Fiction is a time-honored way that human beings explore social issues. Through analogy and imagination, we enjoy speculating about the possibilities of life, human behavior and love. Similarly, ethics have been a great topic for novelists, for it helps people think about tough issues in a way that is realistic, easily understood, and not personally threatening. Many authors have thus approached the issue of the ethics of eating animals (either directly or indirectly) through the medium of the novel. In the first installment of this two-part series, we turn the spotlight on five classic novels that are great examples of animal rights and vegetarian/vegan themes covered masterfully in fiction.
1. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (1906)
This Pulitzer Prize winning novelist shocked the world with this
exposé of the meat industry through the eyes of character, Jurgis
Rudkus. The Jungle explores the exploitation of the working class and
animal cruelty in industrial Chicago. Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant,
sees his life fall apart in a new country, progressively losing his
family, his health and his home, forced to perform a series of degrading
jobs and seeing others, including children, degraded by a system that
destroys his sense of personal integrity. He becomes a labor organizer, a
socialist and a vegetarian. Sinclair’s novel led to public outcry and
the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Sinclair himself credited the success of his book on the grounds that people did not want to eat “tubercular beef” and that, “I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.” You can read The Jungle online for free at Project Gutenberg.
2. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick (1968)
A science fiction novel that became the film “Blade Runner”, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is
set in a futuristic world where everyone is vegetarian. Most species
have become extinct as a result of nuclear radiation and those that
survive are the subject of human empathy as pets, while robotic models
have come to replace the real thing for most people. The issue of what
it means to be human is explored through the analogy of the ‘replicants‘ that the main character Deckhard is supposed to exterminate.
3.Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)
The famous monster of Shelly’s imagination was actually a gentle soul
seeking love, who is rejected by all except a blind man who cannot see
how monstrous he appears. Like his creator Shelley, the monster is
loathe to harm animals and eats only acorns while on the run from the
Scientist Dr Frankenstein, who created him. His goal is to find a human
young enough to not judge him on his appearance. Due to his unmanageable
emotions and physical strength, the monster sadly kills most people he
comes into contact with.
4. ConSentiency by Frank Herbert (1958-1977)
A speculative fiction series by the author of Dune,
the ConSentiency series depicts humans and extra-terrestrials on equal
terms. The main character, Jorj, is a professional saboteur who’s job it
is to slow down the actions of the government through the Bureau of
Sabotage. The ConSentiency series depicts a world where most people no
longer kill animals for flesh and meat is produced in flesh vats.
5. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (1895)
Like many science fiction novels, the Eloi of the utopian future in
this classic novel are vegan. Despite this, they are also depicted as
lacking in free will and basically factory farmed meat for the
underworld dwelling Morlocks. The author describes the predatory nature
of the Morlocks as the natural outcome of class struggle.
Stay tuned for Part 2, where we cover five fiction novels from
contemporary authors that creatively touch upon animal rights/vegan
themes using science fiction, horror and humor!
In Part 1 of this series, we featured five outstanding classic works of fiction that touch upon animal rights themes ranging from the meat industry, vegetarian monsters to future societies inhabited by vegans or vegetarians. In this installment, we highlight the works of five contemporary authors, many of whom have received widespread mainstream literary acclaim for these outstanding works of fiction.
1. Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk (2003)
From the author of the Fight Club, Lullaby is a grim, disturbing and
sometimes humorous look at modern society and morality. The plot
revolves around a reporter who discovers a poem that is actually a
“culling song,” and can kill whoever hears it. As always, Palahniuk
manages to create some very quirky main characters, including a vegan,
eco-terrorist named Oyster. Although Oyster is a bit of a stereotype and
not a very likable character, some of his rants about the way humans
treat our planet and exploit animals are fairly thought provoking.
2. K-pax by Gene Brewer (1995)
The main character in this science fiction series is ‘Prot’, a
fruitarian alien from a planet called K-pax, who finds himself in New
York and is quickly locked in a psychiatric institution. K-pax is
described by Prot as a world built on anarchist principles, without
corporate laws or religions and where beings are peaceful and nonviolent
vegans. The novels explore the nature of ‘truth’ and was made into a
movie (in 2001), starring Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges.
3. Under the Skin by Michel Faber (2008)
Science fiction horror that explores the subject of speciesism in a
clever and disturbing manner. The book follows a mysterious woman
(Isserley), an alien who’s job it is to pick up hitch-hiking ‘beefy’
men who later become fattened up for meat delicacies in her home world.
It is the son of the owner of this hunting operation, Amlis Vess (a
vegetarian), who affects Isserley’s views on human flesh.
4. PopCo by Scarlett Thomas (2004)
PopCo is vegan author Scarlett Thomas’ 6th novel and covers topics
ranging from capitalism, advertising, math, codes, animal welfare,
veganism and homeopathy. The novel also includes a vegan cake recipe of a
cake that is eaten by the characters in the book. PopCo’s protagonist
is Alice, a code breaker and crossword-puzzle compiler who works for a
multinational toy company. She is sent to a Thought Camp where she and
other PopCo employees must invent the ultimate product for teenage
girls. Alice starts receiving mysterious, encrypted messages, which she
suspects relate to her grandfather’s decoding of a an old manuscript or
could mean that she is at the the center of an evil plot hatched by her
employer.
5. The Vegan Revolution…With Zombies by David Agranoff (2010)
Yes, vegans can have a sense of humor! This novel takes a simple
premise and delivers some hilarious results. Thanks to a new drug,
animals no longer feel pain as they are led to slaughter. Unfortunately,
once the drug enters the food supply, anyone who eats it is turned into
a zombie (except the vegans of course!). Vegans, freegans,
abolitionists, hardliners and raw foodists are holed up in Food Fight,
Portland Oregan’s famous vegan grocery as they prepare to do battle
with the undead. Fans of zombie or bizarro fiction will love this book
and so will vegans, because David (a vegan himself) does a great job of
throwing in several inside jokes about animal rights and vegan culture
that will surely keep you entertained.
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