Octavia Taught Us: Philip Roth, Octavia Butler, and Prescience.
*The Plot Against America spoilers ahead*
This morning I was reminded, via podcast, of Philip Roth’s 2004 counterfactual, The Plot Against America. Roth’s protagonist is Charles A. Lindbergh (yes that Charles A. Lindbergh-noted aviator, Nazi sympathizer, and leader in the America First movement) and his 1940 election as United States President (having beat FDR. That part is fiction…hope you knew that). Lindbergh’s America saw the implementation of policies aimed at ridding urban areas of Jews, ubiquitous anti-Semitism, and open praise for fascist ideals. As in real life, Lindbergh’s son was kidnapped and murdered (pre-election), and Lindbergh’s private plane later disappears post election (the disappearance is fiction; the man died of cancer in 1974). Toward the end of the book, German media declares both the kidnapping and the plane disappearance as a Jewish conspiracy to usurp power from the Lindberg Administration. Wild stuff.
The most breathtaking turn, however, doesn’t appear until the epilogue.
*Last spoiler warning. Turn back now, my dear reader, if you intend to read The Plot Against America*
Still there?
A contemporary reader of The Plot may find it resonant, perhaps alarmingly so. The conspiracy theories, the state sanctioned persecution of a religious minority, the open anti-Semitism. *cough* thefakenews. *cough* 2017 readers will surely, then, find dizzying the introduction of one final bit of theorizing. The reader is asked to consider whether it is plausible that Lindberg’s presidency and the attendant societal upheaval and existential threats are all at the behest of some foreign power flexing its muscle in Lindberg’s direction. The theory, presented by the narrator’s aunt, is that Lindbergh’s kidnapped son had not been murdered, but was instead being raised in Germany as a Hitler Youth. The boy was being held hostage to force Roth’s Lindberg to cooperate with a Nazi-organized Presidential campaign, the ultimate goal of which was 1) to prevent U.S. intervention in German affairs; and 2) to bring “The Final Solution” to America. Not quite (alleged) Kompromat as much as it is politics by brute force. But. Literal chills, nonetheless.
Speaking of chills, let’s turn to Octavia Butler’s 1998 masterpiece, Parable of the Talents. Talents brings us the story of Lauren Oya Olamina, whom we first met in Parable of the Sower in dystopic 2024 California. Civil society has descended into chaos and disorder, largely as a resort of resource scarcity and poverty. Lauren, the daughter of a Baptist preacher, begins to question her belief system, ultimately replacing Christianity with a religion of her own making: Earthseed.
Talents reunites us with Lauren who reveals herself to be a gifted preacher and prophet. By 2032, Earthseed has amassed a sizable following, much to the chagrin of the fundamentalist group Christian America. Christian America was openly hostile to other religions, as well as minorities. They really were not into Lauren and her growing followership. So guess what Christian America did? Elevate one of their members, Senator Andrew Steele Jarret, for a Presidential bid is what. Senator Jarret whose followers were known to get a tinsy bit violent. Guessss what his campaign slogan was:
Make. America. Great. Again.
I don’t really know how to end this post. This entire thing was really just a cover for writing about my Queen, nay, my Khaleesi, Octavia B. I don’t write to suggest that either Roth or Butler predicted the character or the outcome of the 2016 election. In fact, according to sources familiar with the matter, Butler’s inspiration for Jarret was Ronald Reagan, while Roth got the idea for his work after reading that Lindberg had in fact considered a run for presidency. I do think, though, that gifted writers are such not just because they can craft a pretty sentence that’s got some rhythm to it. It’s that, but it’s also their insight into the human condition. Into the American condition. Into my condition. Butler, whose writing was often racialized and gendered, saw the space that major societal shifts and upheaval make for the amoral to rise, find a platform, be embraced, and become normalized. Roth, perhaps after observing the treatment of post-9/11 communities (i.e., Muslims, Sikhs, and Arabs) saw something similar. And they gave us what they gave us. And we got what we got.
