Social Minds in ‘The Semplica Girl Diaries’

Figure 5.3 Intermental framing in an extract

from ‘The Semplica Girl Diaries’

There then follows a further embedded epistemic modal-world in which the narrator imagines the reactions of an imagined enactor of one of his three SGs when she received the news that she had been chosen by the Semplica company to join the programme. This is illustrated by the epistemic modal-world box to the right of the main Text-World in Figure 5.3. Although the modal-world takes on the spatial-temporal location of this particular woman, such world-building elements are both indefinite and also imagined by the narrator himself and are therefore not world-switch forming. From this imagined text-world, the narrator models the thoughts and wishes of the SG enactor cueing an additional epistemic modal-world that presents the mental processes of the woman on receiving her acceptance letter, which in turn triggers an embedded deontic modal-world in which the SG muses on her obligations to leave and provide for her family. These worlds are shown to the far left of the figure.

The imagined worlds constructed within this extract are again conceptualisations of the narrator’s own subjective thoughts and are embodied within his own individual consciousness. However, it is the large intermental unit of the narrator’s society which has constructed the idealised narrative that surrounds the Semplica girls and which continually echoes the shared beliefs that these women are happy to be chosen, that they consider themselves somewhat heroic by bravely helping their families, and that becoming a Semplica girl is something they truly wanted. Indeed, various characters throughout the narrative express these exact arguments, modelling the SGs’ wishes (e.g. Thomas - ‘they want to […] they like applied for it’ (Appendix C: 686)) and acknowledging the benefits of joining the programme (e.g. Pam – ‘where they’re from, the opportunities are not so good’ (Appendix C: 689)). Even the media projects positive endorsements of the Semplica programme for the narrator to consume – ‘very moving piece on NPR re. Bangladeshi SG sending money home: hence her parents able to build small shack’ (Appendix C: 281-282), adding further granularity to the intermental frame. Returning to the extract, each of the narrator’s imaginings are therefore coloured by the shared values and beliefs of his society and are enacted within the intermental frame of this broad intermental unit (as expressed by the secondary frame around each modal-world in Figure 5.3).

5.6 Review
In this chapter I have offered a systematic Text-World-Theory analysis of George Saunders’ ‘The Semplica Girl Diaries’ based upon my own subjective reading of the narrative. I examined the particular conceptualisation of narrator-narratee relationships in epistolary fiction, mapping the distinctions between the actualised reader, the implied reader, the implied reader of the text-world diary and the narratee within the text. I expanded upon my introductory discussion of dystopian satire to examine Saunders’ critique of materialism within the discourse-world, arguing that concerns for the consumerist nature of the author’s real-world society are refracted in the exaggerated avarice of the text-world enactors. I argued that by successfully running the satirical discourse, the actualised reader should be able to identify materialism as the satirical impetus of ‘The Semplica Girl Diaries’ and recognise the satirical target as the author’s contemporary society. In so doing, I observed that readers of this text are invited to draw refracted similarities between their own experiential environment and the text-world, in order to perceive real-world materialism from a more critical perspective.

I have placed particular focus upon the modelling of the Semplica Girls within the narrative and examined the conflicting attributions of consciousness to them by other characters in the story. In advancing this discussion of attributed consciousness I have considered the impact of intermental social structures upon the individual, idiosyncratic opinions of the narrator, identifying several intermental units within the narrative itself. So as to further develop the application of Palmer’s (2004, 2010) model of the social mind, I have proposed the term ‘intermental frame’ as a replacement term for ‘intermental mind’ or ‘social mind’ in order to alleviate the contentious notion of distributed or disembodied consciousness. In applying intermental frames to the discourse of the narrator, I have suggested a more nuanced model of social cognition that can be accounted for in terms of Text-World-Theory and that aligns more comfortably with existing notions of embodied consciousness and ideological point of view.

It is arguably the intermental framing of the narrator’s discourse that determines the peculiarity of his estranging perspective and of the text-world itself, as the social values he shares, and those that the society collectively project, are most likely distinct from the beliefs of the reader. It is the disparity between these two perspectives, and indeed between the text-internal perspectives of the society-wide intermental unit and Eva, which create the tensions within and outside of the narrative that determine the story’s poignancy and indeed mirror the ‘insider/outsider dynamics’ that are prototypical of dystopian narratives more broadly. As such in constructing the text-worlds of ‘The Semplica Girl Diaries’, the reader must contend with conflicting mind-models of the SGs and engage their own ethical discourse-world viewpoints. It is the ethical experiences of the dystopian reader that I move on to examine in more detail in the following chapter as I investigate the social significance of ecodystopian narratives and the experience of reading Paolo Bacigalupi’s ‘Pump Six’.

