The Façade of Apocalypse

Makayla Garrison, Jenna McFarland, Marisa Greaney, Sage Kearney, Lauryn Bennett, Katie Lyons, McKinley Skala

In Nnedi Okorafor’s novel, Lagoon, the ‘aliens’ play multiple roles in Lagos, Nigeria.  To some, depending on the perspective , their roles were carried out negatively to some characters and positively to others. The ‘aliens’ act as a form of katechon, despite the chaos that has erupted from their arrival. Humans have created their own problems, while the aliens just want to coexist with them. The existence of the ‘aliens’ almost prevents them from spiraling into total apocalypse despite the fact that they have been viewed as, and treated, very negatively throughout the book. They have not acted evil of their own volition, but mostly in response to the evil done to them by humans. When they witness something horrific done by humans, they step in to rectify their evil

The definition of ‘alien’ does not have any negative denotations, though society gives this word a negative connotation.  If we used ‘alien’  according to its denotative meaning, then it would just simply mean someone different from a foreign place, which would also connote change. Most often alien is a term used to describe immigrants or those from one country seeking to gain entry into another one. In this novel, the connotation of aliens being from outer space, or extraterrestrial, is used more prominently. This is a topic that has become highly politicized as there is much stigma surrounding people who are different and from another place seeking entry into a different nation. These same negative feelings connect to the way the people in Lagoon react to the water people arriving, as they simply desire to coexist with humans. They have never declared any negative intentions. Humans in the novel begin to react negatively and spiral into chaos as a reaction, but it stems from their own bad faith as the water people have not done anything harmful to humans when they first arrived. 

When comparing perceptions, generally adults and children have different and sometimes conflicting views of situations. Children are inherently good. They don’t have reason to fear the worst until they have been taught to do so, either by upbringing or experience. In the context of the novel, as the aliens arrive, the children view it positively and are eager to welcome these new beings, “Kola squealed with glee and exclaimed, ‘This is the happiest night of my life!’” (Okorafor, 180). Kola is eager to interact and meet these beings because they are new and exciting. Her reaction contrasts with the way many of the adults are either scared or condemn their presence without prior justification. The way that stigma is placed on aspects of society and that the humans have overreacted to the arrival of these aliens is highlighted throughout the children’s reactions, because they have not given any reason to suspect harm. Adults have already lived through countless harmful and deceitful experiences, so they already have reasons to doubt strangers (especially aliens, especially so given the negative connotation of the word). Adults do not have the innocent and trusting minds that they once had when they were children themselves. It takes time to trust in strangers whereas children start with trust and develop suspicions and doubts with time. When Ayodele proved who she was to the president and his advisors, “the soldiers guarding the president dropped their guns, the wives screamed, and one of his advisor’s fainted. The pilot fell to his knees and began to vomit. The president watched with wide eyes” (Okorafor, 217). These adults of such high status and power reacted in ways that resembled the actions of an infant. They cried, vomited, ran, and shied away from Ayodele as they immediately perceived her as a threat to themselves and the human race. The president managed to bring himself together as he knew he had a major role to play in the bringing together of Nigeria and Ayodele’s people. 

From each character introduced in Lagoon, the reader is able to clearly determine whether that character deems the alien emergence as an invasion or an arrival of the city of Lagos. For example, Fisayo believed Ayodele’s intentions were to take over Nigeria. Fisayo believed, “the alien woman had hijacked her phone. She was speaking about taking over Nigeria. Fissayo shut her phone … This was the rapture, the apocalypse, the end.” (Okorafor, 129). Ayodele was merely announcing the arrival of her people and was emphasizing their wish to coexist with the people of Nigeria. Fisayo came to this conclusion simply because there was a foreign individual on her phone announcing their sudden arrival. She reacted negatively based on pre-existing notions of aliens and what their arrival has been interpreted as based on stigma and negative representations. Fisayo’s blind fear caused her to instill fear and panic in those around her, particularly with her sign: “Repent. Lagos will never be destroyed” and her split-second killings of innocent Lagosians. Many other Lagosians initially reacted in a similar way to Fisayo, and sought to rid their city of these trespassers with whatever means necessary. People automatically believed these otherworldly creatures as invaders of Lagos and intended to cause harm to its citizens, but they have only communicated that they wish to live in harmony with humans. Ayodele announces to the world, “In less than twenty-four hours, I have seen love, hate, greed, ambition, and obsession among you … I have seen compassion, love, hope, sadness, insecurity, art, intelligence, ingenuity, corruption, curiosity, and violence. This is life. We love life” (Okorafor, 112). From the short time that Ayodele has been on Earth, she has witnessed all of these concepts in action. Ayodele realized that humans are intense, emotional beings and are constantly acting in their own self-interest. Humans took on the idea of us versus everyone else to get through this time of stress and the unknown. Humans protected themselves and their loved ones and left everyone else to fend for themselves. She has viewed all the good and bad, and despite the bad, still did not wish to cause harm to the people of Lagos. Humans have not recognized this as they cannot see past her existence as someone foreign and unknown.

