even mean? Before Eve had much time to ponder on this their thoughts were interrupted by a beeping emitting from the Professor’s watch. He inhaled sharply, a smile creeping upon his face. “It’s Adam! He’s done incubating!” He almost squealed, helping Eve to their feet. “Come along Eve!” He gushed. Practically running, he firmly held Eve’s hand pulling them to the ship.
Reflective Essay
The two main texts that influenced aspects of my written work are Fred M. Wilcox’s Forbidden Planet (1956), and Genesis from the King James Bible’s translation. Both narratives have themes of creation, gender binary, and autonomy that I wanted to emulate for their complex and thought-provoking qualities. These topics are ones that humanity has engaged with for our entire history and are so vast we likely won’t obtain any concrete answers. Therefore, what better genre to incorporate such themes in than science fiction, which is speculative in nature?
The religious angle may initially seem incompatible with science fiction. In his journal article Postcolonial Science Fiction?: Science, Religion and the Transformation of Genre in Amitav Ghosh's the Calcutta Chromosome James H. Thrall cites the tumultuous beginnings between the two. He explains, “Writers in the developing science fiction field of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries believed they were ‘the voice of a secularist future’ that should treat religion ‘with at best polite contempt’”. (291) Religion’s role in sci-fi is further clarified as “either to be undermined or to indicate the level of civilization which any given alien race had achieved.’ As a result, ‘sf is full of stories in which superstition is defeated
by explanation; the immaterial is tamed by manifestation.’” (291) However, though sci-fi encourages logistics and proof, its comparable to religious lore in that both let us imagine the unknowable and centers creation themes. The Bible’s God created Adam and Eve, Forbidden Planet’s Dr. Morbius created Robby the Robot, and the Professor in my prose created my reimagined Eve. Each has the power imbalance between creator and created and raises questions of the latter’s autonomy. God created humans with free will which enabled them to disobey and eat the fruit of knowledge. Robby cannot refuse an order unless it is to do harm. However, there are hints of him being autonomous as he can read as unenthusiastic doing certain tasks. My Eve is autonomous in that they have the ability to choose their actions, but this goes unrecognized for them initially. This is in part due to the Professor’s conditioning. He too, is aware of Eve’s free will but neglects to keep it in mind, overridden by the idea that the human is an extension of himself since he made them. This is what enables the Professor to objectify them, allowing his colleagues to touch Eve any which way without considering their personhood. In this way Eve is reduced to their body, being perceived as a mere experiment by the other reptilians and a sentimental “pet” to the Professor.
The inspiration of gender identity themes I gathered from the primary sources lie within Genesis’ Eve and Forbidden Planet’s Altaira. Both genres of religious texts and science fiction typically delegate female characters to a supporting role in the narrative, thus I wanted to have a female presenting character at the forefront. However, to call my Eve female isn’t accurate—as they have no human culture to reference and there for no real conception of gender, they are essentially nonbinary. A deliberate choice I made was while the narration refers to Eve with they/them pronouns, other characters address the human with she/her, essentially assigning gender without Eve’s understanding or contextual knowledge. I relate this to Altaira specifically as male characters call attention to her womanhood and how she should act according to her assigned gender. There is one scene in particular where she is berated for kissing someone (who side note, used her naivety to manipulate her) and dressing “revealing”. Before the space crew came it was just Altaira and her father, and then these random men barge into her planet and tell her how she ought to act as a woman! Such entitlements are due in part to heteronormative attitudes, which has a fascinating commentary in some science fiction literature. Amanda Thibodeau explores this challenging of heteronormativity in the genre in her article Alien Bodies and a Queer Future: Sexual Revision in Octavia Butler’s “Bloodchild” and James Tiptree, Jr.’s “With Delicate Mad Hands” Here she examines Octavia Butler’s Bloodchild and James Tiptree, Jr.’s With Delicate Mad Hands, who bring their female insight of gender nuance into their work. Thibodeau notes how the foreign alien body can represent both utopia and dystopia through lack of or subversion of defining gender characteristics. On Bloodchild, she observers, “The gender roles of the larger society also represent alternative structures of power and culture, with the exclusively female adult Tlics holding absolute authority over Terrans such as Gan, who has been socially conditioned to a set of gender expectations that are more conventionally feminine—docility,
receptivity, and monogamous desire” (271) The display of role reversal based on alien biology makes one stop pause to think on our society’s own gendered order of things, and how they go unchallenged—like the expectation of women to endure traumatic childbirth. In With Delicate
Mad Hands an alien race exists that chooses their own gender, and intelligence and spirituality is more valued. Thibodeau writes, “the love of the Other in Tiptree’s story is the love of a reassuring complement to the self, a mirroring of experience and hope. The story thus overturns the usual alien-as monster narrative of space exploration and instead renders abject normative
constructions of power and desire” (276) Thus in this narrative heteronormativity is dissipated by love of the self and release of expectations.
