We Who Are About To Character Analysis
The race between death and our unique selves, which one will win? Joanna Russ’ We Who Are About To… explores the relation between a woman’s prideful, cynical self and the inevitable end she must face, as she and a group of misfits attempt to survive and colonize a habitable but lifeless planet. Yet, on an abandoned planet where no one will find them, tensions rise and a patriarchal presence consumes the crew which results in the violation of our protagonist’s right to her own body and her retaliation that leaves everyone but herself dead. Despite the character’s forlorn nature, she decides to remain alive even after her constant bickering of not fearing death. Thus, Russ comments on the human tendency not to fear death, but its implications,
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About to die. And so on” (Russ 1). Russ implements such segment fragments from the very beginning to the very end of the novel, each one serving a certain purpose, but most of them stinking the atmosphere with a futile scent. In this specific case, the shortness of the fragments saturates the book with an impersonal coldness. Our protagonist utters such words in a such a swift and icy manner that make her seem as if she’s not averse to death, that there’s no point in delivering a long winded speech demonstrating her fear of the grave. There’s no talk of regrets, no people she she will miss, no people that will miss her; there’s no garrulous, panicked dialogue about how she is not prepared to die, that she hasn’t see enough, experienced enough. She candidly states, “We’re nowhere. We’ll die alone.” For a reader it’s refreshing to hear such words in a your typical ‘crash-landing, survive long enough until help arrives type’ of novel, but the words seem almost non human; perhaps it’s simply logical in her circumstances to accept death, but regardless, to voice said thoughts with such aplomb is inhuman. Facing death as our protagonist does, requires a non human spirit, but with closer reading of the passage, one begins to note that the narrator’s pride hides her unease at the ramifications of
About to die. And so on” (Russ 1). Russ implements such segment fragments from the very beginning to the very end of the novel, each one serving a certain purpose, but most of them stinking the atmosphere with a futile scent. In this specific case, the shortness of the fragments saturates the book with an impersonal coldness. Our protagonist utters such words in a such a swift and icy manner that make her seem as if she’s not averse to death, that there’s no point in delivering a long winded speech demonstrating her fear of the grave. There’s no talk of regrets, no people she she will miss, no people that will miss her; there’s no garrulous, panicked dialogue about how she is not prepared to die, that she hasn’t see enough, experienced enough. She candidly states, “We’re nowhere. We’ll die alone.” For a reader it’s refreshing to hear such words in a your typical ‘crash-landing, survive long enough until help arrives type’ of novel, but the words seem almost non human; perhaps it’s simply logical in her circumstances to accept death, but regardless, to voice said thoughts with such aplomb is inhuman. Facing death as our protagonist does, requires a non human spirit, but with closer reading of the passage, one begins to note that the narrator’s pride hides her unease at the ramifications of