The human reaction to the alien arrival showed their true nature; they took the arrival of the aliens as a reason to go off the rails and cause mass destruction, and stigma against the arrival of something new and different from them. Even when they had the opportunity to show their humanity in this situation, they rather showed selfishness and betrayal. Although the alien arrival did spark this behavior, the humans showed that they were always capable of this violence because there was nothing forcing them to react in this way. They have proven to be the actual evil despite their fear, “He could almost smell her. Peasant he thought. Rubbish. Filth. But he would take her money” (Okorafor, 59). Father Oke is a prime example of the problem of judgment, greed, and overall evil within society before the presence of the water people had even become widely known. Multiple other examples also protrude throughout the book with the discourse among the 419 hackers, the plan of Moziz and Philo to steal Ayodele, and the area boys aiming to provide nothing but torment to the surrounding area. There was already so much negativity pent up, that the humans used the arrival of this new species to unleash it all, “Agu understood that they were angry at Lagos, angry at Nigeria, angry at the world. The alien invasion was just an excuse to let it all out” (Okorafor, 173). Agu presents this sentence in a way that seems to almost justify their actions, due to their anger at the world, but humans also created the problems that curated such frustration. The refusal to change even went as far as to be rooted within the government, “When had the Nigerian government and military done anything for its people?” As soon as the opportunity presented itself, the humans took advantage of what they perceived as the apocalypse to steal objects, harm others, and basically do what they wanted while they had the chance. They used this opportunity for bad, rather than good. The president even reveals this in his broadcasted speech to Nigeria, “We tore at our own flesh last night, as we have done many times in the past. Now, as we hurt from the pain and loss, let our minds clear. And see” (Okorafor, 277). It was not the aliens who burned buildings, destroyed cars, beat people, and wreaked havoc in the streets of Lagos; it was human beings. The president urges the people of Nigeria to open their eyes and set aside their internal perceptions to make room for change and the betterment of their country. The evil of the humans generates strong contrast between their actions and the actual good that the arrival of this new species has presented. Ayodele sought to heal a human child, despite the fact that she had bee greatly harmed. Not only this, but others of the same species were able to change the mindset of people who were previously very comfortable with harming others for their own gain, “But this woke me up. The coming of Ijele. I am not being melodramatic and I am not crazy. And I am not out of danger. But I will never practice fraud again. Never. I swear” (Okorafor 199). They have no reason to be kind to the society that has been nothing but malicious and skeptical towards them, but still aim to protect humans nevertheless.

Throughout Lagoon we see many instances of humans eager to cause destruction and harm without thinking twice. These actions highlight the way that humanity has already had a problem to be solved, and that the aliens have brought no real harm to them. In fact, they have  mostly had a positive impact on the lives of many who have interacted with them throughout the book. If anything, the aliens themselves are the katechontic force preventing them from spiraling totally out of control. Whenever something truly threatens the humans, the aliens would step in and save them. The actions that the humans had taken during the first instance of stress, when the aliens landed off the coast of Bar Beach, the Nigerian Government had instantly assumed the worst. This skepticism carried on throughout the novel within the country despite the fact that they had not overtly caused any real harm to humans. When the situation turned out to be much more intense, but not dangerous, than initially expected, Lagos erupted into chaos. Many took advantage of that chaos to cause more harm than the aliens had ever intended.  These actions can reflect more broadly on the hesitation of humans to accept good change. The same applies to both extraterrestrial aliens, and the aliens that deal with foreigners traveling between nations. Humans apply the same evil both ways. 

What is “The Apocalypse”?

