The Fusion of Species and Race

The following is an from Samuel Delaney's "Stars in my Pocket like Grains of Sand":

On my left, sound increased. I shifted my shoulders under Rat's hands, and turned to see first Ollivet't's, then Shalleme's scooter pull abreast. Ollivet't said with three tongues at once, loud enough to cover it:
{ "WHAT WAS THAT?"
{ "WHAT WAS THAT?"
{ "WHAT WAS THAT?"
I shouted, loud as I could (it doesn't compete): "I'LL TELL YOU LATER." Then as an afterthought: "YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE ME IF I DID," and hoped Shalleme could read my lips. It's a talent many of us humans have been developing as a sort of racial compensation.

- From Page 260 of 20th anniversary edition of "Stars in my Pocket like Grains of Sand".

This particular passage really struck out of me because of the sentence construction and the form that Delaney writes this novel. Through close reading there can be specific implications outlined in Delaney's modified writing style. Delaney is adept at creating science fiction through the imagery of the meanings and also through the formation of the words. Through formatting and language manipulation Delaney creates "sentences [that] trip and trick you into saying, into seeing" - which is a quote taken from a interview with Delaney on his book. Rather than using word connotations to construct science fiction Delaney makes use of the language signifiers and symbols. This advanced literary technique is what makes this book really shine as a piece of science fiction. Delaney is defamiliarizing the aspects of language and redefining them - the pure essence of a science fiction novel.

In mathematics an open left bracket, like the one Delaney uses in the dialog from the passage, symbolizes the parameters of a given function. By designating a symbol and using the open bracket you can define a set of values mapped from another set of values with given parameters. In the passage Delaney creates a function of Ollivet't's voice, which gives three outputs. This application forces the reader to read the same line three times and emphasizes the sentence through rhetorical structure. Normally a writer strengthens intensity of a dialog by capitalizing or italicizing the sentence, but Delaney moves a step farther by providing the bracket to symbolize three sentences in one. One of the crucial differences in society is the prevalence of language and here Delaney twists Ollivet't's language in order to emphasize the difference between humans and Evelmis.

Here the Evelmi alien, Ollivet't uses three tongues to convey it's bewilderment when being pursued by dozens of flying Evelmis and humans on scooters. Marq shouts back but her voice "does not compete" with Ollivet't. This returns to earlier in the book when Santina is describing the difference between Evelmi, saying that humans and Evelmi will never understand one another because Evelmis have more tongues than claws. Marq hopes "Shallem [can] read [her] lips," refering to the communication barrier that exists between their species. This displays the essential difference paralleled throughout the book that Evelmi and humans do not understand one another - fueling a dichotomy between them.

One of the most intriguing aspects of this passage is the conclusion. Marq's lip reading ability is develped as a "racial compensation" between the Evelmis and humans. Again, Delaney defamiliarizes the present. Race is no longer between humans of different skin colors. The conflict of race inherent through Delaney's novel implies that race is now defined by species. Evelmi, Xiv, and Humans are different races in this 6,000 world universe. What I love about this novel is that it explores outerworldy perspective on the formation and conflict of race. Black, white, asian are different races but Delaney points out that if we were to encounter alien species in the future our species will be as one, the human race.