The way religion and gender come together in influencing my work is obvious. The Abrahamic religions usually frame women in a negative light, Eve from Genesis being a prime example. Her creation is inherently linked to the justification of women being subservient to men, the fact that she was created from Adam’s rib. This was another element I wanted to warp with the choice of my Eve emerging before the man in the narrative. It is also interesting in how Eve is remembered as humanity’s fall from grace and to blame for original sin, rather than the serpent who coaxed her into eating the forbidden fruit. Of course, a proactive woman in the pursuit of knowledge is vilified. Hence, my retelling of Eve retains the same thirst for knowledge, but have it framed in a positive light. Eve’s desire to see their place of origin and need for purpose is akin to the “forbidden fruit” in Genesis. The Professor is a stand in for God, discouraging Eve’s inquisitiveness finding it useless and at worst a nuisance. However, unlike the God of the Bible he is not a deity. He may have made Eve, but the Professor is only a mortal entity on a power trip, and so has no inherent say on what the human should value.
Annotated Bibliography
Research Question
In what ways does the genre of science fiction intersect with the topic of religion and gender queer identities?
Primary Sources
“Forbidden Planet” Wilcox, Fred M., Director. MGM, 1956.
“Genesis”, King James Bible, Thomas Nelson, 1991.
Secondary Sources
Thibodeau, Amanda. “Alien Bodies and a Queer Future: Sexual Revision in Octavia Butler’s ‘Bloodchild’ and James Tiptree, Jr.’s ‘With Delicate Mad Hands.’” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 39, no. 2, 1 July 2012, pp. 262–281., https://doi.org/10.5621/sciefictstud.39.2.0262.
Amanda Thibodeau, author from Science Fiction Studies vol. 39, discusses the idea of alien bodies in science fiction translating to desires and fears of imagined utopias (the possibilities of a new body mirroring a new world)/dystopias (taboo deviance from norm) as they let us re-imagine gender binary and heteronormativity. To elaborate on this, Thibodeau analyzes Octavia Butler’s Bloodchild and James Tiptree Jr.’s With Delicate Mad Hands. BloodChild conveyed this through an alien race that flips gender power dynamics with female species (Tlics) impregnating males of another species, which often kills them. Tlic’s bodies are dystopian for their horrific impregnation process, yet utopian in their grace and intelligence. In With Delicate Mad Hands, this is through a woman who envisions a utopia of sexless aliens wishing to escape from patriarchy, as well as wanting an accepting community giving the story an element of a “queer utopia”. These aliens are real, and she falls in love with one. Loving the “other” is equated to loving the self in the narrative. The journal’s goal is to apply queer science fiction critique to exhibit how the portrayal of an alien body can challenge ideas of heteronormativity and subvert typical themes in sci-fi such as colonialism and patriarchy. This text is useful in its exploration of the way gender binary and queerness manifest in science fiction, having clear examples by analyzing the texts it engages with. This is helpful for my writing process as the topics are one of the angels my piece incorporates. I can keep the examples of how the stories subvert the “norm” in sci-fi and take further inspiration to my own text. The journal is that of Science fiction studies, and so is intended for those studying the genre in an academic setting. It has credible reliability in its peer reviewed status.
Thrall, J. H. “Postcolonial Science Fiction?: Science, Religion and the Transformation of Genre in Amitav Ghosh's the Calcutta Chromosome.” Literature and Theology, vol. 23, no. 3, 2009, pp. 289–302., https://doi.org/10.1093/litthe/frp041.
James H. Thrall, Professor of religion and culture at Knox college, discusses the subgenre of postcolonial science fiction and how it can be used to explore religion in addition to colonialism. Connections are made between how in science fiction’s emergence, the medium initially was used in criticizing theology and is compared to the dismissal colonizers had for the “unsophisticated superstition” of the natives. In this way both are “othered”. Hence, many sci-fi stories revolve around science overriding the unexplainable (like an alien society’s beliefs), much like justifications of “civil” colonizers needing to “tame” natives out of spiritual customs going off the logic that advancement prevails. Alternatively, the speculative aspect of science fiction is then compared to metaphysics and noted how after World War II writes framed alien beliefs in a kinder manor. However, it is noted how ultimately religion is associated with a lack of intelligence in the genre. The literary journal is aimed towards those interested in or doing research on theology’s interaction with literature in an academic setting. The text is useful as it connects religion depicted in sci-fi and the reality of colonialism all through a historical context in a clear manner. This pairs well with engaging in my narrative as a large theme of it is religious references. Beyond the initial theme of religion, the journal is also relevant in its discussion of colonialism in sci-fi. This will be incorporated with Eve’s treatment and objectification as an “other” by the species that made them. It is peer reviewed, and therefore reliable.
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