In our previous class, we began discussing Feminist SF and Pamela Zoline’s “The Heat Death of the Universe.” Write a summary of your notes and reading and post it as a comment to this blog entry.
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Mike Paar
After Class Summery
4/20/16
For class we read “The Heat Death of the Universe” by Pamela Zoline as an example of feminist science fiction. The story follows the life of Sarah Boyle, a mother and housewife fighting the monotonous struggles of everyday life. The story was structured after the format used commonly in philosophical texts, that is structured in short paragraph blurbs each referenced by a number.
Occasionally the plot deviates away from the life of Sarah and introduces scientific definitions to subjects ranging from Entropy, Ontology and Heat Death. This is meant to reflect on the emotional and mental breakdown of Sarah as she struggles to fight against the growing chaos in her own life. Everything around her is essentially a force breaking the order of things and she feels it is her role to put everything back together. Eventually at the end, as she’s cleaning the kitchen, she gives in to the forces of entropy and gleefully, or maniacally, breaks everything around her.
This story was meant to be our introduction to feminist science fiction, or the subject of feminism in general. The concept of feminism goes back several centuries and was notably promoted by the mother of Mary Shelly, Mary Wollstonecraft. After that, feminism was pushed forward in a series of waves. One being throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th in part due to the suffragettes, who struggled for better working conditions, educational rights, and the right to vote. The second wave ranged from the 1950s through the 1980s which largely built upon the success of the first wave. This wave combated the conventional family norms of the time, women’s place in the workforce and reproduction rights. This wave was largely influenced by the writings of Betty Freidan and Shulamith Firestone. And finally we are currently experiencing the third wave of which began in the 1990s. This wave is continuing to work on top of the successes of the second wave by pushing the idea that there is no universal female identity. This wave is largely supported by works of contemporary feminist writers such as Judith Butler and Donna Haraway.
The story “The Heat Death of the Universe” by Pamela Zoline, starts off with a woman named Sarah Boyle in her house in California. She gives Frosted Flakes to her children for breakfast and starts describing the box of the cereal. She has to set up a party for one of her children’s birthday which is in the afternoon. She begins cleaning the house and gives lots of detail as to what she comes across while cleaning. After cleaning the house, she begins to do the other chores, watering the plants, feeding the fish, and feeding the turtle. Sarah is a wife and mother, educated at an Eastern college, and proud of her growing family, but occasionally given to obsessions concerning Time/Entropy/Chaos and Death. She then goes to the store to buy the birthday cake and other household items. Story keeps bringing up that Sarah sometimes can’t remember how many children she has. Her kid’s birthday party starts and general craziness ensues. The children then takes a bath and gets put to bed. Sarah begins to clean up after the party and describes in detail all the mess that was caused by the birthday party. Sarah is very tired, but goes to the kitchen and sets up the table for tomorrow’s breakfast, but sees the turtle dead in its bowl, she begins to cry. She goes to the fridge and takes out eggs and starts throwing them on the floor, she starts crying again, and starts throwing all the plates on the floor, smashing a window with a jar of grape jelly. Her state is referred to as the “Heat Death of the Universe,” she continues being out of the control and starts smashing and throwing everything around her.
The class lecture was about feminist SF. We learned some important terms like sex is a biological reproductive trait, gender is social and cultural construction of sex, and sexuality is the sexual feelings in sexual orientation. The idea of sexuality has changed over time. Sexism is the prejudice based on one’s sex. Patriarchy is a male dominated society. Heteronormativity is the promotion of heterosexual as the normal or preferred sexuality. The first wave feminism was primary in the 19th and early 20th century, some its major idea are woman’s suffrage, educational rights for girls, better working condition, and rejection of the idea that woman are inherently inferior than men. Second wave feminism was between 1950 and 1980, it was built on the achievement of the first wave. Its major idea are women’s liberation, a challenge to idea of post-nuclear family, reproductive rights, and continuation of obtaining equality. The National Organization for Women was founded around this time. Third wave feminism began around 1990s and it built on success of the second wave. The major ideas are recognizing that there is not a universal female identity, affinity politic with other groups, a strong fight against the backlash from second wave, and a new network of support.
