Is This the Real Life? Is This Insanity? On the cover of my copy of Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy, it says, "They called her insane, but she knew that only her sacrifice could save the future...." which I assume was written by Piercy. Consuelo Ramos a.k.a. Connie, was the protagonist of the novel. She was committed to a mental institution twice. We're told about the first time during her second visit. Her first time was for abusing her daughter. Her second time was for attacking her nieces pimp/boyfriend in order to protect her. Throughout the first few chapters of the novel, Connie seems to be just a regular middle-aged woman. She's an older Hispanic mother living in poverty trying to keep herself alive. She treated her …show more content…
Within the patriarchal society, Connie's male oppressors have raped her, beat her, and sent her to a mental hospital. The cruelty of the medical system treats her and the other patients as lab rats. This would explain why in her hallucinations, one of the possible futures has no problems with that Connie had to deal with such as pollution and racism. It also had no signs of homophobia, consumerism, and class-subordination which is what her present time is dealing with. Whereas another possible future outcome is a dystopian future where the majority of the population are subdued with psychotropic drugs and have their moods controlled surgically. In this dystopian future, women are valued only for their appearance and sexuality. It is common for women to get plastic surgery so they can exaggerate their features that are so …show more content…
The Fuck Machine, is about an old German scientist that is property of the United States government and the creator of a sex robot that made sex feel like "it was like going to heaven before you died" (38). It takes place in a bar filled with lowlifes. The bartender tells his customers/friends about the scientist who is actually upstairs and tells them about his "fuck machine" (38). They each pay $20 to see it and get ready to have sex with it, although they believe it to be a gag. The old scientist introduces them to his "daughter" which is actually the "fuck machine" (40). This "fuck machine" was an objectified sex robot with "all ass and breast" (39). Just like the dystopian future, this robot, which was capable of emotion and thinking for itself, was the product of a male and had exaggerated sexual features. It's only value was its sexuality and