It’s All About the Body: Zombification and the Male Gaze in Oryx and Crake and Brown Girl in the Ring
Abstract
This article seeks to analyse the commodification of women of colour in two dystopian Canadian novels: Brown Girl in the Ring (1998), by Nalo Hopkinson, and Oryx and Crake (2003), by Margaret Atwood. I argue that the women in these stories are subjected to similar patriarchal strategies of control. Namely, I suggest they are zombified through the male gaze, or in other words, they are regarded as ambulatory bodies by their societies. This draws attention to the Canadian government’s neoliberal policies that often belie neocolonial undertones in their usage of the bodies of women of colour. In addition to this, I will focus on the characters’ ability to resist this totalising and zombifying gaze through different means. Here I posit that Hopkinson presents a world that emphasises commonality among women and, therefore, her characters are more successful in dismantling patriarchal structures. In opposition to this, I argue that Atwood’s novel isolates Oryx which makes her unable to achieve structural change, and therefore she chooses to become an elusive figure as a form of protest.
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Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. Anchor Books. Kindle ed., 2003.
Behnam, Biook, et al. “Slave-master Relationship and Post-colonial Translation and Teaching.” Journal of Language Teaching and Research, vol. 8, no. 3, 2017, pp. 565-570. https://www.academypublication.com/issues2/jltr/vol08/03/15.pdf
Bourdreau, Francois. “Immigration, Environment, and Neocolonialism: The Canadian Neoliberal Project.” The Global Studies Journal, vol. 6, no. 4, 2014, pp. 1-10.
Chunhua, Yu. “Rising Scholar: An Examination of the Institutionally Oppressive White Savior Complex in Uganda Through Western Documentaries.” International Social Science Review, vol. 97, no. 2, 2021, pp. 1-29.
Drichel, Simone. “Regarding the Other: Postcolonial Violations and Ethical Resistance in Margaret Atwood’s Bodily Harm.” John Hopkins UP, vol. 54, no. 1, 2008, pp. 20-49.
Hopkinson, Nalo. Brown Girl in the Ring. Grand Central Publishing. Kindle ed., 1998.
Jackson, Zakkiyah Iman. Becoming Human: Matter and Meaning in an Antiblack World. New York UP, 2020
Kelly, Jennifer R., and Mikael Wossen-Taffesse. “The Black Canadian: An Exposition of Race, Gender, and Citizenship”. Journal of Canadian Studies, vol. 46, no. 1, 2012, pp. 167-192.
Lauro, Sarah Juliet, and Karen Embry. “A Zombie Manifesto: The Nonhuman Condition in the Era of Advanced Capitalism.” Boundary 2, vol. 35, no. 1, 2008, pp. 85-108.
May-Ron, Rona. “Returning the Gaze: ‘Cinderella’ as Intertext in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake.” Marvels & Tales, vol. 33, no. 2, 2019, pp. 259-282.
McAlister, Elizabeth. “Slaves, Cannibals, and Infected Hyper-Whites: The Race and Religion of Zombies.” Zombie Theory: A Reader. Edited by Sarah Juliet Lauro. University of Minnesota Press, 2017, pp. 63-84.
McCormack, Donna. “Living with Others Inside the Self: Decolonising Transplantation, Selfhood and the Body Politic in Nalo Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in the Ring.” Medical Humanities, vol. 42, no. 4, 2016, pp. 252-258.
Reid, Michelle. “Crossing the Boundaries of the ‘Burn’: Canadian Multiculturalism and Caribbean Hybridity in Nalo Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in the Ring.” Extrapolation, vol. 46, no. 3, 2005.
Romdhani, Rebecca. “Zombies Go to Toronto: Zombifying Shame in Nalo Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in the Ring.” Research in African Literatures, vol. 46, no. 4, 2015, pp. 72-89.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Can the Subaltern Speak?: Reflections on the History of an Idea, edited by Rosalind C. Morris. Columbia University Press, 2010.
Tolan, Fiona. Margaret Atwood: Feminism and Fiction. Rodopi, 2007.
