Future Home of the Living God is a fictional novel by Louise Erdrich, an Ojibwe author. The novel is formatted as a series of journal entries written by a woman named Cedar, who is using them to document her pregnancy and struggles during a confusing time period in which evolution appears to be reversing. Throughout the novel, Erdrich explores the topic of women’s rights, particularly in the context of reproduction. Women are the main focus of the novel, as they are giving birth to babies that are seemingly the product of devolution. As a result of the mass fear and hysteria that this mysterious phenomenon elicits, pregnant women are imprisoned, and it is implied that their babies are either killed or experimented on. The situation ultimately progresses to the extent that any woman who is of childbearing age and commits a small crime, like running a stoplight or jaywalking, is taken and forcibly artificially inseminated. Similar to the real world, the government in Erdrich’s novel appears to be largely controlled by men, who are making these decisions about women’s bodies.
Although derived from a fictional stressor, the imprisonment of pregnant women and violation of women’s rights are eerily reminiscent of real-world events, both past and present, all around the globe. As the National Women's History Alliance notes, women in the U.S. have only gained the right to vote, to own property, to receive higher education, and to enter professions like medicine and law within the past two centuries. Even then, women’s rights in the U.S. have been complicated by issues of race, so even as white women gained more equality in the eyes of the law and society, women of color and indigenous women did not benefit as much. Women from other parts of the world may not even have these rights at all. Presently, women’s rights issues in the U.S. include women’s enrollment in military service, sexual harassment, and reproductive rights. As the Center for Reproductive Rights notes, reproductive health care services address so much more than just abortion. They also address contraception, pregnancy care, sex education, domestic violence resources, affordable childcare, and prevention of forced sterilization and female genital mutilation. However, even in terms of abortion, which is legal and constitutionally protected, these services are often difficult to acquire or are stigmatized. These services are not guaranteed either, as politicians and lawmakers have been working to overturn Roe v. Wade and cut off access to reproductive health care services like those offered by Planned Parenthood. Amnesty International provides startling facts about world reproductive health that also apply to the U.S., such as that 47,000 pregnant women die every year due to complications from unsafe abortions and more than 14 million teenage girls give birth every year, mainly as a result of rape or unwanted pregnancy. Thus, reproductive rights are definitely a valid but uncertain topic currently. Given the state of affairs Erdrich describes and the unhappy ending of the novel, in which Cedar is indefinitely imprisoned and her baby is taken from her, she does not offer a positive commentary on the future of women’s rights. While the reversal of evolution does not seem likely in the real world, it is quite possible that women could lose their rights, especially concerning reproduction, or that women’s rights in general could never progress enough to ensure that women are truly equal to men in the eyes of the law and society. After all, the government – and men – still exert control over women’s bodies. That being said, is it so unlikely that, if society inevitably collapses due to a pile up of stressors like the current pandemic and climate crisis, women's rights could deteriorate?
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AuthorHi, I'm Rhi! In these blog posts, I will be exploring and reflecting on common themes found in post-apocalyptic literature. Archives
April 2021
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