An Analysis of Humanimalia in Octavia Butler’s Clay’s Ark

Abstract

Octavia Estelle Butler can be considered a visionary writer from many perspectives. The prominent science and speculative fiction writer is known for her afrofuturistic tropes. Her novels reflect relevance in today’s scenario in myriad ways. Clay’s Ark (1984) is a part of the Patternist Series. In this novel, Butler envisioned a humanity plagued by an alien microbe from another star named Proxima Centauri. The novel traces the spread of the pandemic caused by the Clay’s Ark microbe resulting in hybrid children who mix human and animal characteristics. Butler chose the trope of the alien microbe in a very different yet believable way. The hybrid children are the next stage of evolution in Butler’s Patternists world. The aim of this paper is to explore the hybrid identities caused by the pandemic in Octavia Butler’s Clay’s Ark through the lens of biopolitics of difference and to reflect on the metaphorical significance of the same.