The explorers are certain from the first time they lay eyes upon the alien that it bears an expression of unspeakable fury, and that this itself is evidence of innate evil. But really now, who wouldn’t be extremely vexed to crash their spaceship and become trapped under Antarctic ice? Furthermore, why should the alien be benevolently inclined towards creatures that blow up its ship and then proceed to bury an ax in its head while it is still helpless and immobile?
Also, I find it extremely disturbing that while Copper remarks that “it is just as much a legitimate child of Nature as you are. You are displaying the childish human weakness of hating the different” the story reveals that the alien is in fact a monster of pure evil, explicitly taking the logic of humanism and rejecting it for the logic of racism and xenophobia. To me, this represents a reactionary and xenophobic fear of the Other embedded in the narrative. They believe that this particular foreigner is bent upon assimilating them because they can conceive of no other way of interacting with a foreign culture. Here they are, people to whom traveling to the southern pole of their own planet represents an epic undertaking confronted with a being who has journeyed across the stars and all they can think of is how best to exploit it in its misfortune with hatchets and explosives. They are so parochial they assume it wants to take over America. Would a creature capable of faster-than-light travel really consider twentieth century America worthy of conquest?
On page 10, Connant refers to the creature as a “pet” despite the fact that it is far more intelligent than any them. It is capable of creating antigravity devices from their scraps and yet they can think of it as nothing more than a dangerous animal. The fact that the first shape the alien copies is a dog mirrors the dehumanizing association of people of other cultures with animals. Furthermore, the search for a blood test to determine who is a ‘monster’ represents the long search for an empirical method of determining race so as to be better able to enforce oppressive hierarchies.
What does the shapeshifting represent? In the context of racism could it be a representation of the supposed threat of a non-white person infiltrating society by passing as white? During Copper’s arguments for a somewhat more humanistic approach to the ‘monster’, he hypothesizes a monstrous construction of whiteness as seen from the perspective of a non-white culture: “On its own world it would probably class you as a fish-belly, white monstrosity with an insufficient number of eyes and a fungoid body pale and bloated with gas.” Also implicit in this statement is the assumption that anyone going on a scientific expedition to the Antarctic could automatically be assumed to be white. Despite making progressive arguments, Copper still wants to dissect the creature in the name of science. Another possible interpretation is shapeshifting as a metaphor for communism.
The only expressions of awe in the entire novel occur when the explorers congratulate themselves for having so artfully escaped from a disaster which they themselves instigated. Furthermore, the humans weren’t saved by “the grace of God” but by a telepathic nightmare revealing the creature’s protean nature. The men of the expedition hate the alien not only for its ability to become as they are but also to become different, to take on many shapes while they remain trapped within the narrow confines of cultural imperialism.
Also relevant: http://www.goodreads.com/interviews/show/38.China_Mi_ville
Specifically the part where he talks about political correctness.
