frassylassy

Religion is not a theme that lays on the surface of Jeanette Winterson’s novel //The Stone Gods//, rather, it exists below the surface and provides a moral arena in which nature and technology go head to head in each of the novel’s three interweaving parts. Winterson explores through an apocalyptic lens, the issues concerning the destruction of nature by humans, and more specifically- the definition of what it //means// to be human.

Billie Crusoe, having survived a third World War, lives in Tech City and works for MORE. MORE is the capitalist giant that acts as the central government after the War. This is a time in the future (though not so far from our own) where human kind has essentially used up all of “Orbus’s” natural resources, and the discovery of a new blue planet strikes hope in to the hearts of many.

Traditional religion has been marginalized in this post war society. People at this point place more stock in celebrities and consumerism (although MORE has claimed to have eradicated the monetary system and replaced it with jetons). Advances in technology allow people to genetically “fix” themselves; put a stop to the physical aging process. Anyone who chooses can be physically attractive, which has resulted in insatiable sexual appetites and made it rather difficult to find true meaning in relationships.



Fearing that World Wars were a direct result of human irrationality based on emotionalism, the Robo //sapiens// is designed to be the rational thinking mind of the human race. Spike, the Robo //sapiens// in this novel is programmed to learn and evolve. She is highly receptive and incredibly beautiful. Spike could be argued to symbolize religion itself, or man’s desire to place his destiny in the hands of a higher being, “Isn’t this just a new way of inventing God? We invented God the first time round, and now we’re doing it again – only this time we’re letting everyone see the working drawings.” (142).

Yikes! I'm running out of time, and with so much to discuss!

By tracing the three phases of apocalyptic situations, future, past, and present, Winterson leaves the reader in a serious contemplation about the nature of humanity and technology, and where their intertwining destinies will take them.