Literary Innovation and Realistic Representation in the Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
When receiving her award, Jemisin said the reason behind her novel The Fifth Season winning the award was because of the ‘literary innovation’ and ‘realistic representation’ that she used in the story, which made the people relate to it. It was relatable as Jemisin uses different characters with different characteristics and features to represent throughout the novel to describe the current world and the other kind of people that live in it. Even though the story is fiction, which means the characters are not real, it has an inner meaning, which is the representation of the human race. In literature, innovation simply means doing something different. Jemisin does something different by using fiction full of magic and supernatural abilities to represent the current world, thus making it unique since it is from a different perspective. Most writers do not use fiction as a symbolism of the present world as they mostly write directly as it is with a little plot twist or character change. Realistic representation, on the other hand, is basing on what is real and practical. It shows interest in something or what something is based on. In the novel The Fifth Season, Jemisin shows interest in the current world and the people living in it. She is interested in the human race and the different types of people living in it basing on rules and discrimination. The representation of reality in the novel contributed to making it relatable to the public, which made it win the award, that what Jemisin meant when she said that in her speech. The paper will focus on the two aspects and their relationship in the novel.
Generally, in the plot of the story, Jemisin represents racial discrimination and oppression of the type of people in the novel that were ‘different’ from the others, known as the orogenes. This race was different in that they had powers to control the earth and its forces. They could harvest heat from the ground and redirect it elsewhere as they pleased. This made the other ‘normal’ race fear them, thus portrayed them as a threat to their race. Therefore, the orogenes lived in fear and on the look-out for the authorities who kept a brutal hold on them. Those caught were mostly killed, and some run for shelter among the ordinary people, who were known as Comms. However, the comms rejected and even executed them, and those lucky enough managed to blend in and live among the comms, like Essun, who is among the major characters in the novel. This concept is a representation of racial discrimination and oppression that is evident in the current world, i.e., racism. Jemisin used literary innovation as she uses people of supernatural abilities to represent the discriminated race, which is a different thing from the ‘normal.’ The change relates to the realistic representation she uses in the feeling of fear the comms lived in of the orogenes. This is a representation of one of the effects of racial discrimination in the current world, especially among the African American people in the United States. These people are feared by the whites and are considered ‘dangerous’ to society due to their history and perception of being violent. The orogenes live in fear of the authorities, which is the same case among the people of color, especially the African Americans in the States. The orogenes have to blend in and act standard to fit in the comms and avoid being killed. This is a realistic representation of the people of color as they have to avoid mistakes to blend in and avoid being killed. Jemisin also portrays racism through the killing of the orogenes by the comms in the novel. For instance, Jija, Essun’s husband, kills their three-year-old son Uche because he was ‘different’ and he feared the ‘creature’ their son was. In today’s world, African Americans and people of color are victims of killings in the United States every day since they are feared and perceived as a ‘threat’ to society.
The prologue of the novel opens with an extraordinarily powerful orogene discussing the sad state of the world and laments the oppression of his race. He then uses his power to threaten the existence of the human race by destroying it with the worst fifth season ever recorded in history. The prologue is an innovation as Jemisin uses a strong creature to represent the oppressed and discriminated race, which is ironic that he is extraordinarily strong but gets oppressed. He laments for his races’ oppression that he wants to destroy all those who oppress and discriminate against them. This is a realistic representation of the oppressed and distinguished race in the current world. The lamenting is representing the people of color since the beginning of time and how they lament for their oppression during the slave era to date. The supernatural ability of the orogene, in my opinion, is the representation of leadership among the people of color. It represents their opportunity to be in control or to be a leader in a world that discriminates them every day.
The whole story is a representation of a woman’s lifetime from three different periods. Jemisin uses literary innovation as she introduces something different. The woman goes through all the changes due to circumstances and to avoid being killed since she is an orogene. The life begins with Damaya, a young girl from the northern comm who is discovered to be an orogene by her parents and is sent to the Fulcrum, where orogenes get trained to use and control their powers to avoid being killed. She pasts all the tests and allowed to choose her name, which she does, to Syenite. Syenite, being the second period of the woman’s life, is a rising star in the Fulcrum. She is forcefully paired with Alabaster, who is the most potent living orogene, to conceive a child with him. As they embark on a long journey, they are faced with a lot of circumstances that land them on an island off the coast. They enter into a polyamorous relationship with Innon, who is the leader of the Island. Syenite conceives a baby with Alabaster and raises him peacefully on the island. However, Syenite was a different type of origin as she could control a particular strange crystal called Obelisks, which made her more powerful as she could extract power from it. This factor made her a taboo among the orogenes hence the Fulcrum aimed at erasing her from existence. She and Alabaster became fugitives that landed them on the island. However, the Fulcrum finally caught up with them years later in the island; Alabaster gets abducted, and Syenite unleashes a power that kills most people after she strangles her baby to death before the guardians could get to him. She chooses to kill her child than let him suffer in their hands. Syenite escapes and hides among the comms as Essun, who is the third character and part of the woman’s life. She tries to leave a healthy life and even marries a comm and starts a new life until her secret is revealed and disaster follows.
The realistic representation of the above innovation by Jemisin, in my opinion, is a couple of themes in the current world. First and foremost, she brings out the idea of the place of a woman in society. Throughout the lifetime of the woman in the novel, she undergoes a lot of things that women go through in the community today. She is forced into marriage to procreate, an elaboration of today’s’ woman, especially in the traditional African society where women are forced into marriages and are portrayed, in general, to be child-bearers. Jemisin also represents the theme of parenthood and the hard choices that come with it. The hard decisions for any parent in the current society are to do what is best for their child and to do anything possible to protect them. Jemisin, in my opinion, also expresses a little bit of sexism from the described concept above. She elaborates on how a woman is perceived when she is too powerful and what she might do; thus, everything possible is done, so she does not succeed.
Last but not least, Jemisin uses literary innovation in her novel The Fifth Season when she talks about the different ranks and positions of people in The Stillness. In my opinion, this represents the different types of people and their duties in society, thus realistic representation. The nation of the Stillness is broken up into many comms, use-castes, races, and species. The orogenes, which is the discriminated race, clearly represents the people of color who undergo racism in the real world. The guardians, in the novel, are the hunters and warriors whose task is to control the orogenes through pain and training or even killing them. In reality, these are the authorities who are the highest discriminators of the people of color, the ‘training’ represents arrests of the colored people, and the ‘execution’ is the killings of colored people by the police. The geomests in the novel are the educated ones who have studies geometry, which was considered a unique discipline to the Stillness. In the real world, these are the educated people in society, people with the knowledge and the skills to invent, create, or discover, among other knowledgeable skills. The commless in the novel are those without any protection or settlement either by choice or expulsion from a comm. This represents a lot of people in the real world basing on one’s perspective. In my opinion, it can be the people of color who are not accepted in society due to racism. The equatorials in the novel are the people who live in more stable and wealthy regions. In real life, they represent the rich and the wealthy in society. Jemisin describes the social status of people in the community and the difference in the social ranks. On the use-castes, Jemisin classifies them based on their occupations and what is expected of them in society. The strongbacks from the novel represent the workers or laborers; the breeders are generally the women in society. The leadership caste consists of the leaders or those who are supposed to lead in the community.
In conclusion, Jemisin uses fictional characters and their actions to represent modern society and the flaws in it. She uses literary innovation, which makes the novel unique and relatable. The whole storyline is a realistic representation in one way or another, as described above. The central theme of the story is racial discrimination, which represents racism in society today.
References
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