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After reading the short long story, "The Waiting
Stars", I was particularly drawn by how Aliette de Bodard separates the
ideas of "mind" and "body". We see that the Dai
Viet “Minds” race becomes integral to space ships and its controls. It’s as if
technology gains consciousness and knows how to do everything on its own.
However, the “Minds” face oppression from the “Outsiders” when they are
captured and their consciousness is sent into different bodies on the planet
Prime.
On Prime, we see a whole other
perspective as to what is really happening to the Dai Viets. They are put into
fake bodies, different from their own, and their memories are all erased. Then,
at the institution, they are forced to learn “proper behavior” through the
cruel treatment of the Matron. No matter how hard they try to escape, even to the point of killing themselves, the Minds are just redirected into a new body and the process starts over again. We see this predicament especially in the case
of Catherine, when she gains her memory back as the effects of the memory wipe
wear off towards the end of the story. She remembers her real name, Mi Chau.
The name “Catherine” is fake and masks who she really is and Jason and the
other Outsiders try to assimilate her into the culture. The Outsiders try to force the Dai Viets to be something they are not.
It turns out that Mi Chau is the
Great Aunt of Lan Nhen, and her family tries to rescue her from her entrapment.
Her mind just yearns to be free and back to where she belongs—the waiting stars.
The separation of mind and body here shows how though we may try to change our
appearance and the way we act, our minds and the way we think reflect who we
are and there is no changing that.