Chapter 6: ‘Pump Six’
6.0 Overview

The analyses in this chapter focus upon Paolo Bacigalupi’s short story ‘Pump Six’ (Bacigalupi, [2008] 2010a). Section 6.1 introduces the narrative and outlines the critical responses to the story following its original publication in 2008. I offer an in-depth Text-World-Theory analysis of my own reading of ‘Pump Six’ placing particular attention on the story’s opening paragraphs and the introduction of its key ecocritical themes. In 6.2, I examine the presentation of such themes in line with contemporary ecodystopian theory, reflecting on the real-world anxieties addressed by Bacigalupi’s refracted vision of a degenerate United States. The experience of reading ‘Pump Six’ is arguably particularly poignant as a result of such text-world-discourse-world mappings, as evidenced by ‘real’ readers’ responses to Bacigalupi’s devolved world. Section 6.3 provides a detailed insight into the idiosyncratic responses of online reviewers as drawn from the LibraryThing website (see Section 4.2 for full methodology). Across this section, I review three particular response trends: reviewers’ reported belief in the authenticity of Bacigalupi’s text-worlds, explicit discourse-world-text-world connections, and specific emotional responses to the texts. Following on from this discussion, I examine Bacigalupi’s characterisation of the ‘trog’ in 6.4, the devolved human species that exemplify the ecodystopian motivations in ‘Pump Six’. I analyse the attribution of consciousness to the creatures and investigate the relationship between these characters and their human counterparts, a relationship that underpins the logic and consequences of this particular world.

Paolo Bacigalupi’s ([2008] 2010a)) ‘Pump Six’ was originally published in 2008 for the dystopian short story collection Pump Six and Other Stories (all in-text citations are to this issue; ‘Pump Six’ is reproduced in Appendix D). As the title text of the collection, ‘Pump Six’ is the only narrative designed for the edition, with the nine other texts appearing in various sources, science-fictional and otherwise, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (‘Pocketful of Dharma’ (1999), ‘The Fluted Girl’ (2003), ‘The People of Sand and Slag’ (2004b), ‘The Calorie Man’ (2005), ‘Pop Squad’ (2006a)); Asimov’s Science Fiction (‘The Pasho’ (2004a), ‘Yellow Card Man’ (2006c)), High Country News (‘The Tamarisk’, (2006b)) and Good Words Make Good Stories (‘Softer’ (2007)). The collection as a whole maps the evolution of Bacigalupi’s work, confirming his penchant for hard-hitting social criticism and his commitment to ecocritical concerns. As a distinguished environmentalist (see Nijhuis 2008; Selisker, 2015), Bacigalupi is known for his contributions to various political and environmental magazines and categorises himself as a writer of ‘extrapolations’ (Bacigalupi, 2015a: n.p.), concerned with what could happen should eco-social crises continue. It is unsurprising, then, that ecological and eco-social concerns are of prominent focus across his canon with Pump Six and Other Stories posing no exception. Comprising ten dystopian and post-apocalyptic short stories, the collection reflects upon a diverse range of social, political and environmental affairs including ‘the politics of food (“The Calorie Man” [2005]), water management (“The Tamarisk Hunter” [2006]), waste management (“Pump Six” [2008]), de-evolution (also “Pump Six”), and the manipulation of bodies […] (“The Fluted Girl” [2003], “Pop Squad” [2006], and “The People of the Sand and the Slag” [2004])’ (Tidwell, 2011: 94-95), in order to fully examine the contemporary ‘relationship between the environment and bioethics’ (Tidwell, 2011: 95).

On initial publication the collection as a whole was well received, winning the 2008 Locus Award for Best Collection and being deemed best book of the year by Publisher’s Weekly. Reviewed as a hybrid combination of ‘cautionary tale, social and political commentary and poignantly poetic, revelatory prose’ (Publisher’s Weekly, 2008), Pump Six and Other Stories invites readers to respond critically to contemporary discourse-world anxieties and challenge a future in which, as a result of our sociocultural ignorance, ‘we’re all going to shit’ (Bacigalupi, 2015a: n.p.). As reviewed by one LibraryThing reader, Bacigalupi’s dystopias ‘are premised not on any cataclysmic war or political revolt, but simply on the world choking on the waste of our technological “progress” [resulting in] the end of fossil fuels, the flooding of the environment with chemical by-products [and] the long-term effect on the human organism of the pharmaceutical revolution’ (kvrfan, 2015: n.p.). In presenting believable future worlds suffering from mass pollution and chemical poisoning, ‘Pump Six’ examines several of these issues, addressing the degeneration of the sewage works, the halt of all industrial manufacturing, and the de-evolution of the human species.