“The Heat Death of the Universe by Pamela Zoline, is a short story which is an perfect example of what is know as feminist science fiction. The story is about a mother/ housewife name, Sarah Boyle and the daily routine of a day in her life as a House Wife such as: giving her children breakfast, cleaning the house, shopping, setting up a birthday party for one of the kids; her life is pretty much ordinary and the same everyday except for the birthday parties planned nothing happens out of normal things she’s used to. Cleaning after the messes of her children constantly and especially at the end of one of her kids birthday party in the kitchen. The husband or man of the house is hardly ever there and it’s up to Sarah to be sort of like a superwoman to take care of the house and the kids all at the same time; which is a issue she doesn’t have time for herself. It isn’t until something sparks Sarah to be all fed up all of a sudden, with her life, being overwhelmed by how simple it is though it’s the very same thing over and over like a cycle. The life Sarah has isn’t for her at all that she can’t take it anymore. Being well-educated women she knows she can be more than just a simple housewife but with a society of a male ruled world; is too much that she becomes enrage and crying as she smashes windows, throws eggs from the fridge, and plates all broken on the floor. Basically her state of mind is The Heat of the Universe hence the title; it’s bottle up tension of her everyday life pouring out all at once in a frenzy. It is why that in class lecture we learned the there is no true sense of sexuality because it always was changing time after time. Sexism being the prejudice based on one’s sex and Patriarchy aka a male dominated society was always at a disagreement. The solution was 1st wave feminism which took place in 19th and early 20thcentury, which was all about the idea of woman’s suffrage, rights for girls/ women to educated, improve working condition, and throw away the thought of woman being naturally second-rate to men. The next wave being 2nd wave feminism came in between 1950 and 1980, it was created on the success of the 1st wave which brought ideas of women’s liberation, a confronting to the idea of post-nuclear family, reproductive rights, and persistence of gaining equality for all; which gave the spark of The National Organization for Women at this time and the Third wave feminism in the1990s and created more success from the 2nd wave. The whole issue was women weren’t equal to men; they couldn’t measure so men back then didn’t want it to change. Though the women didn’t agree they fought for women rights daily and wouldn’t give up.
This story is about Sarah Boyle trying to keep things in order. We go through her day with her as she feeds her children and cleans up after them. She starts planning her one of her children’s birthday party. She throws the party successfully and starts cleaning up the aftermath. We learn her husband is never around and she does everything in house and anything dealing with the kids herself. We see she has no downtime and no time for herself. She forgets how many children she has occasionally with all the chores and things she has to keep track of. She is clearly on the edge after the party and when she goes in to set the table she sees that the turtle is dead and loses grip. She throws food and breaks plates and releases all her frustration in her frenzy.
This story was written by Pamela Zoline and she was our intro to feminist SF. In class we discussed the definitions of sex and gender and talked about the social constructs of gender. We talked about the different waves of feminism and women’s struggle for equality just to work and go to school. As well as touching on how women aren’t heard in society.
Darius Freeman
ENG 2420
Professor Ellis
After Class Summary “The Heat Death of the Universe”
“The Heat Death of the Universe” by Pamela Zoline is a Science Fiction short story about Sarah Boyle a woman who lives in California and is faced with the endless tasks of life as a middle class housewife. Whenever things go wrong, she fixes them. It is her responsibility to do everything from taking care of the kids and the house itself. While reading the story we get little breaks where he schools of Entropy, The Heat Death of the Universe, Light, DADA, Love and other topics are explained and defined. Throughout the story we see that domestic life isn’t really Sarah’s calling. Sometimes she doesn’t even know how many kids she has. After the birthday party of one of her kids she begins cleaning up the mess and something inside of her snaps and she starts crying finally giving in to entropy. She then goes to the fridge and starts and throwing eggs one by one onto the kitchen floor. She tows a jar of grape jelly and it breaks the window above the kitchen sink. During this mental episode she is throwing jars of jelly and writing on the walls things like “William Shakespeare has Cancer and lives in California” and “Sugar Frosted Flakes are the Food of the Gods”. She is crying and the story ends seemingly in the middle of her breakdown, “The Heat Death of HER Universe”.
In the lecture we learned that in a way the energy that the Universe uses to keep itself together is Sarah and once that energy was used up, the Universe began to unwind and die and this is her break down. This story s an example of Feminist SF and it much like New Age SF focuses on inner space and humanity instead of outer space adventures and fantastical creatures.
The “Heat Death of the Universe” by Pamela Zoline is about Sarah Boyle. Boyle Is a house wife, who often cleans and follows daily routines. She is constantly cleaning up from her children, and her husband isn’t usually at the house. She has to take the roles of both parents, and has to make sure everything is in order for her and her kids. However, she is always busy and rarely has time for herself. Time eventually fuels Boyle to becoming fed up with all that she does and everything that goes on in her life. She’s tired of the routine. She knows she is an educated woman, but is confronted with a man-dominated society. She becomes overwhelmed by everything, and ultimately her mind set at the end of the story is why the story is called the Heat Death of the Universe.
In class we spoke about SF and feminism. We defined many terms, and began talking about the different waves of feminism. First wave Feminism took place in 19th and 20th centuries, and had times such as women’s suffrage. We also see Mary Wollstonecraft (Shelley’s mother) begin her feministic work. Second Wave Feminism (1950-1980) was more towards woman’s liberation. Third Wave was the 1990’s, and built off of the struggles of Second Wave. There was much fight in the Third Wave against Second Wave backlash.
