{"id":{"repo_id":"unm","oai_identifier":"oai:digitalrepository.unm.edu:fll_etds-1068"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/unm/oai:digitalrepository.unm.edu:fll_etds-1068","repository":{"repo_id":"unm","name":"University of New Mexico","base_url":"https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"\"Nolite te bastardes carborundorum\": Reproduction and Resistance in Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood, and the Alien Series","abstract":"This thesis proposes a comparative study of Octavia E. Butlers Xenogenesis trilogy (1987-89), Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (1985), and the Alien series (1979-97). I argue that these three texts resist patriarchal oppression upon the female fertile body. I examine how they rewrite and subvert such institutions as motherhood, the family, and the heterosexual couple, in order to redefine and empower woman. In the first chapter, I argue that Octavia Butler rewrites Western origin stories in order to put woman and people of color at its center, which provokes a redefinition of the essential woman. In chapter two, I examine how Margaret Atwood criticizes both patriarchal and feminist ideologies in a satirical, pessimistic tale. She represents the patriarchal rule as absurd and makes reproduction ironically futile. In the final chapter, I demonstrate that the Alien series and in particular Alien: Resurrection (Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997) represent patriarchy as a failure and empower the liminal woman.","abstract_html":"This thesis proposes a comparative study of Octavia E. Butlers Xenogenesis trilogy (1987-89), Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (1985), and the Alien series (1979-97). I argue that these three texts resist patriarchal oppression upon the female fertile body. I examine how they rewrite and subvert such institutions as motherhood, the family, and the heterosexual couple, in order to redefine and empower woman. In the first chapter, I argue that Octavia Butler rewrites Western origin stories in order to put woman and people of color at its center, which provokes a redefinition of the essential woman. In chapter two, I examine how Margaret Atwood criticizes both patriarchal and feminist ideologies in a satirical, pessimistic tale. She represents the patriarchal rule as absurd and makes reproduction ironically futile. In the final chapter, I demonstrate that the Alien series and in particular Alien: Resurrection (Dir. 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Butlers Xenogenesis trilogy (1987-89), Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (1985), and the Alien series (1979-97). I argue that these three texts resist patriarchal oppression upon the female fertile body. I examine how they rewrite and subvert such institutions as motherhood, the family, and the heterosexual couple, in order to redefine and empower woman. In the first chapter, I argue that Octavia Butler rewrites Western origin stories in order to put woman and people of color at its center, which provokes a redefinition of the essential woman. In chapter two, I examine how Margaret Atwood criticizes both patriarchal and feminist ideologies in a satirical, pessimistic tale. She represents the patriarchal rule as absurd and makes reproduction ironically futile. In the final chapter, I demonstrate that the Alien series and in particular Alien: Resurrection (Dir. 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In the first chapter, I argue that Octavia Butler rewrites Western origin stories in order to put woman and people of color at its center, which provokes a redefinition of the essential woman. In chapter two, I examine how Margaret Atwood criticizes both patriarchal and feminist ideologies in a satirical, pessimistic tale. She represents the patriarchal rule as absurd and makes reproduction ironically futile. In the final chapter, I demonstrate that the Alien series and in particular Alien: Resurrection (Dir. 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