Cyborgs Redefining Humanity

Abstract

Jeanette Winterson, in her novel “The Stone Gods” that consist of three parts that look like different novellas within actually deals with three main themes that are repeated in three of them which are that the universe is an imprint, human kind’s incapability to learn from its mistake and therefore its destiny to be doomed, and the representation of love of different kinds as the only way human soul could be rescued in this futurist dystopia. In parallel with Donna Harraway’s “A Cyborg Manifesto” which denies the distinctions such a male and female, human and non-human, Winterson suggests a ‘homo sapiens’ , a humanoid that is more human than human beings and that become more effective in expressing human feeling than humans themselves. In addition to the thematic connection of the novel, the repetition of the characters in different representations also underlines the interconnectedness among species and thus represents the ecosystem in the novel and universe. This study looks at how evolving trans-humans of our digital age can be seen as alternatives to show the contrast between the materializing, discriminating, capitalizing, stereotyping and opportunist thinking that has taken over the humanity. To do so, setting and characters, the assignment of gender roles as well as the exploitation of nature and female will be of focus via the Cyborg Theory with references to the Ecofeminist theory.