Genre
Fantasy / Science Fiction
Reading Time
9-12 hours
Key Themes
See below
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Trapped in a 1970s mental institution, a Chicana woman faces two possible futures—a feminist, ecological society or a patriarchal, consumerist one—and realizes her choices might decide which world comes to be.
Connie Ramos, a thirty-seven-year-old Chicana woman in a run-down New York City apartment, faces many problems. She has a history of mental health issues and recently lost custody of her daughter, Angelina. After her niece, Dolly, is badly beaten by her pimp, Connie gets involved, injuring the pimp. She is then arrested and committed to Rockover State Hospital. Her brother, Luis, and sister-in-law, Elena, are part of her commitment. Connie feels trapped and unfairly institutionalized, believing the system is against poor women of color like her. Her first days at Rockover are filled with confusion, forced medication, and a deep sense of helplessness.
While at Rockover, Connie begins to have strong hallucinations and hear voices. One specific vision is of Luciente, a woman who says she is from the year 2137. Luciente appears to Connie through a shimmering portal, at first confused and speaking a slightly different English. Luciente explains she is a 'sender' from a future where gender roles are flexible, technology serves the community, and the environment is respected. Connie is at first doubtful, thinking these experiences are from her medication or her worsening mental state. But Luciente's descriptions of her world are too detailed and consistent to ignore, making Connie wonder.
Luciente starts to 'pull' Connie into her future world, Mattapoisett, a communal village in rural Massachusetts. Connie sees a society where children are raised together in 'maternity' houses, gender is not just male or female (everyone uses 'per' and 'person'), and work is shared and meaningful. She meets Luciente's partner, Bee, and learns about their advanced ecological practices, sustainable living, and lack of a money-based economy. Connie learns about 'flesh-and-blood' (biological children) and 'kiddie' (a child raised communally), and sees their non-hierarchical way of making decisions. The strong difference between Mattapoisett's harmony and her own oppressive life increases Connie's inner struggle and her wish for a better world.
Along with her visits to Mattapoisett, Connie is tormented by frightening visions of another future, a harsh dystopia where women are surgically altered, exploited for their bodies, and limited to specific roles. She sees women as 'brood mares' or 'dolls,' without control over their lives, serving the pleasure and reproduction of a male-dominated elite. These visions are broken and nightmarish, showing extreme class divisions, environmental damage, and no compassion. These horrible glimpses are linked to the choices made in Connie's present, suggesting that humanity is at a critical point between these two possible destinies. This duality deepens Connie's emotional distress and sense of urgency.
The story often goes into Connie's past through vivid flashbacks, showing the many unfortunate events and systemic injustices that led to her current situation. We learn about her difficult childhood, her relationship with her daughter Angelina, and why Angelina was taken by social services due to Connie's perceived instability and poverty. These flashbacks show the constant sexism and racism she has faced, her mental health struggles, and how the system has repeatedly failed her. Her past is a cycle of loss, abuse, and being misunderstood, making her current imprisonment at Rockover especially painful and reinforcing her feeling of powerlessness.
At Rockover, Connie undergoes various treatments, including strong tranquilizers, isolation, and, most troubling, the attention of Dr. Redding. Dr. Redding, who seems kind but is ultimately controlling, is doing experimental research on brain stimulation and behavior modification. He sees Connie as a good subject for his 'therapy,' which involves implanting electrodes in her brain to control her perceived 'aggression' and 'delusions' (her communications with Luciente). Connie resists these interventions, seeing them as an attempt to take away her individuality and suppress her experiences, even as she questions if her future visions are real. The hospital environment reflects the oppressive forces in her life.
As Connie's connection with Luciente grows, Luciente reveals the urgent truth: the future is not set. There are two paths, and Connie's time is the turning point. Luciente explains she is 'sending' to Connie because Connie has a unique sensitivity and potential to affect the outcome. The doctors at Rockover, especially Dr. Redding, are unknowingly pushing humanity towards the bad future through their harsh practices and technological control. Luciente urges Connie to resist, to hold onto her sanity and her connection to Mattapoisett, stressing that her choices, even within the asylum, have big implications for future generations. This news places a huge burden on Connie.
Driven by Luciente's warnings and her own desperate wish for freedom, Connie plans an escape from Rockover. She tries to get help from other patients, including Sybil and Ginny, who are also victims of the system. Her escape attempt comes from a desperate need to avoid the imminent brain surgery Dr. Redding is planning, which she fears will permanently cut off her connection to Luciente and the hopeful future. The attempt shows her resilience and her refusal to be completely controlled, though it ultimately fails. She is recaptured and faces more punishment, reinforcing her powerlessness within the institution but also strengthening her resolve.
