"Ancient Rage" in Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl

Bacigalupi, in bringing genetic engineering and manipulation to the forefront of his dystopian future, figures the struggle between nature and science, primitivity and civilization, the symbolic feminine and masculine. Like The Island of Dr. Moreau before it,The Wind-up Girl explores the human desire to control nature; also like Wells's work, Bacigalupi's novel suggests the ultimate futility of such an endeavour.

Bacigalupi's world is sprinkled with genetically engineered or manipulated creations, such as the megadonts, “gene-hacked animals” (8) derived from elephants for labour purposes. The megodonts are creatures both created and controlled by humans: they are chained, watched and whipped by “union handlers” (8). Despite this, it becomes evident that attempts to control the animal are unsuccessful: a “maddened megadont” (18) escapes its bonds and goes on a rampage. The novel notes that “the beast's four tusks [had] been sawn off for safety, but it it [was] still a monster” (17); in other words, despite human attempts to modify and subjugate the elephant, it still possesses an “ancient rage” (20).

Another noteworthy example of a bio-engineered creation in the novel are the cheshire cats. The origin of the cats is significant: they were created by a calorie executive (like Anderson) for children – they were playthings. Earlier in the novel, the rogue megadont, killed and butchered, is also compared to a toy: “More and more, the carcass is taking on the appearance of separated parts. Not an animal at all, more a child's play set” (25). Hock Seng also often notes that Anderson is like a “petulant child” (29). Thus a motif arises relating bioengineering with childish play, with nature as the plaything.

The various aspects of nature the novel suggests – its subjugation under humans for economic/industrial reasons, its treatment as a plaything or entertainment, and its dormant and dangerous wildness – are encapsulated and epitomized in the character of Emiko, a prostitute and freak act working for Raleigh. Emiko has been genetically engineered as an improvement upon nature: she has “perfect eyesight and...skin and disease- and cancer-resistant genes” (34). “Improvement,” however, is relative, depending on who defines what is good. Emiko is an improvement by patriarchal standards which value youth, beauty, and above all, subservience in its women: Emiko cannot resist an order.

Despite her wiring, however, Emiko, like the Cheshire cats, develops into a dynamic, natural being, with feelings, fears, and desires – one could say she is appropriated by nature. Anderson notes an “animal flicker” (266) in Emiko's eyes. The animal within her reaches its climax when Emiko is humiliated beyond her limits - even though she is engineered not to have such limits: no matter how she is humiliated, Emiko is programmed to be subservient, but, desperately, much like the maddened megodont, she lashes out, killing her subjugators, including Somdet Chaopraya and Raleigh, and escaping. Emiko, who has been genetically wired to not have control over her own body, takes control through an animalistic outburst.

Throughout the novel, Bacigalupi returns to this theme: nature is reaching its limits, springing up against the pressure put upon it by industrial, scientific, patriarchal forces. The megodont is able to escape because the chains have been naturally rusted away; nature, with its plagues, mutant pests, and global warming, seems almost to be conspiring to overthrow the forces that seek to subjugate it. The world Bacigalupi envisions is not just dystopic; it is apocalyptic. We are left aware of the futility of our sciences and civilizations in the face of nature's “ancient rage.”

SOURCES

Bacigalupi, Paolo. The Windup Girl. San Fransisco: Night Shade Books, 2010. PDF File