WHEN POWER CORRUPTS
Naomi Alderman’s novel, The Power, is such a simple concept yet a fiercely feminist novel that makes it seem absurd that we still don’t live in a world where women are treated equally to men. In Alderman’s dystopian universe, women have power over everyone else. They have a power to physically hurt that men do not possess.
One morning, teenage girls aged 14 and 15 across the nation wake up and appear to have an extraordinary strength they cannot explain. They have the ability to conduct electricity so they can inflict pain on others or, at worst, fatally electrocute people. Interestingly the novel switches between the points of view of four different characters to tell the story of how women gain this power and what happens to them as they learn to use it.
There’s Margot, a member of the American government, Roxy, daughter of an American gangster, Allie, a teenager who runs away after discovering her power and Tunde, a Nigerian man who has documented this huge change in women, calling it the Day of the Girls. At first this new power is exciting; a revelation that no-one can stop talking about. However, as time goes on things begin to turn sour as women realise just how strong they are and how they no longer have to put up with exploitation.
In general life, men sometimes cross the street when they see a woman coming, to keep their distance from them. In individual situations we see victims of sex trafficking suddenly start attacking their exploiters and oppressed women strike out. It even starts to go the other way, showing the darker side of power. Men become the victims of sexual assault and drugs are made to increase female power.
This book tells an incredible story while also addressing some important contemporary issues, including gender, hierarchy and inequality. And power, of course. What people do when they have it, and how afraid they are of it if they don’t. Then the ultimate question, which the book cannot answer beyond what we already know. Why do people abuse power? Because they can.
Reviewed by Lucy Skoulding
