"All You Zombies" chronicles a young man (later revealed to be intersex) taken back n time and tricked into impregnating his younger, female self before he underwent the sex change. He thus turns out to be the offspring of that union, with the paradoxical result that he is both his own mother and father. When the story goes it is found out that all the characters in the story are revealed to be the same paerson at different stages of her/his life.
A question to ponder:
How will a person be the mother and at the same time become the father and the
daughter?
Issues : Incest, Sex Change, Hermaphrodite
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Wuitz, it starts with Zombies, how scarry!
ReplyDeleteby adopting a multiple personality...like i did. hahaha.
ReplyDeleteway forward!
Sorry if I answer a question with another question. My question is: Why literary question is always hard to explain in common words n simple way? *desperate mode on*
ReplyDelete@Prodigal son: you are right...only that in the story, we are made confused by the chronological order of time... You did or you do? I beleive so..it's so true...so true
ReplyDelete@Satya: read the story...not so scary....
@Endry : I am happy you give comments. I don't quite agree when you say that literary question is hard to explain in common words. In my opinion,you don't have to think and make it complicated but think deeply in answering the question.
@ Endry: If you love words, it will be much easier.
ReplyDeleteBut sometimes we have our expression in our hearts. But don't know how we should express it >,< the same feeling like reading the books of Harry Potter and seeing the Movie
ReplyDelete@satya: the story actually doesnt tell about zombies, pak! It is so interesting.. :)
ReplyDelete@liliek: well, i think people have many sides on them. A woman has man's side and the other way round. Which part is more dominant determines their role..
In this story the main character is confused about his true self identity, he misses woman's side in him but he is a man physically. He cannot choose and decide which part is more dominant, thats why he plays all roles.
I think so, mam :)
@Satya: I love words sir, that's why I like to write a poem, but still... =.=!
ReplyDeleteAfter quiet some time, I think the character is unconciously under the control of his/her own curiosity. S/he is curious of how it feels to be a woman, man, and child. His/her curiosity, supported by the technology that is the time machine, leads him/her to travel through time and get the chance to experience being a totally different person. The story reminds me of a God (or just someone, I totally forgot T__T) from, if I am not mistaken, Greek mythology who turns into a woman because he wants to know how woman feels when having sex. Thus, he is cursed because of his immoral doing. Back to 'All You Zombies', I think the character is driven by his/her curiosity so that s/he ends up being 3 different people.
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ReplyDeleteketeken delete :(
ReplyDeletei said..
lets discuss reason, mam!!! :D
Actually, mam i cannot get the meaning of this story directly. I try to read it twice and after discussing with poetry students before the meeting we conclude that this story is very confusing. Because there's flashback in here. By using his intellegence such as time machine that the character here can through the time and become 3 person.
ReplyDeleteIn this story, i'm quite confuse because the char was Hermaphrodite. why the changes happen after the char born a baby not just become man directly by using the time machine? If the char want to become a man he can directly change his gender by the machine not by born the baby (jane = himself= herself) that actually the char want.
thx mam =)
in my opinion, i think the character who plays three roles in his/her life means that she/ he does not believe with the other persons. he/ she just afraid of making a relationship with the others, so that he/she decides to play all the roles that he/she wants. as the proof, the meaning of the title is that the other people are zombies. i forget what the statement that stated in the story, but as i remember it. the character also says that the other people are zombies. it means that the character does not believe in the other people.
ReplyDeletethnx mam...
My students of SF class, I appreciate your deep thought about this story. That means the class has exercised your critical thinking. Good.
ReplyDeletethe given question about how a person can have 3 characters at the same time, remains me about the God's trinity concept . It is something that with human logic cannot be accepted. the issue on the story in my opinion is about gender or sex change.I hope I don't go to far by proposing an idea (related with the trinity concept) that the story is questioning or challenging male domination by asking "why God has to be a man?" or a statement "God is actually a woman". the 3 characters in the story divided into someone that actually has a power(time machine) to change life or to be different (God's privileges), but also a weak person (female) thus needs to be saved by the best or the stronger side of the 3 characters that is a man(male). at the end the character appears or chooses to be a man but actually he misses his past life as a woman.
ReplyDeletethanks.
sorry wrong profile clicked (the anonymous)
ReplyDeleteI only see one way this story makes sense.
ReplyDeleteThe main character is a psych hospital. The "headache powder" is the medicine the psych ward gives him to "make you all go away".
The part about getting taken advantage of, getting pregnant, and finding out about the sex change is all true. The psych problems started after that. The main character created this time travel fiction in his own mind to cope with the messed up events of his life.