In Butler’s Sower, Lauren’s disability of hyperempathy is an integral element of the novel. Through the lens of her disability, Lauren is able to actually feel the pain of other beings and even animals. Her hyperempathy can be seen as both a superhero quality as well as a disabling one. On the superhero note, Lauren is able to act with a special intuition as she knows not only how someone else will feel in the situation but also how she will feel as a conduit for their pain. On the disabling note, Lauren is sometimes unable to act because she knows how much pain it will cause, even when it comes to matters of her own safety such as practicing gunmanship.
In Lerner’s 10:04, the reader is quickly introduced to the idea of life altering diagnosis. The main character is diagnosed with Marfan’s disease, a cardiac condition that can have life threatening implications without intervention. We as the reader see how his life changes after his diagnosis, and how that interacts with the environment around him of impending doom and destruction as a result of climate change.
Lerner’s novel is not like the other two novels that we have read in this class in terms of climate change. For one, our other novels were written a few decades ago, whereas Lerner’s novel was published in 2015. Another way Lerner’s novel is different is that it falls beneath the genres of metafiction and autofiction. As the novel is being crafted, the reader is not removed from this process. Rather through this lens, the reader sees some of the stylistic choices contemplated upon by the author throughout the novel. As for autofiction, the events of the story are based upon events that actually took place in the author’s life.
Though there are many differences between our other two novels in this course and Lerner’s work, I did want to highlight something that I saw as somewhat of a similarity between Butler and Lerner. This similarity is the intersection between disease and disability. I find it interesting that a disability is not always a disease, but a disease is more likely than not a disability. In Butler, we have a character with a disability. In Lerner, we have a character with a disease. Even though disability and disease can be two different things, they are one in the same by the way in which they change someone’s outlook on life. In Butler, as Lauren gets older, she is able to channel her hyperempathy in ways that increase her chance of survival. In Lerner, we see the main character changing some of his stances in life over the fact that he feels as though he is facing impending death. An example of this is when he gives the sperm sample. I also find it interesting that disease and disability are partnered with the climate change crisis. Even though disease and disability can be seen as negative, they also have some plus sides in how they alter our perception of life. This altered perception can be crucial to survive in times of ecological turmoil, or turmoil in general.