Despite her resistance, Connie is eventually forced to have brain surgery, a procedure involving electrode implantation. The experience is traumatic and confusing. After the surgery, her connection to Luciente and Mattapoisett seems to vanish. She feels numb, empty, and without the vivid experiences that had given her hope. This period marks a deep sense of loss and despair for Connie, as she considers the possibility that her visions were indeed delusions, or that the surgery has successfully 'cured' her of her ability to see the future. The dystopian visions also fade, leaving her in a grim, present reality without hope for either future.
After a period of deep despair, a faint echo of Luciente's presence returns to Connie. She realizes that the surgery did not completely break her connection, but only weakened it. Luciente's last, desperate messages emphasize the urgency of the situation and the threat from Dr. Redding and his colleagues, who represent the forces pushing towards the bad future. Connie understands that the struggle is not just internal but must happen in the physical world. In a moment of clarity and desperate determination, seeing the doctors as the literal agents of the horrible future, Connie takes extreme action. She poisons Dr. Redding and three other doctors, sacrificing her own freedom and perhaps her life, in a final, violent act of resistance to save the future she believes in.
After the poisoning, Connie is immediately caught. The story ends with her facing the severe results of her actions, likely further imprisonment or more intense institutionalization. The ending leaves the reader wondering about humanity's ultimate fate and which future will win. Connie's act is a desperate, violent gamble, an attempt to stop the bad future at its source. While she loses her personal freedom, the book suggests her sacrifice might have made a difference, offering a small chance for Mattapoisett to thrive. The uncertainty makes the reader think about the power of individual action and the hard choices needed to fight for a better world.
The Protagonist
Connie transforms from a victim of circumstance into an active agent of change, ultimately making a violent sacrifice to influence the future.
The Supporting
Luciente remains a consistent beacon of hope and knowledge, growing in urgency as the future's fate hangs in the balance.
The Antagonist
Dr. Redding remains a static representation of controlling, patriarchal science, ultimately becoming the target of Connie's desperate resistance.
The Supporting
Bee remains a consistent example of the Mattapoisett ideal, embodying its peaceful and cooperative principles.
The Mentioned
Angelina's arc is in the past, her removal serving as a catalyst for Connie's despair and later, her fight for a better future.
The Supporting
Dolly's tragic situation acts as an initial trigger for the main plot, highlighting the immediate injustices Connie faces.
The Supporting
Sybil remains a static character, representing the long-term victims of the institutional system.
The Supporting
Ginny's arc reflects the repeated cycles of rebellion and punishment within the mental institution.
The Supporting
Luis remains largely unchanged, representing the conventional, often unhelpful, societal perspective on Connie's situation.
The novel examines patriarchal systems in Connie's present and imagines an equal future. In Mattapoisett, gender is non-binary, language uses 'per' and 'person,' and child-rearing is communal, freeing women from traditional roles. This contrasts sharply with the bad future where women are reduced to objects for reproduction or pleasure, and Connie's present, where she faces sexism in the medical system and society. The book argues that true freedom requires breaking down gender-based hierarchies and accepting diverse identities and family structures.
“We are the first generation to live without the past. Without your past, I mean. We are creating ourselves.”
Piercy criticizes the mental health system, showing it as a tool for social control instead of healing. Connie's 'delusions' (her connection to Luciente) are labeled as illness and treated with invasive procedures like brain surgery, rather than exploring the social causes of her distress. The hospital environment at Rockover is dehumanizing, isolating, and disempowering, taking away patients' control and dignity. The novel suggests that what society calls 'madness' can sometimes be a heightened perception or a valid reaction to an unfair world, challenging common definitions of sanity.
“They were good citizens, they were sane, they believed in order and the system. They believed in the system so much that they could not see it, could not imagine anything outside of it.”
The novel shows how different forms of oppression—racism, classism, and sexism—affect Connie's life. As a Chicana woman from a poor background, Connie is especially vulnerable to the unfairness of the legal and medical systems. Her experiences with her daughter being taken, her niece's abuse, and her own forced institutionalization all stem from systemic inequalities. The good future of Mattapoisett offers a vision of a society that has actively removed these oppressive structures, focusing on shared responsibility and fairness over individual gain and hierarchy.
“The poor, the black, the brown, the women, the old, the crazy—they all got locked up. That was the system.”
The clear contrast between Connie's polluted, dying present and the ecologically harmonious Mattapoisett highlights the theme of environmentalism. The future society thrives on sustainable practices, respect for nature, and a deep understanding of ecological balance. They use technology responsibly, recycle, and live in harmony with their surroundings. In contrast, the bad future suggests severe environmental damage alongside social collapse. This theme shows that social justice and ecological well-being are connected, suggesting that a healthy society must be built on respect for the planet.