Marisa Greaney

McCoy

26 September 2022

Essay 1

When initially registering for classes this semester, I looked over the list of English courses almost constantly.  I had narrowed down the seemingly endless list of choices to only two or three.  After mulling it over and experimenting with other configurations for my schedule, I had ultimately picked the one I wanted to take based on the name, ‘Black Apocalyptic Fiction’ seemed to stand out the most, and my excitement for the upcoming semester only grew.  In the summer leading up to the current semester, there was many conversations among friends and coworkers as to what is in store for us in the near future.  While some had chosen not to pursue a higher education, most of us had discussed the classes we are going to take in the upcoming semester.   

When having these discussions, the mention of the course name ‘Black Apocalyptic Fiction’ was not only mentioned quite a few times but had also piqued the interest of some of my friends and coworkers.  Most had similar reactions such as mentioning how interesting that sounds or why can’t their school offer such interesting courses and my college is so boring.  Many asked what the course materials are or what is being read in the class, and I could only answer with a simple “I’m not too sure” or “if I’m honest I cannot really tell you”.  While thinking about it one night after a long day at work, I had thought to myself “what does this course have in store?”.  While thinking to myself, I thought of what most people would think of as ‘The Apocalypse’ and concluded it to be some sort of devastating event that could be seen as the end of humanity and even life itself on our planet.  During this, my mind started to race as to what kind of apocalyptic stories we could be reading throughout the semester, my mind instantly wondered to the many, many apocalyptic medias I’ve consumed throughout my lifetime, my excitement for this course only growing. 

When the course content was released to us on a Thursday in July, I was on a field trip for the summer camp I worked at.  This could not have come at a better time, since this was the longest trip of the camp season, and we were on the bus back home.  I had thought that now was the perfect time to review the course materials.  While initially reading through, I did not gather all the information about what the ‘apocalypse’ part of this course was, as I was more interested in reading the grading policy and the assignment list before tuning my attention back into the bus full of campers I was supposed to be monitoring.  That had been the first and only time I went through the course materials before the start of the new semester.   

            My first introduction with the ‘apocalypse’ that we are to become familiar with throughout the semester was within the Andrew Santana Kaplan article Notes Toward (Inhabiting) the Black Messianic in Afro-Pessimism’s Apocalyptic Thought. Santana Kaplan explains in his work that the meaning of apocalypse is the end of worlds, similarly to what we think of when we hear the word.  Although he expands on this idea and goes further to define the concept as that, the ending of a world, but alongside the revelation of errors within said world.  In simpler terms, Andre Santana Kaplan describes the apocalypse as the ending of a world, while also realizing the mistakes the world, or the person or people inhabiting that world, has made to get to this apocalyptic point.  The term ‘world’ in these definitions does not necessarily mean the planet in which we are living or the setting in which a story takes place in a work of fiction, it instead means a personal world, something akin to moving to a new place and leaving your old world behind. 

Within Octavia Butler’s Wild Seed, we see not only one, but two examples of this definition of apocalypse.  The novel includes the ends of two separate worlds, one being that of Doro, and the other being that of Anyanwu.  Towards the end of the novel, Doro has the revelation that the way he has been living his extremely long life, had been harmful to those around him such as his children.  In this realization Doro’s own personal world starts to change not only by itself but with his own effort if he wants to keep Anyanwu in his life.  On the other hand, the personal world of Anyanwu ended with the meeting of Doro, who showed her many things and ultimately changed how she would continue to live her immortal life. 

            Based off both the novel and the Santana Kaplan Article, we can gather that there is more than one definition for ‘the apocalypse’.  In your typical media consumed by the masses, the apocalypse or an apocalyptic event is one of extreme world ending abilities and the definition of the word that I speculate that we would be using throughout the remainder of the “Black Apocalyptic Fiction” course is the one that was explained in the words of Andrew Santana Kaplan, and given to us in Butlers Wild Seed as an example.  Another example of Santana Kaplans definition of the apocalypse is present in Percival Everett’s novel American Desert, where the life of an ordinary man is ended (quite literally) and his world changes from the one he used to know, to this new and unfamiliar one after his strange resurrection from the dead.   

            Based off the events of American Desert, the events of Wild Seed and the content of Andrew Santana Kaplan’s article, one can speculate that the upcoming course content would contain the ending of one’s personal world.  Something I have come to expect based on what has been discussed and reviewed for class is a further understanding of a personal apocalypse, as I have some to call it.  Another thing I am looking for in this course is trying to figure out what constitutes a personal apocalypse other than just a personal world ending revelation, or a fated event that was shown to us in Butler’s Wild Seed and Everett’s American Desert.