Importance Of Dignity In Joanna Russ's We Who Are About To

A death with dignity, either alone or with others, is certainly preferable over a death without dignity. Whether it be lingering or rather sudden, the moment when the impending inevitability of one’s death looms before an individual makes dignity all the more desirable. However, due to the erratic nature of life, the manner by which people die usually isn’t left up to the individual. When lives are claimed unjustly, people often develop bothersome feelings of malaise and desire justice for the deceased as they worry the departed party wasn’t able to die on his or her terms. Joanna Russ’s protagonist of her science-fiction novel entitled We Who Are About To… experiences similar sentiments following her indiscreet slaughter of her intergalactic …show more content…
Firstly, in order to perpetuate her enigmatic aura, Russ deliberately delays elaborating upon the narrator’s deeper exposition until the later segment of the novel. In this passage, the narrator recalls “[working] for more than a year in the terminal counseling end of a hospital” where she cites death as a frequent occurrence (83). This anecdote not only provides context for the narrator’s knowledge of various pharmaceuticals, but also moderately humanizes her indifferent attitude. Indeed, the narrator strategically organizes interpersonal distances so that she can cope with the demise of others without becoming emotionally attached. Two major physical symbols of death—the gun and the lethal ampoules—accompany the narrator at essentially all times on her space expedition, providing her methods to swiftly execute herself anytime she is prepared to proudly perish. Additionally, being stranded on a secluded planet likely exacerbated her obsession as death’s ubiquitous nature becomes astronomically more prominent. As a result, this motif may have potentially impacted the narrator’s eventual decision to murder the other characters—a decision with some rather troubling mental …show more content…
Due to her diligent studying of ars moriendi or the art of dying, she develops disdain for “the useless people” or those who “don’t want to die” (83). This superior temperament causes her to also hold in contempt any infidels who interfere with her objectives. Substantiating this claim is the narrator’s fearful anticipation of a rescue team comprised of “great, coarse, strong, disgustingly healthy people in uniforms, with thick necks” (83) discovering her and coercively shipping her off to receive medical attention. Extending the conceit of the allergy room analogy from earlier, the narrator seems to be describing the disdainful doctors she despises. Moreover, after she casts this prediction, a shadow supposedly materializes at the mouth of the cave, to which she reassures that she “must be spooking [her]self” (83). Russ’s choice of the word “spooking” expresses the narrator’s deeply rooted horror of more useless people dictating how she has to die. While the narrator’s condescending philosophy may be offputting for some, Russ cautiously frames the narrator’s stream of consciousness to reflect the mind of a rational, introspective human being. To this degree, Russ demands heightened involvement of the reader to discern the narrator’s unconventional motivations. Indeed, for her “dying