6.1.1 The Text-Worlds of ‘Pump Six’

‘Pump Six’ takes for its focus the life of Travis Alverez, an uneducated water treatment worker living in the state of New York. Set around the year 2120, the story follows Alverez across the space of approximately three days as he attempts to stabilise the only remaining sewage works across New York City. The pumps are one of the few technological structures that continue to service the States, albeit temperamentally, and are in a constant state of dysfunction and disrepair. As a result of such damages, the water across New York is undrinkable, and the environment is flooded with toxins and chemical by-products. As will be seen from the analysis which follows, water pollution is only one of a number of environmental assaults that plague Bacigalupi’s world, alongside intense heat, drought and concrete rain. These harsh changes in climate and pollution have adversely affected the city’s hedonistic population, causing various skin diseases, decreasing their chances of conception, and increasing the risk of miscarriage. More importantly, the pollutants in the water supply are causing genetic anomalies, resulting in an increasing number of ‘trog’ births (a de-evolved troglodytic human) and the cognitive regression of adult citizens. Only Alverez is aware of the true dangers of the failing sewage works and concludes his narrative with blinkered optimism for the future, and the hope of finding a mechanical solution.

The story opens on an unspecific day in an unknown year, zoning-in on a familiar domestic scene between Alverez and his partner, Maggie. During their interactions, the reader is introduced to an array of futuristic world-building elements that identify the world as being distinct from their own such as ‘NiftyFreeze Bacon’ (Appendix D: 21-22), a ‘trogwad’ (Appendix D: 22) and a ‘Tickle Monkey revival concert’ (Appendix D: 8-9). It is also during this opening scene that we are made aware of society’s failing industrial system and given the first indications of broader environmental crises. Following an unsuccessful attempt at making breakfast, Alverez makes his way to work at the sewage treatment plant only to be informed on his arrival that pump six is down. After several arguments with his co-workers and the revelation that only a select number of people have retained the capacity to read, Alverez fixes the pump and the day continues. At the end of his shift, Alverez and Maggie attend an exclusive nightclub called Wicky. On entering, the two inject a futuristic hallucinogenic drug called ‘Effy’ (Appendix D: 448) and the narrator accounts a rather surreal party experience whilst high. It is during the party scenes that Alverez is first characterised as a ‘hero’ and this sense of heroism is steadily built upon throughout the rest of the narrative, moulding his character into an atypical dystopian maverick. On their way home Alverez and Maggie have a brief interaction with a group of trogs, a posthuman species first seen on Alverez’s walk to work. The creatures are highly amicable but cognitively regressive, being seen to engage only in sexual practices throughout the narrative. Spurred on by this particular group’s orgy Alverez attempts to impregnate his wife, with the effects of the Effy counteracting his usual impotence.

The following morning, Alverez receives a call from the sewage plant that pump six has once again stopped running. After examining the inner mechanics of the pipe-works, Alverez concludes that the pumps are now beyond his skill to repair as he is unable to decipher the schematics designed 100 years before. He travels to Columbia University in the hope of consulting a faculty engineer, having downloaded the pump blueprints onto his phone. On arriving, the students he meets are as hedonistic and cognitively deficient as the trogs and all the departments are empty and barred. Alverez finds himself lost in the University library where he is nearly shot by an ‘old faculty wife’ (Appendix D: 1084). After hearing his plight the woman informs him that there is no one left except for the students, who she reveals are slowly regressing to the devolved ‘trog’ form (Appendix D: 231), as are the rest of the world, as a result of pollution and atmospheric change. On leaving the library with a selection of engineering textbooks, Alverez perceives his world anew focusing on the devastation and corruption that has been backgrounded in his narration thus far. The narrative closes as Alverez muses on the environmental-social state of his society, evaluating the efficiency of other industrial plants and the distant thrumming of the sewage works. He hopefully picks up a book and begins to read.

As an example of internal homodiegetic narration the story is focalised from the perspective of Alverez, narrated in first-person past tense. In Simpson’s (1993) terms, ‘Pump Six’ can be categorised as Category A narration in Reflector mode with predominantly negative shading throughout (given the frequent use of modality and verba sentiendi – see Section 3.3.1). It is unsurprising, then, that the changing world-view of Alverez invites emotional responses from the reader, as they are encouraged to mirror his development into a determined dystopian maverick, modelling his character as he begins to ‘[reconsider his] culture and society in response to a lived experience, demonstrating the malleability of mind-set even within determining contexts’ (Otto, 2014: 185). In engaging with Alverez’s consciousness both during his time as a ‘complicit participant’ in his corrupt society (Otto, 2014: 187) and at the close of the narrative as he attempts to repair pump six, the reader is encouraged to question: ‘what led the [protagonist] to think against the grain of the dominant culture?’ (Otto, 2014: 187) and, in turn, how they might follow his example within their discourse-worlds.

