Title: The Screwfly Solution
Author: James Tiptree, Jr.
Date of First Publication: June 1977
Place of Publication: Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact
Type: Short Fiction
Characters: No Character
Themes: WOMEN WRITING MONSTERS; RACE/POLITICS; BYRONIC HERO
Critical Summary: The story starts off with Anne and Alan (a married couple) exchanging letters, Alan is away in Colombia doing research on a parasite. Anne is telling Alan that there is news going around, on Ann Arbor, about men going around killing women, she even says that her sister, Pauline, is trying to sell her house and tells Anne that she wants to stay with her for a while. Questions begin to go up about men being able to reproduce without women, they even start to regard women as an animal part, and as soon as they get rid of that part God will be able to reveal a clean way for the men. There is a cult known as The Sons of Adam and they say that God is telling them to get rid of all women so that way things will be pure again. Alan decides that it is time to go home, but as he is waiting for his airplane he notices that he is starting to get violent urges. He ends up calling Anne to let her know that he is not coming home anymore and if he goes to the house to not let him inside. Anne tries to tell their daughter, Amy, however she does not want to listen. Amy loves her dad more than her mom, so she ignores what her mom is trying to tell her, and she goes to where her dad is, which does not play out well. That is because Alan ends up killing Amy and then afterwards he ends up killing himself. Because the world runs out of women to kill, the men start to result to little boys to kill; however Anne survives, and she ends up fleeing to Canada and she ends up finding out the motivation behind this plague. Apparently, an Alien species as infected humans to allow them to express their inner violence so that all humans destroy themselves; that way, the Aliens can have Earth all to themselves.
Frankenstein makes a “monster.” In The Screwfly Solution, men are revealed to be monsters when aliens change them so they express their innate violence. As in Frankenstein, men inflict violence against women. Also, the letters exchanged in Frankenstein find an analogue in Anne’s and Alan’s letters. The Race/Politics aspect is represented throughout this short story in the fear of mob, a symbolism with ties to the Creature. For this short story the mob are the men and the ones in fear of them are women. Children are also killed by the “creatures” in these stories.
Administrative Notes: Leslie Dunne, CSUF; Dr. David Sandner (editing)