The “Heat Death of the Universe” by Pamela Zoline, it was published 1967. The story is basically going thought Sarah Boyle ordinary day and showing the readers how does this society is being control by a manly civilization. Sarah, she was the one in charge of all house kipping stuff of the house adding her children, she was constantly cleaning up their mess as well as her husband. She stayed al day alone at home taking care of the children all over herself because her husband was never around to help her. More over she was not just and ordinary woman that doesn’t know how to do things, she was well educated but as I mentioned before it doesn’t happen just in the story it happened also in real life society it is being control by men and it is really small the amount of women that made it all the way to the top. All this at the end cost a lot she was tires and all the things she has to do by her self frustrated her and at the end she found the way to let it out and it was not the best way but she did so.
We read “The Heat Death of the Universe” by Pamela Zoline. This was read as an example of feminist Science Fiction. We discovered that the entire structure of “The Heat Death of the Universe” was modelled after philosophical texts. It is structured in such a way that the paragraphs are referred to by numbers. The story begins with a woman named Sarah Boyle. She lives in a house in California. The story tells of her routine to give food to her children. She plans and sets up a birthday party for one of her child. The story than moves to Sarah cleaning the house and other housewife chores. Eventually Sarah breaks down and throws a tantrum. She begins to destroy the order of the house like entropy destroys order. This story is similar to There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury, where the AI and Sarah are forced by circumstances to mindlessly repeat routines. Eventually entropy over takes both of them.
History of feminism was given for context. The many waves of feminism was described. The concept of feminism was promoted by Mary Wollstonecraft, the mother of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly. Feminism than came in waves. The first one began in late 19th century and into the early 20th century in part due to the suffrage movement. The second wave began from the 1950s and lasted through the 1980s. It was largely built upon the success of the first wave. This wave combated the conventional family norms of the time, women’s place in the workforce and reproduction rights.
Pamela Zoline “The Heat Death of the Universe”
For class we read “The Heat Death of the Universe” (1967) written by Pamela Zoline (1941). The story is about Sarah Boyle who is an educated housewife. The story goes through her daily routine – she makes breakfast, cleans, cooks, etc. Her role as a homemaker/housewife aligns with order and she constantly tries to fix things. Eventually she snaps breaking all the dishes. Her confide universe is now in chaos.
For class we discussed feminist science fiction.
Sex – biological reproductive traits
Gender – social and cultural constructs of sex.
Sexuality – one’s sexual feeling and sexual orientation
Feminism did not happen spontaneously, it occurred in waves. The first wave feminism in the 19th to early 20th century and mainly focused on women’s suffrage – education, working conditions, rejection of the idea women were inherently inferior to men. Second wave feminism 1950’s to 1980’s. It focused on women’s liberation, reproductive rates, equality and challenged the idea of a post world war family. Third wave feminism, 90’s to now, recognized that there is not a universal female identity, fight against backlash from second wave feminism and formed new networks and support groups as well as affiliating with others.
“The Heat Death of the Universe”, written by Pamela Zoline, starts in the morning with a housewife named Sarah Boyle. She is educated at a fine Eastern College. Throughout the day Sarah must complete mundane chores. Some of the chores are changing diapers, going grocery shopping, and set up for a birthday party. In addition, certain events may arise, like cleaning spilled milk, cleaning the kid’s mess, and attending to her husband. Within the writing there are excerpts of entropy, meaning the universe is not orderly. At the end of the day Sarah is fed up and gives herself to the universe.
There were 3 waves of feminism that influence feminism science fiction. First wave feminism was in 19th and early 20th century. It includes women suffrage and
Mary Wollstonecraft’s, A Vindication of the Right of Women. The second wave of feminism building on the achievements of the first, women’s liberation, challenge of the post war nuclear family, Reproductive rights, and continued to work on equal rights. The third wave feminism build on the successes of second, recognize that there isn’t a universal female identity, infinity Politics class, strong fight against the second wave backlash and new networks of support groups.
“The Heat Death of the Universe” by Pamela Zoline is a Science Fiction short story. Pamela Zoline is feminist Science Fiction writer. This story basically about Sarah Boyle a woman who lives in California and is faced with the endless tasks of life as a middle class housewife. Whenever things go wrong, she fixes them. It is her responsibility to do everything from taking care of the kids and the house itself. We learn her husband is never around and she does everything in house and anything dealing with the kids herself. Everything around her is essentially a force breaking the order of things and she feels it is her role to put everything back together. Eventually at the end, as she’s cleaning the kitchen, she gives in to the forces of entropy and gleefully, or maniacally, breaks everything around her.