An Imperfect World, All Around The World
The “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees” is a short story utilizing many literary devices. The most impressive is the use of allegory; the use of symbols that pose for a meaning are everywhere, from the insects used to portray human groups, to the materials that change through the story, possibly representing the setting of the story. Some are very blunt while others are very subtle and open for the reader to interpret. In the short story the main species used to portray the story are wasps. From the initial look at the story the wasps seem just like a random characters, but after thinking about it wasps are not just a peaceful animal, they are aggressive insects and have a more significant meaning. After thinking about it WASP is an acronym for White Angelo-Saxon Protestant, a culture known for their desire for power, the main theme in the story. The story uses allegory to create a short story that denatures the image of mankind and shows the flaws, while not insulting mankind. The short story shows the flaws of humans desire for power and corruptness through the allegory of relating wasps to the desire for power that every man and culture desires.
The story has a confusing story line; it uses humans as the base for being the initial power hungry society and wasps as main characters. The humans abuse the wasps for their “maps” and then are killed off and the few survivors travel elsewhere. After the remaining wasps are forced to move, their ideals of how a society should be run get altered. The wasps adopt some thing that the humans did to them, not to live peacefully but rather to take power and control. The change in the wasp’s way of life shows the nature of all animals, the desire for power from how they abuse the weaker peaceful bees.
After the bees have been enslaved, one bee uses her knowledge to teach her hidden sons of a new way of life, and they rebel:
To her sons in their capped silk cradles—and they were all sons—she whispered the precepts she had developed while calculating flight paths and azimuths, that there should be no queen and no state, and that, as in the wasp nest, the males should labor and profit equally with the females. (Yu)
The bees have been enslaved for a period of time and finally have the notion of rebelling against the ways of the wasps. The young bees are taught of a society where everyone is equal. The perfect society where no one person has more power than another person taught to the young bees is not possible. The author Yu shows this to be impossible by her final line: “‘Write,’ one said to the other, and she did” (Yu). The final line shows a command of one bee telling another, showing that not all of the bees are the same; one bee had more power and told another bee to write. Therefore, showing that not all bees are equal but rather that there is always a distribution of power.
The story is parallel to many societies that it is hard to see which society the author had in mind while writing this, but that makes it all the better to show how every culture follows the same ideals. The allegory in the paper of the society’s that change are very open for interpretation. The author Yu has a Chinese background which many people would argue makes it about the Chinese society, but reinforcing the point that the story fits to most societies Yu uses WASPs as one of the society’s, which is also know as White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. A society known for causing the start of WWII adding to the point that all societies desire power and will do what they can to achieve the most power possible.
For one small connection of how the story of the wasps fits with the Nazis ideals. The wasps think that their society beliefs are the best and should be imposed to lesser-evolved societies. “’The choice is enslavement or cooperation’ the foundress said” (Yu). The bees are like the Russians, a society that was not completely opposed to anarchism, and was a relatively socialist nation before being attacked by the more powerful German army. But the Germans thought that their ideal society should be imposed around the world. Once the war was over the Russians change away from the Marx ideal of socialism, and became a Hierarchy, just like the bees. This is just one example that fits very well with the story but the story is not just limited to one point in history.
The story is parallel to more than just one society in history it is parallel to most if not all. The start of our nation came from forceful invasion of the Native Americans land is yet another parallel. Someone could also easily make the connection to the Spanish who wanted to find the Americas, a culture looking for a new place to assert their dominance. Showing yet another example of a society that asserts its militaristic dominance to gain power. The story of the wasps is parallel to most if not all cultures. There are countless societies that strive for power dating back to the start of mankind to the present. The struggle for power can be seen throughout all of history in the rise and demise of cultures, societies and civilizations.
Regardless of society that Yu tried depicting in just one short story, she conveyed the flawed power struggle in all societies throughout times present, past and unfortunately future with her use of allegory. The use of Yu’s characters being insects and not a specific culture depicts that the struggle for power is not just in a few societies, but rather in all societies. What would have happened if there was a sparrow?
Works Cited
Yu, E. Lily. "The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees." Clarkesworld Magazine. Wrym, Apr. 2011. Web. 6 Feb. 2013. <http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/yu_04_11/>.