Summary Of Octavia Butler's 'Amnesty'
Considering Noah as a Lacanian ‘Other’ Amidst an Alien Invasion Octavia Butler’s “Amnesty” follows post-abductee Noah in her attempts to bridge the two diverse populations (humans and the aliens referred to as “Communities”) in their challenge to decide whether or not they can cooperatively and symbiotically co-exist. In Noah’s descriptions of her experiences with the Communities she reveals the similarities shared in both humans and the Communities, as well as the severe activities sometimes exhibited by each society. Because of the gap that exists between the two societies’ ability to understand each other Noah has been, in a sense, ‘othered’ by her placement in the middle; she finds herself unable to be fully accepted by her own kind, though she is also unable (in the time of her narration) to be fully accepted by the foreigners to Earth, a fact that she seems to have come to terms with and must, seemingly for the sake of human-kind, convince others to peacefully pursue as well, or at least have them (her own people) understand. One of the key features of Butler’s story is to highlight the broad characteristics that constitute the idea of human-ness, and to question whether our understanding of what it is to be human will change, or whether it can
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Although Noah makes a good argument for and is a clear example supporting that decision, the fear of the differences observed between them and the Communities secludes them from realizing the possibility; it is from such people that Noah is secluded and made ‘othered’, much in the same way people of colonized societies may be for associating with persons believed to be their
Although Noah makes a good argument for and is a clear example supporting that decision, the fear of the differences observed between them and the Communities secludes them from realizing the possibility; it is from such people that Noah is secluded and made ‘othered’, much in the same way people of colonized societies may be for associating with persons believed to be their