Unconscious biases are an insidious underlayer of our society, subtly influencing our perceptions and interactions. Societal views on race, gender, and sexual orientation from a century ago still make their mark on personal and financial decisions made globally every day.
Speculative fiction can potentially offer a completely clean slate, since imagined worlds have their own unique histories and societal factors leading to certain biases and imbalances.
This potential for fresh perspectives can come at the expense of erasing real ones. C.L. Clark's The Unbroken explores the tension and abuse inherent to imperial and colonial structures, with the powerful France-inspired Balladaire occupying the North African-inspired colony of Qazāl.
The Unbroken examines intersections of race, upbringing, and cultural belonging through deuteragonist Touraine, and a loss of innocence for her counterpart Luca as she sees the tangible results of her empire. Both women face internal and external conflicts while cautiously exploring a mutual attraction.
On the other hand, the novel depicts a world free of discrimination against women and homosexuality. Touraine is looked down upon by fellow soldiers of Balladaire for her skin colour and southern origins, but is accepted as a woman and a lesbian.
This presentation changes the impact of some ideas and interactions in the world. A major antagonist in the novel is Rogan, a male Captain of Balladaire and abuser who is quick to punish any mistake on the part of Touraine’s colonial regiment (a group of children violently taken from colonies to be raised as soldiers in Balladaire).
Touraine depicted on the cover (by Tommy Arnold) of CL Clark's novel.
My experiences and understanding of the intersecting biases (against race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) in our world can’t help but colour my reading of Touraine’s interactions with Rogan and other characters. Exacerbating this tension is how Rogan repeatedly threatens Touraine and her female soldiers with sexual assault.
The Unbroken’s setting suggests that Rogan is merely hateful and eager to abuse his authority, yet these threats feel deeply and uniquely gendered. Another major villain in the text is General Cantic of Balladaire, admired by Touraine until it is revealed her glorious military history involved massacres and genocides. Cantic is in an even greater position to abuse her subordinates, yet not even a hint of such behaviour arises.
In this book where gender seems to be a non-issue, we nonetheless see sexual violence only perpetrated and threatened by (colonizing) men against (colonized) women. There are potential explanations: our narrow perspective into this world, residual gender conflict from a history we don’t learn about, or perhaps Clark didn’t intend to erase gender bias in the way I’m reading her text - though others certainly share my interpretation.
Another point of tension arises from different gender identities which arise outside of Balladaire - yet which are instantly recognized by Touraine in her interactions with these characters and her ability to naturally use their preferred pronouns. This feels like it should be an issue of colonialism: it certainly is in Ancillary Justice, A Memory Called Empire, The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Phoenix Extravagant, Amberlough, and any other book where genderqueer characters are facing a society where their identities are not accepted. Here it comes off merely as a curiosity to the Balladairans, and that creates a strangely disparate experience for me as a reader.
Ultimately, I think CL Clark wanted to tell a certain story and explore some aspects of colonialism in depth while setting others aside. That is an absolutely valid goal in my mind: speculative fiction should allow us to dissect real world issues in new, imaginative contexts. The Unbroken’s problem is that it can’t quite separate itself from gender issues, and therefore confuses its premise.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to have non-binary gender identities in Balladaire and sidestep their thematic tension with colonialism. Cantic could have also been an abuser, somewhat balancing the gender and sexual violence in the book. A cynical part of me wonders if Rogan wasn’t hateful enough of a villain without this aspect, but ideally the idea of sexual violence could be removed entirely in order to better align with Clark’s vision.
There is far more to be said about this book, and I have yet to get my hands on its sequel. My review outlines how Luca and Touraine’s relationship felt forced to me, alongside other observations about its storytelling and worldbuilding. I admire Clark’s depiction of a disabled character in Luca, and she is an interesting mirror to the character of Glokta in The Blade Itself.
It is difficult to escape unconscious biases, even when presented with what should be tabula rasa. It is an idea I’d like to return to, through the perspective of another book. Are there any media you’ve consumed that have left you with a similar feeling of dissonance?
Thanks for reading!
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