According to Otto (2014: 189), ‘Bacigalupi’s ecodystopian stories work – that is, instigate ecotopian transformation – by staging a productive tension between what is (im)possible for their protagonists and what is still possible for us’ producing a tension between the reader’s discourse-world and the text-worlds of the narrative. Several LibraryThing readers report such cross-world mappings in their reviews of Pump Six and Other Stories, drawing explicit connections between the fictionalised futures Bacigalupi illustrates and the real-world future they are invited to imagine. For example, three of the readers describe the narratives as ‘cautionary tales’ or ‘cautionary stories’ (see AltheaAnn, 2016: n.p.; kd9, 2008: n.p. and Dead_Dreamer, 2010: n.p.) whilst others define them as ‘moralistic’ (jnwelch, 2012: n.p.) and ‘thought-provoking’ (see jnwelch, 2012: n.p.; Kat_Hooper, 2014: n.p.; Tatiana_G, 2011: n.p. and Valashain, 2013: n.p.). Each of these modifiers evidence the perceived didacticism of Bacigalupi’s work and the invitation for his readers to think, ‘“oh crap, that’s going to happen”’ (bongo_x, 2013: n.p.).

Such critical reflection is encouraged by three primary narrative features: ‘(1) protagonists’ new ways of thinking about the world after their experiences of something that gets them to reflect on the dominant world-view, (2) their abilities to act on this thinking, and, importantly, (3) our abilities as readers to institute similar transformations’ (Otto, 2014: 183). Clearly such a paradigm can be mapped on to a reading of ‘Pump Six’, given Alverez’s new-found vision of his broken world following his interaction with the faculty wife, his open-ended narrative which leaves room for interpretative solutions to be mapped to and from the discourse-world, and the invitation to address real-world ecocritical concerns anew.

Otto’s (2014) third narrative outcome – the reader’s ability to institute personal transformations in line with a particular protagonist – highlights, in sociolinguistic terms, a preferred response (see Stockwell, 2013; also, Bilmes, 1988; Sacks, 1987, Rendel-Short, 2015). The discourse that generates preferred responses is ‘designed to understand the nature of turn-taking in conversation analysis’ (Stockwell, 2013: 268) and recognise the clear, desired response of a particular illocutionary act – a characteristic example being the acceptance of a dinner invitation. Stockwell (2013: 269) argues that ‘most literary works have an encoded, text-driven preferred response’ and dystopian fictions in particular tend to project clear didactic messages. Bacigalupi (2015a: n.p.) has often expressed his manipulation of such messages, explaining that through his fiction he can engage with people’s lives and give them ‘the opportunity to make different decisions and vote for different politicians’. Bacigalupi (2015a: n.p.) argues that his works present hypothetical versions of the future in order to promote environmental-social change for as he explains ‘climate change is a giant unforced error. We don’t have to be as dumb as we are’. The hope that readers will learn from his writing and incorporate such awareness into their everyday lives is suggestive of Bacigalupi’s own perception of his works’ encoded preferred responses. Readers may however, experience different reactions or form differing interpretations to the text’s encoded message although the ecodystopian impulses of the text are arguably convincing.

In Text-World-Theory terms, Stockwell (2013) argues that preferred responses encourage a sense of readerly positioning and posit an ethical dimension to the reading experience between the reader and the author. He notes that this ethical sense ‘is motivated by a world-switch, since in crude terms ethics is always the comparative distance between what is and an alternative world’ (Stockwell, 2013: 270) and can be either modalised (for example, what ought to be, what must be), time-displaced (what used to be or will be), reported (what people say is the case), metaphorised (what a world is or is like) or negated (what a world is not) (see Stockwell, 2013: 270).

In terms of ‘Pump Six’, the initial world-switch between the discourse-world and the text-world is both negated, in that it is unlike the reader’s environment, and time-distanced, showing a future vision of what will happen should current environmental neglect continue. Throughout the narrative this position shifts, as the reader is invited to imagine what ‘ought to be’ or what ‘must’ happen in order to avoid such a future, as garnered from the shift in Alverez’s perspective. After all, ‘a defining characteristic feature of the dystopian genre must be a warning to the reader that something must, and, by implication, can be done in the present to avoid the future’ (Sargent, 1994: 6; see also Evans, 1973: 33). Several LibraryThing readers acknowledge this kind of preferred response, as exemplified by the comments of devilwrites (2009: n.p.), who observes: ‘if the stories don’t make you really uncomfortable in some way, or if they don’t make you think SERIOUSLY about the issues he’s tackling and how they relate to the world we live in now, then you’re not paying attention’. Devilwrites further argues that the stories should cause an attentive reader to feel ‘uncomfortable’, a reaction which, I would infer, comes in response to making cross-world mappings between the discourse-world and text-worlds.