This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

Postcolonial Speculative Fiction

Monster Portraits

This page is referenced by:

The Inferiorizing of Nomadic Culture in "The Shadow Beast" In Monster Portraits there is a short story called "The Shadow Beast," which  is about a nomadic person who teaches the narrator of the story about his own shadow beast, an animal that is used for travel, shelter, clothing, sustenance, and more. As the rider talks, the narrator makes mental observations: "The nomads are excluded; they are outcasts…In their breasts beat the hearts of beasts…they have never been regarded as part of humanity."The rider says matter-of-factly to the narrator, "Look well into your past and you will know whom God loved." The narrator begins to think about what life was like for Cain, who was forced to live outside of his own people and among the beasts in the wilderness because he was not as good as his brother. After snapping back to reality, the narrator notes that she "felt sweaty, gritty. Longing for a hotel. The rider is right. Cain was the murderer but Abel was the monster."
Samatar's Connection to the story of Cain & Abel
Sofia Samatar grew up in a unique household: her father was Muslim and her mother was Mennonite. In an in-class interview, she talks about how conservatively she grew up due to both of the religious backgrounds of her parents and she was always very aware of balancing the traditions of both religions and cultures growing up. In "The Shadow Beast," Samatar references the Biblical story of Cain and Abel because she said that she wanted to attend to Abrahamic traditions that appear in Christianity, Muslim, and Islam. For those who aren't familiar with the story in Genesis 4:1-16, Cain and Abel were sons of Adam and Eve. Cain was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd; when they were asked to give an offering to God, Cain gave roots from the ground and Abel sacrificed one of his lambs. God believed that Cain's offering was not the best that could have been offered, as Abel's was. Cain's jealousy over his brother led him to murder Abel; when God asked where Abel was, Cain lied and said he was not his brother's keeper and did not know. As punishment God permanently marked Cain, cursing him so that he would never be able to successfully live in society again and making him a nomad for eternity.
Nomadic Life vs. Settler Life
            The narrator's final realization points to the idea that because of Abel, nomadic culture became demonized. There is no arguing that Cain was guilty of killing his brother out of jealousy and he is in every way responsible for that action. However, Samatar hints that Abel is the true monster because his lifestyle was the preferred one of God; the product of Cain's labor that he sacrificed was not as good as his brother's, which ultimately made him the lesser brother. God's punishment was sentencing Cain to a nomadic lifestyle instead of a settler one, which inherently paints the former as evil or wrong. However, as the narrator in "The Shadow Beast" learns about the rider's lifestyle she realizes that it is just different from her own, not better or worse. The narrator reiterates that nomadic people are outcasts and seen as inferior by settled society, but as she spends more time with them (and craves the safety of being clean and confined in a hotel) she realizes that she is the inferior one in their culture. But her sudden consciousness of this dichotomy is only that; as the rider points out, there has always been a clear distinction between the two cultures. The idea that settling is not only better, but sanctioned by God, dates back to the story of Cain and Abel and set the precedent for the rest of existence.
Will Robot Nannies Eventually Take Over? With the rise of artificial intelligence there comes many questions and concerns. Often these concerns are rooted in the thought that technology may one day surpass humans in intelligence, stripping us of our title as the superior species. In Sofia Samatar’s Monster Portraits, the story “The Nanny” addresses the concept of artificial intelligence by detailing a story in which a robot nanny murders an entire family. This results in all the robot nannies being recalled. Under normal circumstances, it seems as though the primary concern would be that the robots have turned murderous. However, the result of the recall turns out to be much more chaotic and confusing.
What happens when nannies are on recall?
Chaos. In this world, parents have become so dependent upon their robot nannies that they have literally forgotten how to take care of their own children. The parents in this world can’t put their children to bed without the robot nanny because “Nanny alone knew what to do.” At first, this may seem farfetched, but when looking at the trend of humans becoming dependent on new technologies, it isn’t completely implausible. Most people today can’t function without their cellphone in their hand. It is reasonable to assume that if robot nannies were released and did most of the childcare for a length of time, people would become dependent upon them as well. This dependency lays a foundation that almost makes an absent nanny worse than a murderous nanny. Furthermore, the fears of artificial intelligence being smarter than humans is brought to life by Del Samatar's illustration of these robot nannies. When they are recalled, one nanny decides to alter herself to prevent being shut down or disposed of. She gives herself new teeth and weapons for hands, as depicted in the illustration. The concept of being dependent upon AI is terrifying enough without considered the fact that they may become sentient beings that alter themselves into weapons.
Are robot nannies really going to take over?
Probably not. At least, not in the foreseeable future. However, this story does provide important commentary on the current dependency upon technology. Technology can be beneficial in many ways, but at a certain point it becomes problematic. People are already becoming so dependent on technology like cellphones and computers that many students don’t know how to find information without searching it on the internet. Granted, it is much more convenient than flipping through a book to find the answer, but it also sets those students up for failure when they don’t have access to the internet. However, we are taking the internet and these technologies for granted, much like how the families in the story took the nannies for granted. They did not anticipate ever being without the nannies, and we do not anticipate being without the internet or our phones. But if we continue growing more and more dependent and for some unforeseen reason lose access to our technology, chaos will likely ensue.
Dr. Samatar or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Lawn I’m obsessed with having a lush green lawn.
It’s my thing and I can’t get past it. The problem is that we live in a part of South Carolina where the soil isn’t accommodating. Our yard is basically sand and any landscaper worth their salt will tell you that grass won’t grow in sand. I don’t care, I need this green shag carpet. I don't know why I need it, I just do. Thanks to Monster Portraits, maybe I now have an inkling of understanding.

Our class interviewed Dr. Sofia Samatar about her book Monster Portraits. The book is a collection of short stories, a few pages or less, about various monsters inspired and accompanied by artwork created by her brother, Del Samatar. One of my classmates asked about which was hardest to write about. Her response was that monsters are supposed to make us uncomfortable, that we are supposed to want to get rid of them. When it was my turn to ask questions, I asked her about a line in the short story “The Shadow Beast”. The line goes like this:
The rider offered me a cup of black milk seasoned with aloe.

My question was why? What was the symbolism that my brain couldn’t wrap around? Why subvert something so nearly universal as the color of milk.

Her response was absolutely shocking to me. You see, I had always believed that authors had intent in the choice of every word. Her answer was that, and I'm oversimplifying here, sometimes the universe just puts something in your head and you use it. So it was with the black milk. She stated that she wasn't trying to make it a symbol, that an author will, "surrender to images that occur during the process of writing, even if they don't know why it feels right." So I was right. There is intent, even if the author may not know the reason behind it.

Sometimes, symbols create themselves. Sometimes, the symbols are there all along and it just takes time for their symbolism to come to light. That's what Dr. Samatar said, in a nutshell, that it's for the critics to figure out later.

This got me wondering. How much of human discomfort and suffering is us willfully ignoring the will of the universe? I mean, we all sometimes know what to do and when to do it without any external influences. That’s the universe guiding us, right?Is my green lawn fetish an example of me following the guidance of the universe or ignoring it? I’ve been fighting this battle for six years. I’ve tried every strain of grass seed imaginable with no results. I think the sandlot that is my front yard is my monster. Or it's not. My next effort is to use clover. Maybe the universe is telling me to have a dusty wasteland of a lawn. Or maybe the universe knows that the joy comes from the struggle and I should keep pounding away at my Sisyphian task. I guess it only matters if you have a preferred flavor. Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry-they’re all still just ice cream.