Comparative paper between “Out of all Them Bright Stars” and “All You Zombies”
“Out of all Them Bright Stars” is a science fiction short story written by Nancy Kress and “All You Zombies” is a short story of the same genre written by Robert Heinlein. These two stories are similar because they are both science fiction and they differ because of the topics they deal with. The stories are different and while “Out of all Them Bright Stars” is about blue men coming from space to Earth, “All You Zombies” deals with a story which involves the time machine.
“All You Zombies” is a story about a man who is young and is of both sexes and he goes back through time where he makes himself pregnant at the time when he was a female. This was prior to the sex change operation which was possible for him because he had both sets of reproductive organs. The result of the story is that this man, whose female name was Jane, is himself, his father and his mother. “Me. Now you know who he is – and after you think it over you’ll know who you areand if you think hard enough, you’ll figure out who the baby is and who I am” (Heinlein 334). This is the crucial part of the story when the man talks to his own self explaining that they are the same person as well as the man who is the father.
There is much traveling through time in this story and it all starts when a man begins to talk to the bartender. This man is young and his nickname is Unmarried Mother because he works as a writer for a magazine which publishes stories related to unmarried mothers. There is a dilemma why his name is so stranger and he reveals his story through the conversation with the bartender who is the same person which can be seen after some time. “Out of All Them Bright Starts” also happens in a place where people come to eat and drink, in a diner. The guest is an alien with a blue flat face and the owner of the bar is disgusted by the alien. There is no deep story involved like between them man and the bartender in “All You Zombies”, but there still is a story about politeness and about recognizing differences among people.
The man whose name is Unmarried Mother tells his story to the barmen and he remembers the time when he was female and an orphan. He was ugly as a teenager, but he got pregnant because as a result of having sex with an old man. The man abandons Jane and Jane turns out to be intersex which means that she is supposed to become male because the doctors take out her female organs and perform several other surgeries which involve sex change. Therefore, Jane becomes a man and goes by the name Unmarried Mother. An old man kidnaps the baby and nobody knows its whereabouts. Jane, her lover and the baby are all the same person and this is the confusing part of the story which makes this story more paradoxical than “Out of all Them Bright Stars”.
Unmarried Mother becomes a man, but still longs for the baby because of the fact that it got stolen. She is still not capable of performing jobs that are typical for men because her idea was to become a prostitute in space. However, she resorts to the skills of a secretary and begins to write after some time. The man from the bar promises to deliver him the man who seduced Jane because of revenge. He travels through time and visit 1963, 1845 and again 1963 in order for Jane to understand that all of this is her. Finally Unmarried Mother is left in a place which protects humans from becoming extinct. The bartender is a person who creates his own self literally and recruits himself as well.
The story ends with the bartender returning to the bar where he feels better because of the fact that he is leaving to the base which is his home. He looks at the C-section on his stomach which means that he gave birth to his own self. He says: “I know where I came from – but where did all you zombies come from?” (Heinlein 336). He is all alone in the world and everything is in his imagination because he is the beginning and the end of everything. All of the other people are imaginary and he is the symbol of solipsism which means that only one person exists in the world and that exact person is the only one that matters.
This story is the metaphor for the modern society in which people think only about themselves and do not care about the others. They refer to other people as zombies and there is nothing left to feel good about apart from themselves. This is the modern culture which promotes self-love and not the love for the human kind. There is much irony in this story because people were created in order to share their lives and in this story the man is both male and female and is his own father and his own mother. This is the complete absurdity especially due to the fact that it is unknown who the grandparents are.
This story is completely impossible to happen unlike “Out of All Them Bright Stars” in which the protagonist is Sally, the waitress who feels good about her job and has love for all the creatures no matter whether they are aliens or not. This is a difference in comparison with Unmarried Mother who has love only for itself. Sally even dislikes Kathy because she is a superficial girl who cares only about herself like Jane. The owner of the diner is Charlie and he is and ill-tempered man who likes to exert his power over all people, especially those who are not human. However, the alien in the story seems to be more human than any other character in “Out of All Them Bright Stars”.
Prior to the alien entering the diner, there is peace in this place and everybody is minding their own business and doing the usual things. When the alien enters Sally says: “I know right away it’s one of them – no chance to mistake about that – even though it’s got on a nice – cut suit and a brim hat like Humphrey Bogart used to wear in Casablanca” (Kress 581). The alien is extremely polite although it is obvious that it lacks humanity. It even has a gender being a male whose name is John. This astonishes Sally and she is polite towards him. However, it turns out that she is not so polite as she is curious and afraid. On the other hand, Kathy is the girls who likes to gossip, while Charlie is a chauvinist who treats women badly.
At one point Sally remembers how Charlie beat his wife so much that she needed stitches and that is something which could have never happened with an alien. These aliens are protected by the people from the government which is what gives them the seriousness. Charlie resents the fact that the government men come in his diner to take the alien outside because he would enjoy killing him. The humans are described as being stingy: “I lead him to a booth in the corner opposite the old couple, who come in every Friday and haven’t left a tip yet” (Kress 581). It is evident that the humans are depicted as people with flaws while the alien has characteristics which make him likeable. He even asks Sally her name and he is sad to go out with the men who come to get him. However, this is for the best because people like Charlie are not used to the fact of aliens walking freely and entering his diner. This represents the humans who have no respect for other races and for other cultures. This is a metaphor for people who belong to the culture which is not dominant. The alien is treated like somebody not worthy of being served and he is doing his best to understand the humans. Ultimately everybody wins because of the status quo when the alien goes out and Charlie is satisfied.
“All You Zombies” depicts the world in which people do not exist and only one man who is capable of traveling through time is real. Everybody, including the readers, is non-existent which is what is affecting modern culture. People are so preoccupied with themselves that they do not have time for other people. They do not care for anybody but for themselves and this is destroying humanity. This story is the ultimate example of how far a person would go to remain the only person on earth and the only one who is capable of reproduction. He is both male and female and is capable of reproduction. This is not normal and never will be, unlike the situation in “Out of all Them Bright Stars” which could potentially happen if it would turn out that aliens do exist. This is not the case at the time being and this alien is just a member of another culture who is in a foreign country due to a certain reason which is not disclosed.
There are more differences than similarities between these stories because of the fact that there are three humans in “Out of all Them Bright Stars” and one man in “All You Zombies”. There is a difference between these three humans and the human called Jane is quite the opposite compared to all other characters. Jane is the ultimate model of the universal human being capable of self-reproduction and who is able of feeling headache. This occurs when he thinks about humans whom he calls zombies because they do not exist in reality. There is only one realm and that is the one in which he lives. On the other hand Sally, Charlie and Kathy are humans who are all superficial although Sally seem to be more intelligent that the others because she shows the signs of curiosity. However, the alien, whose name is John, shows that he is capable of having feelings and that he is gentle with his hands, unlike Charlie who is violent. Both stories represent human species as aggressive and destructive due to the fact that they are selfish and only care for their own benefit.
Works Cited
Kress, Nancy. "Out of All Them Bright Stars." The Weslyean Anthology of Science Fiction. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2010. 580-86. Print.
Heinlein, Robert A. "All You Zombies." The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2010. 324-36. Print.
