Angela Carter: Bridging the Gap between Fiction and Reality
Angela Carter 's book The Passion of New Eve is a work of fiction that was published in 1977. However, the book could easily be seen as realism through a dystopian lense. When people think of dystopia nowadays, they think of teamwork heroines such as Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games" or Tris Prior from Divergent. This idea of women standing up against their society is not as new as some people like to believe. Like Hunger Games and Divergent, The Passion of New Eve focuses on a female lead. There are a few major key differences between Carter 's protagonists and the ones millennials have been exposed to. Eve starts out as not only a villain (in a sense) but also a male. However, …show more content…
Carter, like other dystopian fiction writers, uses the dystopia genre to bridge together fiction and reality.
Keith Booker in his book Dystopian Literature: A Theory and Research Guide muses on how dystopian literature acts as a warning against utopian thinking: “Dystopian literature is a potent vehicle for criticizing existing social condition or political systems, and for warning against the potential negative consequences of utopian thought”(Booker). Utopia can be considered the exact opposite of dystopia. In a utopian society, everything is perfect. In utopians, everyday horrors such as war and famine do not exist. However, there is usually a major price to pay for their type of thinking. A warning against utopian thinking can be seen throughout The Passion of New Eve. The first major instance of this warning can be seen when Leilah gets an abortion. Instead of going to a doctor to receive a medically safe abortion, Leilah goes to an underground "doctor". “But she trusted no one she did not know, so she obtained from, she told me a girl at one of the places where she …show more content…
One of the reasons Leliah decides to get an “underground” abortion is because she feels like she can trust the voodoo doctor, since her friend recommended her, over anyone else. This quote gives both an insight and a warning into how untrustworthy some medical professionals could be. An important note is that during the time this book was published, both the United States of America and Britain had legalized abortion. Also by 1977, Planned Parenthood had already been offering abortions in the United States of America for nearly a decade. However, it must be remembered that The Passion of New Eve is fiction so reality and the universe of Carter’s book do not have to have the same rules and regulations. Although Leilah probably could have received an abortion by a licensed doctor, she chose otherwise. Carter 's choice to have Leilah make this decision speaks volumes. Even if Leilah had chosen to get the abortion done by medical professionals, she could have stilled faced judgement from the medical professionals and staff members. Despite
Angela Carter 's book The Passion of New Eve is a work of fiction that was published in 1977. However, the book could easily be seen as realism through a dystopian lense. When people think of dystopia nowadays, they think of teamwork heroines such as Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games" or Tris Prior from Divergent. This idea of women standing up against their society is not as new as some people like to believe. Like Hunger Games and Divergent, The Passion of New Eve focuses on a female lead. There are a few major key differences between Carter 's protagonists and the ones millennials have been exposed to. Eve starts out as not only a villain (in a sense) but also a male. However, …show more content…
Carter, like other dystopian fiction writers, uses the dystopia genre to bridge together fiction and reality.
Keith Booker in his book Dystopian Literature: A Theory and Research Guide muses on how dystopian literature acts as a warning against utopian thinking: “Dystopian literature is a potent vehicle for criticizing existing social condition or political systems, and for warning against the potential negative consequences of utopian thought”(Booker). Utopia can be considered the exact opposite of dystopia. In a utopian society, everything is perfect. In utopians, everyday horrors such as war and famine do not exist. However, there is usually a major price to pay for their type of thinking. A warning against utopian thinking can be seen throughout The Passion of New Eve. The first major instance of this warning can be seen when Leilah gets an abortion. Instead of going to a doctor to receive a medically safe abortion, Leilah goes to an underground "doctor". “But she trusted no one she did not know, so she obtained from, she told me a girl at one of the places where she …show more content…
One of the reasons Leliah decides to get an “underground” abortion is because she feels like she can trust the voodoo doctor, since her friend recommended her, over anyone else. This quote gives both an insight and a warning into how untrustworthy some medical professionals could be. An important note is that during the time this book was published, both the United States of America and Britain had legalized abortion. Also by 1977, Planned Parenthood had already been offering abortions in the United States of America for nearly a decade. However, it must be remembered that The Passion of New Eve is fiction so reality and the universe of Carter’s book do not have to have the same rules and regulations. Although Leilah probably could have received an abortion by a licensed doctor, she chose otherwise. Carter 's choice to have Leilah make this decision speaks volumes. Even if Leilah had chosen to get the abortion done by medical professionals, she could have stilled faced judgement from the medical professionals and staff members. Despite