“We learned to live with the earth, not on it. To tend it, not to master it.”
A main question in the novel is whether the future is set or if individual and group choices in the present can shape it. Luciente's urgent messages to Connie stress that her time is a 'turning point' and that her actions, no matter how small, have big consequences. This theme challenges the idea of a fixed destiny and encourages individual action. Connie's final, violent act of resistance, despite its personal cost, is a strong statement of free will against powerful systemic forces. It suggests that even in the most restricted situations, one can choose to fight for a desired future.
“The future is not a road, it's a vast field. And it's being sown right now.”
Connie's ability to 'send' her consciousness to two potential futures.
This device allows the narrative to explore contrasting societal models. Connie's connection to Luciente and Mattapoisett provides a utopian vision, while the fragmented, horrifying glimpses of the dystopian future serve as a warning. This isn't conventional time travel, but rather a psychic or mental connection, making Connie a unique 'receiver.' It functions as a powerful didactic tool, presenting the reader with clear alternatives and the stakes involved in present-day choices, without requiring a complex scientific explanation for the mechanism itself.
Connie's mental state and the ambiguity of her visions.
Connie's history of mental illness and her forced medication at Rockover create ambiguity around her experiences. The reader is constantly asked to question whether Luciente and the future visions are real or elaborate hallucinations. This device heightens the psychological tension and forces the reader to confront their own biases about mental illness. It also makes Connie's eventual act of resistance more profound, as it's a choice made amidst profound uncertainty, strengthening the theme of faith and conviction in the face of societal gaslighting.
The simultaneous presentation of two radically different futures.
This device is central to the novel's thematic exploration. By juxtaposing the idyllic, egalitarian Mattapoisett with the horrifying, misogynistic dystopia, Piercy creates a powerful moral and political argument. It's not just a warning or a hope, but a direct comparison of the logical outcomes of different societal paths. This dual vision underscores the novel's message about choice and the direct consequences of present-day actions on future generations, framing the present as a critical battleground for humanity's soul.
Connie's memories of her past and the events leading to her institutionalization.
Flashbacks are used extensively to flesh out Connie's character and provide context for her current suffering. They reveal her traumatic experiences with poverty, violence, and systemic oppression, such as the loss of her daughter and the abuse of her niece. This device helps the reader understand the deep-seated injustices that have shaped Connie's life and validates her emotional responses, strengthening her credibility even as her sanity is questioned by the institution. It grounds her fantastical experiences in a harsh, realistic personal history.
“The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them changes both the people who make them and the destination.”
— Connie's growing understanding of the fluid nature of time and her agency.
“When you're trying to make a world, you have to choose what you're going to use for building blocks.”
— Luciente explaining the deliberate choices made in Mattapoisett's society.
“They say that women are the first to be colonized. If you can control a woman's body, you can control the production of the future.”
— Connie reflecting on the power dynamics and control over women's reproductive rights.
“To be sane in a mad time is itself a kind of madness.”
— Connie's internal struggle with her sanity amidst the oppressive and illogical world around her.
“We are all part of one another, the living and the dead, and those who are not yet born. We are all entangled.”
— Luciente describing the interconnectedness of all beings and generations in Mattapoisett.
“You can't be free if you're not safe.”
— A crucial point made about the prerequisites for true freedom, often in the context of violence and exploitation.
“The greatest danger is to lose your memory, to lose your past. That's how they make you disappear.”
— Connie's fear of being erased or having her history invalidated by the psychiatric system.
“We don't call anyone mother. We say co-parent. Everyone shares in raising children.”
— Luciente explaining the communal child-rearing practices and gender-neutral parenting in Mattapoisett.
“Love is not possession. It is appreciation.”
— A philosophical statement on the nature of love, contrasting it with possessiveness.
“The systems are designed to make you feel crazy, so you won't fight back.”
— Connie's realization about the manipulative tactics of the institutions she's confined in.
“Your pain is real. Your rage is righteous.”
— A moment of validation for Connie's experiences and emotions, often from her allies.
“We don't have leaders. We have coordinators.”
— Luciente describing the horizontal power structure and non-hierarchical governance of Mattapoisett.
“What you do now, in your time, determines what we will be in ours.”
— Luciente emphasizing the direct impact of Connie's choices on the future timelines.
“The body is not a thing to be owned, but a place to live.”
— A profound statement on bodily autonomy and challenging the idea of proprietary control over bodies.
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