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NEWS & LETTERS, MAY 2003
Novel imagines future ruled by religious Right
HALF NATION UNDER GOD, Cora Corbett. 2002: Tucson,
AZ, Eru Books. 342 pp. HALF NATION UNDER GOD is a novel by Cora Corbett
published in 2002 by Eru Books, a new feminist publishing company. It is set in
the near future in the U.S. to show why the religious Right is dangerous to
democracy. Half of the states are "free" and operate under democracy
as we know it today, while half are under the type of government that the
religious Right wants to impose. Sharon Clark, a reporter from the free state of Southern
California, goes to the "religious" state of Arizona to investigate
abuses of women imprisoned for attempting to have abortions or attempting to
leave the state while pregnant. Her intent is to expose the corruption of the
"Moralist" party to prevent Southern California from voting
"Moralist" in the next election. She learns that women of color imprisoned for having an
abortion are sterilized, while white women are impregnated several times before
their release, their babies sold to infertile couples. Pregnant white teenagers
are urged by religious right "clinics" and radio commercials to give
their babies up for adoption to religious right couples. The novel makes the
point that those who want to prohibit safe, legal abortion are not concerned
with the morality of killing fetuses, as mixed-race pregnancies are aborted. Cora Corbett also shows that reproductive rights are
connected to human rights. Two Hispanic teenagers having an argument over
whether their oppression is "really" about sexism or racism realize
that it is about both. Two other Hispanic teenagers, Martha and Anthony, are
placed in foster care when their mother is imprisoned for practicing herbal
medicine for people who can't afford medical care. They experience brutal
treatment designed to make them into submissive servants, then told that they
must work for years to pay the state back for their time in foster care. The religious Right often accuses abortion rights
activists of making human beings into "commodities" by not giving
fetuses the status of human beings. That it is the religious Right and
capitalism that make human beings into commodities is illustrated in the novel
by indentured servitude for people of color and the expectation that white women
enter into submissive roles in marriage. It is illustrated by the selling of
babies and the making of white women into "breeders." At the beginning, Sharon wants her
Pulitzer-winning story, Martha wants to free her brother, and both want to flee
to safety. But both realize that there will be no safety in the free states if
people who are aware of the situation do not take a stand. Both reject a
political network in Arizona that plots a violent overthrow of the government
because it does not try to save individuals, considering them casualties of war. The other option is unclear, as the book leaves the
characters at a point where they are committed to social change without saying
exactly how they will create this change. However Sharon reacts to the violent
revolutionaries by expressing a preference for democratic action by educated
masses. –Adele |
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