Turner, Justin. “‘It all started with Eddie:’ Thanatopolitics, Police Power, and the Murder of Edward Byrne.” Crime Media Culture, vol. 15, no. 2, 2018, pp. 239-258.
Wood, Sarah. “‘Serving the Spirits’: Emergent Identities in Nalo Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in the Ring.” Extrapolation, vol. 46, no. 3, 2005 pp. 315-326.
Behnam, Biook, et al. “Slave-master Relationship and Post-colonial Translation and Teaching.” Journal of Language Teaching and Research, vol. 8, no. 3, 2017, pp. 565-570. https://www.academypublication.com/issues2/jltr/vol08/03/15.pdf
Bourdreau, Francois. “Immigration, Environment, and Neocolonialism: The Canadian Neoliberal Project.” The Global Studies Journal, vol. 6, no. 4, 2014, pp. 1-10.
Chunhua, Yu. “Rising Scholar: An Examination of the Institutionally Oppressive White Savior Complex in Uganda Through Western Documentaries.” International Social Science Review, vol. 97, no. 2, 2021, pp. 1-29.
Drichel, Simone. “Regarding the Other: Postcolonial Violations and Ethical Resistance in Margaret Atwood’s Bodily Harm.” John Hopkins UP, vol. 54, no. 1, 2008, pp. 20-49.
Hopkinson, Nalo. Brown Girl in the Ring. Grand Central Publishing. Kindle ed., 1998.
Jackson, Zakkiyah Iman. Becoming Human: Matter and Meaning in an Antiblack World. New York UP, 2020
Kelly, Jennifer R., and Mikael Wossen-Taffesse. “The Black Canadian: An Exposition of Race, Gender, and Citizenship”. Journal of Canadian Studies, vol. 46, no. 1, 2012, pp. 167-192.
Lauro, Sarah Juliet, and Karen Embry. “A Zombie Manifesto: The Nonhuman Condition in the Era of Advanced Capitalism.” Boundary 2, vol. 35, no. 1, 2008, pp. 85-108.
May-Ron, Rona. “Returning the Gaze: ‘Cinderella’ as Intertext in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake.” Marvels & Tales, vol. 33, no. 2, 2019, pp. 259-282.
McAlister, Elizabeth. “Slaves, Cannibals, and Infected Hyper-Whites: The Race and Religion of Zombies.” Zombie Theory: A Reader. Edited by Sarah Juliet Lauro. University of Minnesota Press, 2017, pp. 63-84.
McCormack, Donna. “Living with Others Inside the Self: Decolonising Transplantation, Selfhood and the Body Politic in Nalo Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in the Ring.” Medical Humanities, vol. 42, no. 4, 2016, pp. 252-258.
Reid, Michelle. “Crossing the Boundaries of the ‘Burn’: Canadian Multiculturalism and Caribbean Hybridity in Nalo Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in the Ring.” Extrapolation, vol. 46, no. 3, 2005.
Romdhani, Rebecca. “Zombies Go to Toronto: Zombifying Shame in Nalo Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in the Ring.” Research in African Literatures, vol. 46, no. 4, 2015, pp. 72-89.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Can the Subaltern Speak?: Reflections on the History of an Idea, edited by Rosalind C. Morris. Columbia University Press, 2010.
Tolan, Fiona. Margaret Atwood: Feminism and Fiction. Rodopi, 2007.
Turner, Justin. “‘It all started with Eddie:’ Thanatopolitics, Police Power, and the Murder of Edward Byrne.” Crime Media Culture, vol. 15, no. 2, 2018, pp. 239-258.
Wood, Sarah. “‘Serving the Spirits’: Emergent Identities in Nalo Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in the Ring.” Extrapolation, vol. 46, no. 3, 2005 pp. 315-326.
Alegría-Hernández, J. V. (2021). It’s All About the Body: Zombification and the Male Gaze in Oryx and Crake and Brown Girl in the Ring. Canada and Beyond: A Journal of Canadian Literary and Cultural Studies, 11, 133–147. https://doi.org/10.14201/candb.v11i133-147
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